Monday, May 23, 2011

Piduruthalagala.. "A journey to Sri lankakas' highest place"

As a traveler I enjoy reaching extreme points & I think so do the other travelers..Actually reaching an extreme point is some kind of a goal for the travelers so I'm very happy that I could get to the highest place of my country & the peak is situated 2524m above MSL.
Piduruthalagala mountain range from Nuwara eliya
Thanks to the University Explorers Club of University of Peradeniya I got this rare chance to go there. Unlike other mountains we can't just climb up this mountain.The specialty of this mountain is it's an ultra high security zone as few very important buildings in the defense sector of the country are situated on top of the mountain.So the club had to talk with the ministry of defense & make all the arrangements & get the required permissions to go there. The scheduled date for our journey was 2600th Sambudhdhathva Jayanthi wesak poya day, that means 17-05-2011. I was excited and waiting to go on this journey.
we were informed that we have to come to the science faculty premises before 7o' clock in the morning on that day as usual for a hike with UEC & It was specially highlighted that we have to be punctual.
I got up early &  was energetic in the process of getting ready though I was late to go to the science faculty. It was around 7.30 when I came to the science faculty. Like that It was almost 9.30 & very late when we started our journey, it is a very common thing in UEC events.
Like that we got on to a hired bus at the faculty of science at about 9.30 and started our journey. Using the normal Gampola road It took only 2 hours or so to come to Nuwara eliya . Then we could easily find the Sir Jayathilake mawatha & Its Piduruthalagala end led us to a Sri Lanka army Sinha regiments check point on the foot of the mountain.from there onwards cameras or mobile phones with cameras were not allowed & security personnel collected our national ID cards also.
The Road that we followed to reach Piduruthalagala from Peradeniya


Beautiful flowers

Natural beauty and the concreted road
Unfortunately it wasn't a hike as we all love but a journey to the top of the mountain by bus.we were not allowed to get down from the bus but we had to get down from the bus because of some problems in the bus. & we enjoyed that time walking here and there in that places where we got down. It was a well built concreted road from foot to the top of the mountain but it was a really curly route.Anyway it was a real displeasing scene to see such a road in the middle of a big jungle & the pollution caused was largely evident. In this manner that road had killed the beauty of the nature for sure. Though that road was that unpleasant, there were nice charming flowers all over the place on the sides of the road. those flowers were small but very colorful. There were some areas, when we were getting closer to the top of the mountain, seeing them i remembered Horton plains. We could see the way the jungle changes with the height the jungle is in. when we were near to that check point it was a thick jungle with very big trees and it almost looked like night time with the darkness. when we are getting to the top, trees got smaller & smaller. & the reason was gutsy wind. I could see Maharathmal trees with their beautiful red flowers.
beauty
 When we got to the top of the mountain it was not the scenery that we expected at all. It was a thick concrete jungle on top of the mountain & there was a reasonable military presence there also. I was really upset seeing those things.We could speak few words with engineers who were there also. & their ideas were also same as mine. & I got to know the way the Japanese built the first building on top of the mountain Piduruthalagala for Sri Lanka Rupavahini corporation with the correct environmental engineering methods. they haven't build roads to take goods to the top of the mountain. Instead of that they have used cable cars. & they haven't used the very top of the mountain to their building as that mountain peak is something special for our country. Like that they didn't harm the environmental system of the mountain and they have taken care of the beauty of the mountain. After that Sri Lankans have made few buildings for Sri lanka Army, Navy, Airport aviation & most recently for the Sri lanka air force. It's true that those buildings are helping the country in various ways in the defense wise and in other ways. But it really has destroyed the beauty of this mountain. At-least, we couldn't do any sight seeing there  because of those badly planned buildings. It was evident that there was no real connection with the firms there too.
It was a Wesak poya day so we didn't forget to do some meritorious things also. so we conveyed a Buddha statue to the little temple at the top of the mountain from our university & presented it to a one of the engineers. With them we could go inside the Rupavahini transmission center and they taught some very valuable things about their equipment & technology too.
University explorers club crest
Unfortunately the time period that we have used to go there was not the perfect. If we went there in the months of  January to March & before 11 in the morning we could have done some good sight seeing. If the sky is clear, we would have been able to see the whole mountain range of the country. Not only that we would have been able to see the Katunayake and Ratmalana airports ,from an another side, the Kuda Ravana light house too.. when its July and August the wind is too strong so we can't just stand still on the top & its nearing low temperatures around 4,5 degrees.
There were many things to be happy about that journey. Not only that there were many things to be worried about too..There are no ways to re-correct the bad things that man had done to this natures' marvel.. Now Its our duty to stop such bad things which are to be done in the future.

 ""Please Please humans love our mother nature and Don't Harm it....................""

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