Knuckles Duwili Falls in and out / නකල්ස් දූවිලි ඇලි

Year and Month	Etanwala-Duwili Falls-Walpolamulla-2018 January 26^th and 27^th KMP-Duwili Falls-Ranamure- 2016 December 26^th
Number of Days	Two Days
Crew	Etanwala-Duwili Falls-Walpolamulla: 04-Eshan,Keshan,Kasun Shanaka and Myself KMP-Duwili Falls-Ranamure: 04-Eshan,Nirosh,Thusitha and Myself
Accommodation	Etanwala trail: Camping at Dumbara Falls Ranamure trail: Previous day night camping at KMP wadiya.
Transport	By bus and foot
Activities	Hiking, trekking, waterfalls visiting and photography
Weather	Sunny. Rained for about 2 hours at night
Route	Colombo->Matale->Etanwala->Walpolamulla-Knuckles Duwili falls->Rambukkoluwa->Matale>Colombo Colombo->Waththegama->Bambarella->KMP wadiya->Duwili Falls->Infinity pool->Ginikeliyawa Pathana->Aswedduma Pathana->Ranamure->Pallegama->Dambulla->Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Etanwala-Duwili Falls-Walpolamulla route Matale-Hettipola bus via Etanwala starts from Matale stand at 8 am. This bus operates in every day. It reaches Etanwala sub post office around 10-10.15 am. It is not essential to have a guide as foot pathway is clear from Etanwala to Duwili Falls. The path has been marked by forest department. And the path to Walpolamulla is shown in Google map. But now there are new set of guides at Etanwala to accompany travelers to Duwili Falls. If you are not accompanying a guide better be familiar by reading literature and carry an offline map. Leech protection methods to be followed The house at Etanwala is renovated now and rent out by owners to travel groups. Numbering of cascades in Duwili falls was done by Malaka a long time ago and I would like to follow the same numbers without making confusion. He counted fall 9th and 10th together. Buy a ticket from forest department to enter Knuckles forest reserve. You can buy it from Kandy office (At Udawaththa Kele) and Digana office. Dumbara Falls, Infinity pool and Duwili Falls cave are possible places of camping at this journey. You can camp at Dumbara falls cave and Duwili Falls cave without carrying a tent. An average team can finish the journey by two days. Start the journey as early as possible. But if you return to Etanwala in late evening it would be a problem to go back to Matale by bus. Then you have to be there before 3 pm but it is not possible. Therefore plan the trip for three days. Return to Rambukkoluwa may give some hopes of return on same day if you get down a three wheel to Rambukkoluwa. You can’t get a three wheel from Rambukkoluwa as it is an abounded village. Anuruddha- 0711840078, 0767840078 who lives at nearby village may drop you at bus stop. Best time to visit Duwili Falls is soon after rain. Better avoid in rain as crossing of streams would be difficult. KMP-Duwili Falls-Ranamure route There is no clear foot path from KMP wadiya to Duwili Falls. Basically it was a strenuous exercise. Better have a known person or off line track as you might be confused. Duwili falls cave can accommodate about 10 people once. Better avoid in weekends and long holidays as it can be crowded. Behave accordingly at this cave. Bathing at drop of the cave to be done carefully. Be aware of tics when you roam in Pathan. They can get on to you even after sitting. It took about 4 hours us to reach Ranamure from Infinity pool. This is a moderate strenuous journey. Special thanks to Harinda for his instructions.
Related Resources	Lakdasun trip report on Duwili Falls cascade expedition by Ashan. Ashan has numbered falls correctly. Lakdasun trip report on Bambarella to Ranamure by hiking Thunhisgala (Kalupahana) and Exploring Duwili Eli (The Extreme hike of the Year) by Harinda. Lakdasun trip report Bambarella, Kalupahana, Doovili Eli And Return to Ranamure by Malaka. This is his experience at 2010 but still valuable. The map he has drawn to show different waterfalls in Duwili cascade is still used by everyone. That numbering system is still correct and how clever he was to draw such an accurate map at that time. If you go through this report can see a nice picture of KMP wadiya at 2010.
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Knuckles Duwili Falls in and out / නකල්ස් දූවිලි ඇලි

Knuckles Duwili falls (නකල්ස් දූවිලි ඇලි) is a dream journey of Knuckles lovers but need good level of fitness and well planning to make it successful. Average traveler can visit the most popular cascade-famous Duwili falls with backdrop cave under the guidance of a village person. But my opinion is Duwili falls is a cascade and real challenge is exploring the hidden waterfalls of this chain without a guide in limited time. I hope we were successful in some extent in achieving this challenge.

