Thotulagalla Min Worlds End to Poonagala

Year and Month	August 2018
Number of Days	Day 1 of a 3day trip
Crew	3 of us
Accommodation	Sun shine inn Monaragala
Transport	Pajero
Activities	Road trip, Photography, Scenery, Hiking
Weather	Mostly dry
Route	Chilaw -> Narammala -> Pasyala -> Avissawella -> Rathnapura -> Balangoda -> Haputhale -> Dambetenna -> Poonagala -> Koslanda -> Wellawaya -> Monaragala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Take 1L of water Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took. Don’t disturb wild life Have to get a ticket from Poonagala estate to visit Pilkington point. To reach Millenium point one needs a 4wd Beware of Elephants at Poonagala
Related Resources	Trip reports : Hidden beauty on top of Diyaluma, Pilkington & Millennium Point’s of Poonagala hills
Author	Ashan
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It had been 3 years since I left Monaragala so I wanted to pay a visit to refresh my memories. On our way we decided to visit an unknown mini Worlds end close to Haputhale. Close to Thotulagalla there was a board saying Thotulagalla ridge. So we took a road through the estate close to Thotulagalla church for about 500m’s where we halted our vehicle. From there onwards it was a 10 minute walk to the summit point with a 270 degree view towards Udawalawe basin.

From here we went towards Dambethenna and headed towards Lipton seat which turned out to be a wrong decision. Since it was school holidays the road was blocked at many places and the worst part was limited parking space at Lipton seat. The visit was a very brief one since parking was an issue.

View from Haputhale

Thotulagalla mini WE

on the way to ridge

the drop of 700m

the drop

Lipton seat side

the vantage point

wellawaya side

Koslanda

udawalawa side

the drop

pano

the ridge

.	view from lipton seat

From Lipton seat I took the Bandarawela road and from there I headed towards Poonagala. Winding roads around the tea country provided some stunning scenery which I missed alot. Passing Poonagala school we came to the junction where 3 roads could be found and took the road towards Pilkington point which was the center road. The road up to Pilkington point could be manged carefully by a good ground clearance car.

view from pilkington point

wellawaya

Ali kota oya

Pilkington point

met few friends

From There onwards we went towards Millenium point and to get to it one needs to go along the uphill road until the 3way junction is met and from there we took the left hand road. The road condition is in terrible condition up to the summit. The road ends 100m’s before the summit and from there onwards it was a short walk. Fortunately there wernt any elephants that day. In 2009 we were greeted with mist providing no view but this time it was the opposite. The splendid view was a treat for our eyes and we enjoyed the view for 30 minutes before departing back. On our way back we took the Koslanda road towards Monaragala to reach our final destination.