රණමුරු ඔයේ සැඟවුනු දිය කොමලියෝ (Ranamure cascades)

Year and Month	October, 2018
Number of Days	1
Crew	4 ( My self, Chamara, & Sampath )
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Pajero
Activities	Hiking, Water fall hunting, Natural bath, Scenery & Photography
Weather	Rained after 2pm
Route	Chilaw -> Kurunegala -> Ibbagamuwa -> Dodangaslanda -> Naula -> Elahera -> Laggala -> Ranamure -> Returned back on the same route
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Take a bottle of water Take Jeewani Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took. Get permission from Forest department Path is clear up to Aswedduma Beware of elephants during the dry season Leech protection is needed Avoid overcast periods. Top of 9th fall is a nice place to camp on the way. The Path towards KMP and Duwili eli at Aswedduma(the KMP path is difficult to trace) Before reaching Aswedduma the path divides at one point and if you take the left path it will take you to upper Agunukola falls. SPECIAL THANKS TO Dilanka Bandara who sent me the kmz of Ranamure trail
Author	Ashan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread රණමුරු ඔයේ සැඟවුනු දිය කොමලියෝ (Ranamure cascades)

Map around Alakole ella

Map around Agunakole ella

Last May when we did Duwili ella trail from Etanwala we met few of our friends who decided to get down from Ranamure side and they sent me the Kmz for my future references. Going through the Kmz I noted that the trail goes parallel to Ranamuru oya for about 4Km’s and there were few waterfalls to be seen on google imagery. The early inter-monsoons was the next trigger factor which tempted us to go ahead and explore these cascades. 3 of us left at 3am from Chilaw on a Sunday to reach Ranamure around 8am and after inquiring from locals they guided us with proper directions towards these cascades and they even gave names for 3 significant waterfalls.

Moragahakanda reservoir

reverston , Pathangala, Karagastenna & Inguruwaththa kanda

yakkunge hela, gombaniya, kirigalpoththa

reverston and pathangala

Ambokka

Keselpathdoruwa, wamarapugala, alugal lena kanda, thunhisgala, Knuckles

Lakegala

Yakkunge hela & Gombaniya

Since the late afternoon showers was an issue we hurried uphill along the clear trail to Duwili ella hoping to explore most of the waterfalls as possible. On the way the path runs very close to Bambarungahana ella and after passing it there is a small ascent. After that Ascent we came to a junction where the left path leads to Agunukole waterfall. We headed along the main path(right) and reached the gal poththa with a stream and we crossed the stream and headed towards Aswedduma abandoned paddyfield. There was a faintly marked foot path which we followed and reached the most significant waterfall of Ranamure oya which is Alakola ella. Since it was at full flow the beauty of the cascade was inexplicable. From here we tried to climb up and after moving few hundred meters towards the right we climbed along few creepers to reach the upper canopy and we tracked back towards the stream to view two other beautiful cascades above Alakola ella. We had a tough time getting to these cascades and the pouring showers made things worse. If you are attempting to reach these upper falls be careful because climbing up and getting down could make you loose your path.

on the way

path

exit from the village

Ranamure oya

.	right path to Aswedduma and Duwili ella, left path to

Gal poththa ella

Alakole upper part and a seasonal fall seen from gal poththa

entering Aswedduma kumbura

ruins close to aswedduma kumbura

Upper Alak0la falls 1

Upper Alak0la falls 2

Alakole

Elusive Alokla falls

crab	misty path

We hurried back to the Gal poththa where these upper cascades could be seen and took the right hand descending trail to Ranamure (the left path will take you to Duwili ella). We reached the junction which I mentioned in the previous paragraph and took the path towards Agunukole waterfall. Few hundred meters along that path we reached the main Agunukole waterfall which was the 2nd significant beauty with a deep base pool. 50m downstream there was another waterfall which we named as lower Agunukola fall.

elephant dung

Agunukola fall

Agunakole

base

.	top of Agunukola fall lower

Agunukola lower fall

After visiting these beauties we descended back along the Ranamure trail and on the way payed a visit to Bambarun gahana ella. With the aid of satellite maps we headed back along the normal trail and at one point again we headed towards the stream and continued along the stream until the very last waterfall close to the village was reached. This part of the journey was tiresome because we had to go along the stream. After reaching the village we had a nice bath at Ranamure oya before leaving this lovely village with a satisfied memories.