Knuckles Duwili falls is situated at center of Knuckles-Kalupahana (කලුපහන). It is a tributary of Knuckles Kalu Ganga (කළුගග) and gets start from the drop of Wamarapugala (වමාරපුගල). Later it joins with Naran Getta (නාරන් ගැට්ට) and Naran Athha Oya (නාරන් අත්ත ඔය) to form Kalu Ganga. There are four ways to reach Knuckles Duwili falls:

1. Starting from Etanwala and follow the foot pathway via Walpolamulla.

Pitawala-Walpolamulla: 4 km

Walpolamulla-Waddahena: 7 km

Waddahena-Duwili Falls (up to 9^th fall): 3 km

2. Starting from Rambukoluwa and follow the foot pathway parallel to Kalu Ganga and join with Walpolamulla trail at Waddahena. Distance from Rambukkoluwa to Waddahena is 6 km.

These are famous trails; forest department has marked the trail from Walpolamulla and Rambukkoluwa. But Rambukoluwa is no longer a village due to construction of Kalu Ganga reservoir. It has been abounded for about 1 year. But foot pathway still exists.

3. Ranamure to Duwili Falls. This foot pathway will miss lower cascades situated closer to Walpolamulla trail. It is bit hard to identify this track as less number of people uses it.

4. Bambarella to KMP wadiya and descend to Duwili falls. Again there is no exact foot pathway from KMP wadiya to Duwili Falls. You need a help of a guide or goggle map to reach Duwili falls.

5. Maha Ganga to Duwili Falls trail. Here we followed the course of Maha Ganga till it joins with Naran Athha Oya.

6. Bamabrella-KMP-Rehana Ketu Pathana to Duwili Falls: Yet to be done.

Numbering of waterfalls of Duwili Falls chain

There are 12+ waterfalls in this chain. First fall can be only seen to Ginikeliyawa Pathana. Some of the falls has different names: Sansun Falls, Thattu Ella and Dumbara Falls. Malaka has drawn a nice map mentioning exact locations of these waterfalls.

Referring Malaka’s map on Duwili Falls. The 10th fall shown in the map is Dumbara falls and Malaka might consider 9th and 10th falls as a single fall. Naran Getta is shown just below 5th and Naran Aththa is shown just below 8th. Wedda Hena Oya is shown just below Iluk Pathana. The bold blue line is Kalu Ganga.

Cascades of Duwili falls in Google map. Copied from Ashan’s report.

Etanwala-Walpolamulla-Duwili Falls trail

Etanwala is a beautiful village situated at base of Manigala rock. Etanwala can be reached from Matale via Raththota but it has very limited public transport system. We got Matale-Hettipola bus from Matale bus stand and reached Etanwala post office by 10.15 am. It was a straight forward trail from Etanwala to Duwili Falls. We have crossed Wedda Pani Ella and Etanwala paddy fields. After passing Etanwala village we followed the foot path to Manigala and then entered right hand foot path which goes to abounded village Walpolamulla.

The stretch between Etanwala and Walpolamulla (it is about 4 km) was with some ascends and we came across Walpolamulla lake first. Sudugala and Lahumanagala were seen behind Walpolamulla Lake. Walpolamulla (7.494180, 80.768808) had about eight families and last family left the village in 2009 due to the threat of wild elephants. You can view Duwili falls chain with back drop of Wamarapugala and Thunhisgala to Etanwala paddy fields.

Beautiful Etanwala village situated at Base of Manigala Mountain.

Etanwala paddy fields

Crossing Thelgamu Oya…

The team-Kasun Shanaka (left), Keshan (middle) and Eshan (right)

Steps to Etanwala village

Hills surrounding Etanwala village

Cautious….

Steps to Manigala

Eshan is showing Walpolamulla foot pathway. Manigala path is behind.

Manigala path

Sudugala and Lahumanagala side….

Walpolamulla foot pathway

Manigala

Flat terrain….

