Dumbanagala Expedition

Year and Month	10 November 2018
Number of Days	01
Crew	5 (Sobasiri Team)
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Motor Bicycles
Activities	Hiking, Nature Exploring, Photography
Weather	Perfect
Route	Colombo -> Kandy -> Theldeniya -> Rangala -> Thangappuwa -> Corbet’s Gap -> Dumbanagala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Take enough water 2Lx2 Take prior permission from the relevant authorities Be careful about wild animals Do not hike during rainy season Beware about snakes Please do not pollute the environment, bring your own garbage with you
Author	Ranshan Fernando
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Dumbanagala Expedition

Highest 7 Mountains in Knuckles Forest Reserve.

1 Gombaniya 1906

2 Knuckles 1865

3 Yakungegala 1840

4 Alugal kanda 1808

5 Aliyawetunuela 1667

6 Kirigalpotta 1648

7 Dumbanagala 1643

Metric Map of the area

Dumbanagala seen at the top of Aliyawetunuela Kanda

Dumbanagala Plain seen at the top of Alugal Kanda

Dumbanagala view at Aliyawatunuela Kanda

Dumbanagala view at the top of Alugal Kanda

Sphnix and Dumbanagala seen at the top of Aliyawetunuela Kanda

Dumbanagala summit seen near to the Corbet Gap

Dumbanagala top seen at the top of Kehelpothdoruwegala

Zoomed vbiew of Dumbanagala from Kehelpoth

Once we are searching for a new destination we come across about the giant solider at Corbet’s Gap. The name of that giant is Dumbanagala (Dumen bara kanda). I have seen this giant several times in my knuckles hike. But I decided to climb this soon after our Aliyawetunuela hike which we had in September 2018. Further I was lucky to see the full range of Dumbanagala at the top of Alugal Kanda which we climbed on early September 2018.

However I was collected some informations and specially talked to Dumbanagala chalet and they informed me that there is no any proper foot path as well as from Dehigolla. But when I contact guide Raja, he said that there is a small foot path from Dehigolla but villagers are not frequently use that path. Then I decided to use our GPS Mapping knowledge to identify the easiest path to the top of Dumbanagala.

Journey started toward Thangappuwa Corbet Gap road

Left Dumbanagala seen on the way to Gerandigala. Right is Gerandigala fall chain

Streams on the way to CG

We turned left from the road from CG to Loolwatte

Natural Creations

Along the small plain

Walking on the plain to get enter to the forest patch

Plants we met

Walking along the wet rock face was a risk

Beautiful plain

Some more

Mushrooms

Then as per my usual findings I found the easiest path to Dumbanagala from Corbet’s Gap because I wanted to enter to that big plain which I saw clearly at Alugal Kanda. Hence I mapped the foot path on Google offline map and that is about few difference of altitude between the peak and Corbet’s Gap. However since there are no any people around the junction we thought to having a walk from Thangappuwa after we park our vehicles over there.

That was a lovely day because there was a bit shower on previous days and the path to Corbet gap from Thangappuwa was scenic. We reached to Corbet gap with in few hours and we didn’t see our destination due to the heavy mist around 9am. However as per the GPS we walked about 100m to Loolwatte side and got entered to the jungle from our left hand side. Initial jungle path is about 10 minutes hike and then we came to the plain. This plain was not only filled with grassy lands because most of places are like rocky plains. Hence we had to walk safely due to the slippery rocky plain.

Evidences for a cloud forest

Colorful Nature

Mushrooms again

Ellagala Fall seen far away

Colored trees

Getting clear the nearby mountains

Might be Sphnix or Alugal Kanda

On the way to the summit

My sister enjoying her second adventure with us

Kobonilagala seen

Zoomed view of Kobonilagala

Few more to the summit

We reached to the summit

They were there too

Familiar plants in high lands

However again we entered to the jungle and followed the GPS path adjoin to the ridge of the Dumbanagala from Loolwatte side. We met with a snake (Kunakatuwa) and it was sleep well on our way and we moved to the other side safely. This path is easier as we have to go parallel to the ridge of the mountain and then we will move to the higher altitudes rather than being lost in a fresh jungle. We create our own path and within 2 hours we were able to come to the peak.

We spent many times on our way to the peak since the surrounding environment was amazing and we wanted to capture everything smoothly. We were able to see Kobonila, Sphnix I and II, Aliyawetunuela, Alugal Kanda, Dothulugala, Deanston MWE, Hetakatuwegala, Balagiriya, Nawangala, Knuckles range, Lakegala, Wamarapugala, Gerandigala, Ellagal fall and some other falls near Alugal Kanda side.

Finally we came to the top of the mountain and our Altimeter app showed the height of the mountain as 1643m. Dumbanagala is the 7th highest mountain in Knuckles reserve. There were not much space at the top of the mountain but there was a clear place to stay for 20-30 people and a place to camp. Camping at the top of Dumbanagala is not easy due to the rocks and slopes. Peak was fully covered by Pigmi forest as we noticed this habit at the most of peaks which are height over 1500m.

Towards Kumbukgolla, Naela and Karambaketiya

Towards Gerandigala side

She is resting

Meemure side of the Gerandigala

Deanston MWE, Dothalugala and Kobonilagala seen

Alugal Kanda getting clear

Im at the top of Dumbanagala

Pigmi trees at the top of Dumbanagala

Styles of Clouds

Loolwatte village

We spent about 1 hour at the top and identified some more mountains and waited to see some peaks due to the mist. Since there was a rain previous day’s most of peaks are still covered by mist. We saw Loolwatte, Dehigolla, Kumbukgolla, Karambaketiya, Meemure, Kalugala, Ududumbara side as well as Mahiyanganaya side too.

After that we got down through the same route and it just got about 1 hour since we didn’t stopped at anywhere.