Rock of Dambulla &මුරුන්ගාහිටි කන්ද

Dambulla rock

In 2017 I went passing Dambulla many times and on all of those occasions I was wondering if I could get a birds eye view of Dambulla from Dambulla rock. On our way from Kumbukgete after picking up Anupama we went passing Kumbuk wewa and on our way we came across a small Gal len viharaya called Janananda Gal len viharaya (7.629970, 80.458518 ). When we reached Dambulla it was around 9am and we started looking for a suitable place to climb.

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entrance

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bo tree with ruins

Though the temple side seemed to be the easier approach we taught it would attract too much of an attention and would end in a bad way. So we took the path which runs behind the Rangiri Dambulu national school. The initial path was along the rocky ridge where we had to enter a small forest patch at the end. From here onwards we had to crawl with caution until we reached the summit.

The summit had ruins of 4 sthupa’s and few kema’s. The 360 view which it provided was worth the crawl. From the summit one could easily view Dambulla town, Kandalama, Erawugala, Dambulla stadium, Ibbankatuwa wewa, Galgiriya, Kahalla, Kithulhitiyawa, Murungahiti kanda, Sigiriya, Pidurangala, Menikdena , Arangala, Wehigala pathana, Yakkuragala, Dahiya kanda, Beliya kanda and many more.

After descending under the red hot sun we headed towards Dambulu Somawathiya Archaeology site.

Dambulla rock western approach

relatives

on the way scenery towards kandalama

initial part

more to climb

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the tricky part

මෙහෙන් නම් යන්න බැහැ වගේ

on the top

Dambulla town

.	Dambulla stadium

pano

Galkiriyagama range

the long range seen far away is Kahalla range

kithulhitiyawa is the large mountain and the one towards the left is murungahitikanda

two giant rocks

kandalama

erawugala

Lenadora and menikdena

Dambulla somawathiya seen at the base

Beliyakanda

A6

Ibbankatuwa reservoir

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ruins of 3 sthupas

a sthupa

pond no7

Yakkurugala range

Dahiya kanda

behind yakkurugala is Gedaragalapathana

.	getting down

Dambulla somawathiya

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Ending the brief visit at Dambulu Somawathiya we headed towards Madatugama where we had lunch. Our next target was never heard off before but could be easily seen from A9 road. To conquer it we had to use Google maps throughout the hike. Passing Madatugama we went towards Aswedduma and from there we reached Elagamuwa wewa by foot while searching for a suitable place to climb. We climbed along the rock from the Northern side and in no time we were at the top. The summit was not an easy place to hang around specially with the heavy winds. There was a ruined pagoda on the summit just like any dry zone prominent rocky hill in the country. There was a kema and other ruins which we had to take another route to approach those. Instead of running around we sat down and watched how a city girl in her early twenties enjoyed running around a “Niyara”. While descending we found a steep but yet a quick route to come down.

Murungahiti kanda

Murunga hiti kanda

Elagamuwa wewa

steep ascent

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.	ancient wall

barricade covered with grass

beliyakanda

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Aswedduma

more to climb

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fishing

summit view

beauty of aswedduma

ancient pagoda and ritigala seen far away

rain is coming

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Ritigala

Kotagala temple

inamaluwa range

summit view

note the shower at kala wewa

<3	Dambulla rock

ancient pond

slope to be tackled

looking back up

where we had a bath

There was a near by canal with 1 foot of water where we had a quick bath before departing. Not so far away from this mountain there was another temple on a extensive rocky area which we decided to visit since the location looked interesting. It was an easy climb to Kotagala Piyangala RMV( Location ) and tough there were plenty of places to explore we didn’t have time to do so. Ending our brief visit we headed back towards our destinations to end a successful day of exploring.

Climbing Kotagala temple rock

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bo tree

top of kotagala

මුරුන්ගාහිටි කන්ද seen from kotagala

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kandalama range

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image house

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a cave

pagoda