Ascend….

Walpolamulla Lake

Walpolamulla Lake. Sudugala and Lahumanagala are seen behind the lake.

Paradise of wild cattle

The house at Walapolamulla. Currently this house was renovated by owners and rent out for camping.

The view from Walpolamulla paddy filed

Zoomed view of Duwili Falls. Here you can see 9th and 10th falls (below) and 6th and 7th falls (above)

The view from Walpolamulla paddy field. Wamarapugala.

Thunhisgala and Iluk Pathana (just right to Duwili falls chain).

The foot pathway continues behind the house at Etanwala. We have crossed a water stream first and then descend and crossed another water stream with a “Kadulla” (කඩුල්ල). With few ups and downs we came to Nugathalawa Mada (නුගතලාව මැද) (another flat area) and then came to Wadda Hena Oya (වැද්දාහේන ඔය). The foot path continues with Rambukkoluwa path and Duwili Falls path crosses Wedda Hena Oya.

Acute descend after Walpolamulla village.

A gate to enter Walpolamulla.

Flat terrain.

Rest at Nugathalawa Mada.

Another ascend

Foot pathway to Wadda Hena Oya.

At Wadda Hena Oya. Here foot pathway continues to Rambukoluwa.

Wadda Hena Oya gets start from the sheer drop between Yakunge Hela and Gombaniya. It joins with Kalu Ganga at Demodara (This place comes when descend along Rambukkoluwa). The trail was basically flat after Wedda Hena Oya with few ascends. While on the trail you will cross another stream with a side fall. (This area is called Sudda’s Polwaththa-සුද්දාගේ පොල්වත්ත) This is the 12^th fall of Duwili cascade (Polwaththa Ella-පොල්වත්ත ඇල්ල) though it is actually not in Duwili stream. We continued along the foot path and got turn left to reach Dumbara falls (number 11) which was the most beautiful fall of the Duwili cascades. Actually there was no mark to turn to Dumbara falls from main trail but we heard the sound of the fall.

Crossing Wedda Hena Oya.

Duwili Falls trail after Wadda Hena Oya.

Fairly flat terrain.

It is said to be one of the largest trees coming across in this trail.

12th fall of Duwili cascade. Polwatta Ella. It is about 10 m tall and falls in two steps.

Camping at Dumbara Falls / දුම්බර ඇල්ලේ කදුවරු බැදීම
Dumbara falls is counting as the 11th of Duwili cascades (Malaka has counted it as 10th fall as he didn’t consider actual 10th fall). It is about 10-15 m in height and falls to a pool with a slight angle. Surrounding environment gives a mysterious appearance to Dumbara Falls. There is a foot path to get the bird’s eye view of Dumbara Falls in it’s right side but we were not able to reach the top of the fall.
The flat rock situated just in front of Dumbara Falls was well enough to pitch a tent. It was our camping site for the first day. There is a cave about 20-30 m down to this rock at the same side of the stream and it is also good for night stay. It rained about two hours at night to make our camp site wet. Somehow we managed to prepare the dinner after the rain.

Dumbara Falls / 11th cascade of Duwili chain.

Dumbara Falls is 10-15m in height and falls to a pool with slight angle.

Top of Dumbara Falls.

The base pool.

Reached to the point to get bird’s eye view of the fall.

Different view of Knuckles Duwili Falls.

Rotti for the dinner.

Managed to prepare the dinner after the rain.

Day 02
The roaring sound of Dumbara Falls was the background music throughout the night. Early morning we have moved further down to capture full view of Dumbara Falls. Surrounding was refresh after last night rain.

Morning view of camp site

Bed tea

Dumbara falls refreshed after the rain

Where we have camped….

Top of Dumbara Falls. Seems it is not easy to reach there due to acute angel.

The waterfall seen above Dumbara Falls. Don’t know this is 10th fall or some other between 10th and 11th fall.

Dumbara Falls cave

Camp site…

Enjoying the view of Dumbara Falls

Ready for 2nd day

It is unavoidable to give much attraction on Dumbara Falls in Duwili Falls journey as she is the most beauties for me. We were back to main path and followed the sharp ascend of the foot path which goes parallel to the stream. This acute ascend is called as “Biththiya”/ බිත්තිය wall by villagers. Here we were looking for the falls above Dumbara falls and get down from the main path to the stream to visit 10th and 9th waterfalls. We have reached the base of 9th fall where it falls into a circular base pool. It was not possible to get down to 10th fall and only viewed it from above. We assumed there are no significant falls between 10th and Dumbara falls.

