Makulussa Mountain/මකුලුස්ස කන්ද (916m)

Year and Month	2018 April 01^st
Number of Days	01
Crew	03-Anupama, Sampath and Myself
Accommodation	Not applicable
Transport	By bike and foot
Activities	Hiking and photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo->Matale->Etipola road->Walewela (වාලේවෙල) ->Makulussa village->Makulussa->Back in same route
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Start the journey early. We took two and half hours to reach the top. It will prevent get exposure to afternoon heat. It is basically a continuous ascend through Mana patch and some scattered forest. Need to wear an attire and gloves. Carry 1l of water per person. There was a water stream starting from the mountain, but it flows underground till it appears at lower part of the mountain. There might be leeches in wet days. Be aware of slippery rock in wet days. Attitude gain is around 450m.
Author	Niroshan
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Makulussa is a mountain range situated at Matale-Kurunegala border, surrounded by famous taller peaks of Matale- Wilshire, Etipola and Ambokka. It was well seen when we were at Etipola. Makulussa was in our to-do list for a long time but we couldn’t give a priority to conquer it.

Assumed it as an easy hike and put on April 1^st Sunday to have a leisure trip. But at the end of the day it wasn’t.

How Makulussa is seen when we were at Etipola. Makulussa is a range which has three peaks. We have reached peak 01.

Where Makulussa is situated

I have joined with Sampath at Kandy and drove towards Matale. After passing Matale town we turned to Etipola road and went according to Google map. Giants were arising on our left hand side-Wilshire and Etipola. Anupama came from Kurunegala side and joined with us at Walewela. Now Makulussa was seen in our right hand side. We were directed by villagers to go to Makulussa village and get the way to the top.

There was a concrete road starting from Walewela to Makulussa and soon it became a gravel road. It branches at the base of the mountain and we selected left hand side road. After driving about couple of kilometers we reached Makulussa village.

Makulussa seems an isolated vanishing village. Now they have around 20-30 families. They said we can climb the mountain from this side but it’s hard due to steepness and forest patch. (Later we got to know there is a foot path from other side)

Wilshire is captured on our way…

Brandy gala and Etipola

Zoomed view of Brandygala

Etipola

Ambokka

How Makulussa is seen at Makulussa village

We started the journey with following the pipe line which gets water from a stream starting from mountain. Soon we had to move away from the tract as steepness was more. We moved to the forest and climbed up. The forest which has less number of large trees but full of Mana and thorny bushes. It was really a challenge to go up through Mana patch and we were directly caught to afternoon heat due to our late start. It was always a continuous ascend except few flat section. At one stage we had to walk lateral to find a place to climb the rock. After 2½ hour hike along the edge of the mountain we have reached the top of Makulussa Mountain.

Getting the start

It is full of Mana

Framed view of Ambokka and Selagama Mini world’s end

It is a continuous ascend

Edge has the angle of 50-60 degree

When we reached the upper part of the mountain, rocky area was appeared on and off.

ඔතනින් පුලුවන්ද?

Sampath is climbing the rock

වන මල්

Different shape flower

The height of Mana is less when we reached the top

How surrounding was seen when we looked back…

Reached the top

The view we observed on our way up was different when we reached the top of the mountain. Summit of Makulussa Mountain is fairly flat and you can walk to other peaks of the range. We have reestablished the fallen flag and captured surrounding view. It was the good view point to see Wilshire, Etipola, Selagama Mini World’s end, Ambokka and towards Yatawaththa.

Sandamadala, Riverstone, Karagahathenna, Arangala and Beliya kanda had a fainted view due to haziness. It was noted coming from other side has less steepness compared to the side we came up. We returned along the same side but always tried to avoid Mana bushes. Returned journey done in 1hour. It was an achievement of long awaited task.