Ibbagamuwa-Kotagala / ඉබ්බාගමුව-කොටගල (520m) hike

Year and Month	2018 September 09th
Number of Days	One
Crew	03-Anupama, Sanjeewa and Myself
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Car and hiking
Activities	Hiking and Photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo->Ibbagamuwa->Pannala junction in Dambulla road-> Kotagala->Back to same route->Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Get directions from locals. Always inform surrounding people about your intention of hike. No risk of trap guns. Use Google map. Better wear an attire. Carry a bottle of water. 1l per person is enough. We didn’t find any water source on our way or on top of Kotagala. Attitude gain is about 300m. Better start the journey early to avoid direct exposure to afternoon sunlight. You can easily miss the track in getting down. Be alert on that. We took about 3 hours to reach the top of Kotagala from trail head.
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Ibbagamuwa-Kotagala / ඉබ්බාගමුව-කොටගල (520m) hike

This is not the story about famous mountain-Kotagala at Hatton. A rock with short height from base is called as Kota-කොට (short) +Gala-ගල (rock/ mountain) in Sinhala. This mountain is situated just in left side when you start travel along Ibbagamuwa-Madagalla (ඉබ්බාගමුව-මඩගල්ල) road. Anupama and Myself were planning to hike this mountain as it’s appearance to Madagalla road is attractive. But we didn’t know it is called as Kotagala by locals. It is marked as Kandalawa (කදලව) in metric map.
Though it is situated on the side of Ibbagamuwa-Madagalla road, the drop is more in that side. As goggle map shows less drop in other side, we decided to find a place to climb in that side. There is a by road at Pannala junction which goes parallel to a water canal. We drove along this canal road and “Kotagala” appeared in our right side as a range. After certain distance we came across a road crossing the canal towards a temple. We met the chief priest at temple to find a clue to hike the mountain situated behind the temple. According to his guidance we drove further 200/300m along this temple road (up to a Siyambala tree) and parked our vehicle and got directions from locals. We were advised to start the hike behind a nearby house. After having the breakfast bought by Anupama we started the hike through dry forest. It was a continuous hike under the shades of trees till we come to the edge of the mountain.

Kotagala is mentioned as Kandalawa in metric map. It is circled here. Click image to enlarge.

The peak of Kotagala is marked by star. Our approximate route is drawn from anicut road.

Spiky Kotagala is seen at beginning

Getting the start

Dry forest

Break….

It was not difficult though it is a continuous hike.

A cave

Seems it is like a blind end but we could get on top of it.

Narrow edge where you can have a breathtaking view

Though this edge of Kotagala is bit risky it provides a breath taking view to surrounding. We were able to identify Hadurukkanda with Belgoda Kanda, Yakdessagala, Gonagama Kanda, Nathagane, Bathalagoda Lake, Alagalla (far away), Andagala and Ethugala.

Hadurukkanda and Belgoda Kanda is behind

Paddies

Paddies at Mahamukalanyaya (මහමූකලන්යාය)

Nearby mountain-It is mentioned as Peddawa in metric map. The road which runs with the canal goes in between Kotagala and this mountain.

Surrounding view towards Yakdessagala, Gonagama range and Nathagane

Nathagane, Yakdessagala and Gonagama Kanda

Zoomed view of Yakdessagala and Nathagane

Had a superb view from here

Dangerous seat

Bathalagoda Lake

Alagalla

Andagala and Ethugala. A part of Kurunegala town is also seen as a crowded area.

This is the road goes parallel with water canal

The temple we came across on our way to trail head.

Hadurukkanda was rising as a giant

Then we hiked along the edge of Kotagala and entered an open area with Iluk (ඉලුක් ) bushes. It was like a second view point with slab rock surrounded by Iluk and provided the same view we had. Bisogala range was appeared beyond Bathalagoda lake as we were in much higher point than previous.

Next part of the climb through Iluk and boulders

Through Iluk

Second view point with more space

View towards Bathalegala Lake and Bisogala range

Nearby giants were marked

Bisogala range and Bathalegala lake is zoomed

Surrounding view

Paddies zoomed

Bisogala is centered.

On top of second view point

Deduru Oya reservoir

Greenish

After spending time on second view point we hiked to the highest point of Kotagala through another dry forest patch. It was a spiky summit and surveyor’s mark was there. We could notice some arrows to show directions to the peak. First time we saw Dolukanda from Kotagala. (Though it is situated closer to Kotagala not appeared due to forest cover on that side). Apart from that we were able to identify Makulussa, Ambokka with Selagama Mini World’s end, Etipola, Wilshire and Knuckles massif as well. As it was a clear day most of the peaks were identifiable. Ibbagamuwa-Madagalla road and that side was not seen due to forest cover. We took about 3 hours to reach the peak from trail head. After enjoying the view from top of Kotagala we followed the same route to reach the trail head.