Back to main path. Note red marks on trees.

Fall number 9

9th waterfall of Duwili cascades

9th fall of Duwili cascades

Top of 9th waterfall.

10th falls of Duwili cascades. This seems about 10 m tall waterfall. Don’t know there is a fall between this and Dumbara falls.

Base pool of 9th fall.

9th fall of Duwili cascades. This is about 15-20 m tall waterfall.

During our Maha Ganga journey we were able to reach the top of 9th fall of Duwili cascades. This is a nice open place where Riverstone and Manigala were seen. If you move to the right hand side from the trail you can reach Iluk Pathana (ඉලුක් පතන) (7.467253, 80.792157)

On top of 9th fall. This is another beautiful place at Duwili Eli trail.

Upper part of 9th fall

Top of 9th fall

Manigala is seen

Walpolamulla paddy fields

Riverstone

The terrain becomes fairly flat till we reached Naran Athha Oya.

Flat terrain again

Naran Aththa Oya.

If you go down along Naran Aththa Oya, you will come across the Duwili falls stream which joins with Naran Aththa Oya at Demodara. During our Maha Ganga journey we walked upstream along Duwili Falls stream from this junction to view 8th and 7th cascades of Duwili Falls chain. Unfortunately these falls have less water compared to other days.

Small river side cave

8th fall and a part of 7th fall are seen

7th fall is shown by an arrow.

Lower part of 8th fall

Full view of 8th fall

Closer view of 8th fall

Small cascade we came across

Demodara-Duwili Eli cascade meets Naran Aththa Oya.

Loaded with food before the hike

Here we crossed Naran Aththa Oya and followed the foot path with sharp ascend.

It was the most strenuous part of Duwili falls journey. We have followed the foot path and then reached famous infinity pool (7.464275, 80.797947). Naran Getta stream joins with Duwili falls stream just above infinity pool.

At infinity pool

Infinity pool

Duwili Falls stream joins with Naran Getta at infinity pool.

Enjoying….

Here we followed the downstream of Duwili falls in it’s right side to explore more streams. There was a foot pathway in it’s right side, which leads to Ranamure. The one immediate below Infinity pool is the 6^th fall of Duwili Eli stream (7.464514, 80.797844). 6^th fall has two parts and the first part is about 7-8 m tall. We were able to reach only the top of second part on this way and turned back to infinity pool to follow upstream of Duwili cascades

6th fall of Duwili falls cascades-Upper part.

6th fall of Duwili falls cascades-Upper Part

On top of lower part of 6th falls of Duwili cascades

“Thattu Falls” / තට්ටු ඇල්ල is the 5^th fall of the stream and situated just above infinity pool. The foot pathway goes in right side of the stream and there was a gradual ascend. To reach the next fall, we had to get down from the path to the stream. This 4^th water streams is named as “Sansun falls”/ සන්සුන් ඇල්ල due to it’s calm and quiet move over the slab rock. Sansun falls gives a mysterious appearance with dark surrounding. This waterfall is about 15-20 m in height.

Thattu Falls / 5th fall

Sansun Falls

Sansun falls with base pool.

Mysterious view of Sansun Falls.

Keshan with Sansun falls.

3rd fall is situated just above Sansun Falls and it looks about 5-7 m tall. Again we had to be back to the foot path and descend to the stream to reach 3rd fall.

Top of Sansun Ella.

3rd fall of Duwili Eli stream.

Famous Duwili Falls. 2nd of the cascade.

The famous Duwili falls with cave (7.461427, 80.800661) is numbered as 2^nd of the cascade by Malaka and first fall is situated above the second one. According to him the first fall is a tiny one only visible to Ginikeliyawa Pathana. The cave is situated behind the fall and it can accommodate about 10 people.

