Thotupola Kanda Hike (2360m)

Year and Month	22-July-2012
Number of Days	One
Crew	03
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Train
Activities	Hiking, Nature Exploring, Photography, Sightseeing
Weather	Good
Route	Colombo -> Badulla Night mail and back to Colombo from Pattipola
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Carry enough water Do not try in rainy days Take the tickets and inform them about the hike Do not carry plastic or polythene Beware of Leopards as there are lot Beware of Wild boars and Sambar Do not litter Leave only footprints
Related Resources	None
Author	Ranshan Fernando
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තොටුපොල කන්ද පිහිටල තියෙන්නේ හෝටන් තැන්න ප්‍රදේශයේ තරමක් පට්ටිපොල දෙසට වන්නටයි. මේ කන්ද ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තුන්වැනි උසම කන්ද. මුහුදු මට්ටමේ සිට උස අඩි 7739ක්. කන්දට තොටුපොල කියන නම ලැබුනේ කොහොමද? මේ කතාව රාවණ ඉතිහාසයත් එක්ක සම්බන්ධයි. පැරණි ජනප්‍රවාදයේ සඳහන් වෙන විදිහටනම් රාවණ රජතුමාගේ දඬුමොණරය ගොඩබෑ තොටුපොල මේ ආසන්නයේ ඇති නිසා කන්දට තොටුපොල කන්ද කියන නම ලැබිල තියෙනවා.

මේ ජනප්‍රවාද කිසිවක් අපට බැහැර කරන්නට නොහැකියි. දඬුමොණරය ගැන තොරතුරු රාවණ රජු වටා ඇති බොහොමයක් ජනප්‍රවාද වල සඳහන් වෙනවා. දඬුමොණරය ගුවනින් පියාසර කිරීමට රාවණ රජු විසින් භාවිත කළ යානාවයි. දඬුමොණරය සුලඟ හා වායු පීඩන වෙනස්කම් ආදාරයෙන් පියාසර කළ හැකි යානාවක් බව කියවෙනවා. වර්තමාණයේ ඇති නවීන ගුවන් යානා වලත් පියාසර කිරීමේ හා ඉහලට එසවීමේ තාක්ෂණය පදනම් වෙන්නේ වායුපීඩන වෙනසක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම මතයි. දඬුමොණරයේ තාක්ෂණය ගැනත් විවිධ කතන්දර තිබෙනවා. දඬුමොණරය සුළඟේ ආදාරයෙන් පියාසර කිරීම හා ඒ ආශ්‍රිත තොරතුරු අනුව බලනකොට නම් තොටුපොල කන්ද හා ඒ වටා බැඳුනු පුරාවුර්තයන් නිවැරදියි කියා සිතන්නට තිබෙන සාක්ෂි පැහැදිලියි.

Totapolakanda (also Thotupolakanda or Thotupola Kanda), is the third highest mountain in Sri Lanka situated in Nuwara Eliya district 2,359.46 m (7,733 ft) above mean sea level. The mountain is located within the Horton Plains National Park. A trail to the top of the mountain, about two kilometres long, starts a few metres away from the Pattipola entrance to the Horton Plains National Park. Most parts of the mountain surface are covered with shrubs adapted to the cool and windy climate of Horton Plains National Park. Strobilanthes, Osbeckia and Rhodomyrtus species grown as shrubs are common among them.

Totapolakanda has the meaning of ‘Landing Site’ in the Sinhala language which related to a legend of Rama and Ravana. According to the legend, King of India, Rama and his beautiful wife Sita lived in exile in the jungle. Once Ravana kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita and escaped to Sri Lanka. On the way to Sri Lanka plane first landed in Totapolakanda which has the meaning of landing site.

We did this hike in 2012 and we chose to train as the medium of transportation since it is the most reliable way to do this in one day. We came to Pattipola around 3 am and stayed there until getting down, after that we started our hike by walking around 5 am. Since it was a very cold morning and us also without any breakfast it took about 3 hours for us to go to the Pattipola entrance.

After we buy the tickets with adjoining to a separate crew we reached the trailhead and captured the notice board first. It took about 2 hours for us to reach the top of the mountain and it was fully covered in some places and we were waited for few hours to get this cleared. However, we had a clear view in the afternoon and we captured some photos of them.

I still remember we saw giant caterpillars and the footprints of Leopards over the ground and branches. It was a bit risky journey as there were only three of us. Because this trail I about 2km into the deep forest and forest is fully covered by trees, plants, and bushes. When the mist is covering the surrounding we couldn’t see the nearby people also.

By the way, we were able to complete this hike since this is the 3rd highest mountain in Sri Lanka. And then we couldn’t find any lift to go to Pattipola hence we walked again to Pattipola and we missed our Colombo train within 200m distance. Then we waited for the next train and caught it and reached our home the next day down.

Always beware about leopards and try to make a team with 5 or more members, this area is much popular for leopards as they are roaming in this area day and night.