Uda Radella (2143m) to Great Western (2215m), conquering two giants

We have planned a journey for covering 5 main giants in Nuwaraeliya in 3 days. And we were able to conquer Mahakudugala (2101m), Single Tree (2105m) and Kikiliyamana (2242) on the first day and we spend the night near the entrance of Uda Radella farm and on the second day, we conquer Uda Radella (2143m) and Great Western (2215m) successfully.

Since Madusanka lives in Nuwaraeliya, he was able to take the oral permission to enter the Uda Radella farm and we found a kind person who works there and he told us some details about this forest and the leopards. And he switched off the electric fence and we crossed it and headed to Great Western through a giant forest. We had a GPS route and we followed it always and able to reach the Great Western viewpoint without any difficulty.

But we faced many challenges on our hike since we had to climb up and down many small mountains in the forest and we crossed over 10 streams also. The hike is not much tired since the range is also above 2000m. When we entered to the forest we couldn’t see the Great Western mountain until we get close to the top due to the heavy mist and giant forest patch.

We started our hike around 10 am from Uda Radella main entrance and spend around 1 hour in the area since there were some beautiful plains and the tower area and we explore some footprints of Leopard. And we came to the top of Great Western around 3 pm and spend some time there also. After that, we got down to Great Western railway station and our bus came there as we mentioned on the previous day.

We had a bath and spend much time at Great Western village since the final team was late to reach the railway track. They came to the bus around 8 pm and we left the Great Western village around 9 pm and reached to Colombo in the dawn. It was a massive journey as we are successfully able to conquer 5 main mountains in Nuwaraeliya city. The only reason for this success is our time management. I managed the time very well and we had a clear plan of the routes as we hiked from Single Tree to Kikiliyamana via the jungle path through Kalapura village on the first day. And our camp night was also beautiful as we have seen the top highest mountains from that place, as it was about all the 12 giants in one frame.

Both mountains marked in Metric Map

Yellow – Uda Radella Summit , Red – Great Western Summit

Red – Uda Radella, Black – Great Western Summit, Blue – Great Western Viewpoint where all are visiting

Morning view from the campsite

Our tents, We could see Piduruthalagala, Single tree, Hakgala, Conical, Waterfall Point, Thotupola, Agrabopath, Kirigalpotta, Elbedda, Dell, Preston, Bogawanthalawa, Mahamuni, Adam’s Peak, Kotagala and Great Western etc.

Early morning, the other side view

Towards Piduruthalagala and Leopard Rock via Kikiliyamana

Beautiful area

The entrance of the Farm

Electric fence

Inside of the farm

Colorful flowers

Colorful flowers

Colorful flowers

Main area

Valley

Scenic path with our target

Destination

Nirosh on the job

More to go

We should go to the border of this land

Obstacles

Nature

Abundant plains

So Beautiful

Uda Radella Plains

Cultivated Potato earlier

We are checking the GPS plan

Endless beauty

Nice place to camp but beware of Leopards

Resting

Selfie time

Close to the border

Misty Plains

This uncle helped us

Reaching

Akila and Malith

Resting

Target has seen

Full view of a part of the Plain

Another capture

Entered to the jungle by crossing the Electric fence

Nature

Heading to GW

Surrounding

Refilling water

Beauty

Following GPS route

Mushrooms

Water pits

Dry forest

Thrones everywhere

Selfie time

Mushrooms

Streams

Another little one

Dark forest

GW Seen

Great Western Village

Came to the GW ridge

First summit point of the GW ridge

Selfie time again

Edges

The village

Uda Radella area covered by the mist

Their selfie time

Beautiful valley

The summit

Lovely

Enjoying

More to go

Getting dark also

Nature designs

The path we came

Like a small Kovil

The top of the Moutain

Made for camping

The campsite

At the viewpoint where all are visiting

Final cut

Came to the railway track as we don’t have time to capture any photo during our return hike to the railway track due to the hardness and lack of time

No trains

Madusanka left to Radella railway station to catch the next train

The starting point of the Great Western hike (6.953118, 80.703137)

A train is coming from Radella side

Railway

The train is coming from Radella

Great Western Railway Station

The final team came at the night

Thank you for reading !

Sobasiri Team ©