Our return journey happened along the same foot path till we reached Wadda Hena Oya. From there on wards we followed the path to Rambukkoluwa which goes almost parallel to Kalu Ganga. It was almost flat / slight descend till we reached Rambukkoluwa. Once you reached an open area, Kalu Ganga valley was seen and another waterfall was seen from there. We were able to view Manigala and Lunumadala Kanda on our way to Rambukkoluwa. We have passed Aswedduma paddy field before the village. Rambukkoluwa was a functioning village at that time (2018). It was dusk when we reached Rambukkoluwa and hired a three wheeler to Illukkumbura to find an accommodation option.

Heading to Rambukkoluwa

Coming out of forest

.	A waterfall

Kalu Ganga

Reaching the village-Aswedduma Paddy field.

Bambarella-KMP wadiya-Duwili Falls-Ranamure trail

This is fairly an old story happened on 2016. We have hiked Thunhisgala and stayed at KMP wadiya on first day. Our plan was to descend to Duwili Falls path and get down to Ranamure (රණමුරේ). Duwili Falls pathway runs opposite to Thunhisgala path and there was no clear foot path at that time. Eshan accompanied us to Duwili Falls from KMP by his prior experience. What I remembered we have passed few streams and acute drops to reach Duwili falls path. Basically it was a strenuous exercise. We were able to visit abounded Wijenayaka Wadiya on our way down. Eventually we came to Naran Getta and came across red marks of Duwili Falls pathway.

Breakfast at KMP wadiya

With caretaker of KMP-Mahathun Ayya. Please note the situation of the kitchen following wild elephant attack

The turn-Left (Duwili Falls) Right (Thunhisgala)

Get blessings….

Thunhisgala

Thunhisgala and accessory peak

Abounded Wijenayaka wadiya. This is seen to top of Thunhisgala.

With back drop of Thunhisgala

The descend

One of the streams we have passed

Clear weather

This was a significant stream we have passed.

Reaching Duwili Falls path. Note red marks.

Duwili Falls had fairly low water level on that day. We gave more attention to visit at cave and get pictures from bottom of the fall. You can view Yakkunge Hela, Yakkunge Gala and ridges of Gombaniya from Duwili falls cave.

Side view of Knuckles Duwili falls

Knuckles Duwili falls

The cave is situated behind the fall.

The drop

The view from Duwili falls cave.

View from Duwili Falls cave-Ridges of Yakkunge Hela and Gombaniya. Yakkunge Gala is seen in front.

Inside the cave. Note it has been sectioned by walls.

Duwili Falls cave

Duwili Falls from bottom

Lower part of Duwili Falls

Knuckles Duwili Falls

Duwili Falls cave

At base of Duwili falls

Then we followed the foot path down and reached infinity pool. We were not aware of the 3^rd and 4^th waterfalls at that time.

Thattu Falls /5th fall.

Thattu Falls

Infinity pool

View from Infinity pool

Here we followed the foot pathway on right hand side of infinity pool, which leads to Ranamure. There was a fainted foot pathway but Eshan was able to accompany us to Ranamure. We have passed two Pathan (පතන්) at this journey named as Ginikeliyawa Pathana (ගිනිකෙලියාව පතන) (7.474540, 80.797207) and Aswedduma Pathana (අස්වැද්දුම පතන) (7.486038, 80.804946). These two opening areas are used by villagers from Ranamure to host their cattle in non-harvesting periods. We have noted “Kawdulla”/ fence at the entrance of Pathana.

View from Ginikeliyawa Pathana was awesome. We had a panoramic view of Thunhisgala, Yakkuge Hela, Yakkunge Gala, Gombaniya and Sudugala at these Pathan.

At Ginikeliyawa Pathana

View of Thunhisgala from Ginikeliyawa Pathana

View of Yakkunge Hela, Yakkunge Gala and ridges of Gombaniya from Ginikeliyawa Pathana.

Thunhisgala

Scattered stones at Ginikeliyawa Pathana. Luckily we didn’t meet any cattle here.

Entrance to Ginikeliyawa Pathana.

Forest patch in between two Pathana.

Aswedduma Pathana is bit smaller than Ginikeliyawa Pathana. It was a continuous descend from Aswedduma Pathana till we reached Ranamure. After reaching Ranamure, we had a bath at Ranamure Oya and arranged a three wheel to reach Pallegama town to get a bus to Dambulla. This was the period all new constructions were going on due to Moragahakanda reservoir. We had to wait hours and hours to get a bus even after this hard journey.