14 May 2009

On the Way to Hanthana


The hill capital, Kandy is very picturesque when you see the Hanthana Mountain Range as the backdrop. The climb to the top of Hanthana is a good hike for a beginner. The more popular hike is to travel up to the point where you find communication towers. The Hanthana is a mountain range and you could make a more challenging one by trying a few more. The range comprises atleast seven peaks.

The top of the mountain is quite windy and you find lush green coarse grass all over. The scenery from the top is spectacular. You can view the entire Kandy City from there. Also you can see the solitary Alagalla mountain from North West and the Knuckles Range towards North East in the distance.

13 comments:

Femin Susan said...

these photo is gorgeous..... Thanks for sharing..

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog and great photographs! I have been to some of the places you mentioned years ago and reading your posts have brought back pleasant memories of hiking and camping in Sri Lanka. I too love the Horton plains area so much. I haven’t trekked up to Horton place from Bambarakanda falls. I remember looking up the sheer cliffs from Bambarakanda falls when I visited, and thinking that it would be a fantastic to trek from there to Horton plains. Is there any where of making your way to the top of the falls from Horton plains?

Anyway great blog and I am eagerly waiting to visit some these places when I am next in Sri Lanka.

Harshi said...

oops! I didn't know Hanthane had 7 peaks! Gotta count and see.. lol

There's this YES (youth exploration society) which used to organize lotsa hikes here. And there were annual hiking challenges (or w/e you call them) too around Hanthane those days. Dunno if they still continue the same.

I've only hiked Knuckles with YES and our schoolmates years ago. And it had so many scenic backdrops.. even around 'Pathana'. Plus there were many endemic species there.

If anyone's interested in Knuckles, do check this link -
http://www.knucklesrange.org/

Harshi said...

By the way thanks for sharing the pic and the info.. =D

Kirigalpoththa said...

Femin Susan,

The photos taken from Hanthane always come good as the scenery here is very beautiful!
Tks for your comments!

Anonymous,
Glad you found the blog interesting! The reverse journey from Ohiya to Bamabarakanda is described here. If you are travelling from Horton you have to descend towards ohiya before moving to Udaveriya Estate. The climb to the top of the falls is described hereThanks for your comments!

Harumi,

There are quite a few peaks in the range. Some are mini peaks but you can distinuguish them from the others.

YES means St. Anthony's College explorers club?
Heard about it a few times.
Uni of Peradiniya has a very active explorers club too. I have heard a lot about them as quite a few of my UoP friends (fellow hikers) were members of that. Forming such societies, give opportunities for more people to enjoy hiking and nature.

Knuckles is an area you could write hundreds of posts! It is a real hikers paradise. Thanks for the URL. the information is very comprehensive.

Thanks a lot for the comments and info !

Harshi said...

oh.. sorry I might not know. I'll ask a pal and see.. cuz almost all my pals were members of YES but unfortunately my parents didn't allow me to join.. so I don't know much about them. -__-

Really? That's so nice. And yeah, definitely.

Yeah, there's so much to see. We only hiked one peak, passing the creek, where there was a nice diving spot for the YES guys to show off their acrobatic skills.. =D

The water was so fresh and pure, but there were dozens of scary huge leeches lurking around. -__-

We also went to 'Pathana' on our way back. Saw some endemic plants and an 'endangered' frog too, who was on the brink of extinction, thanks to a careless junior! =D We also saw the 'punchi lokanthaya' (small world's end) out there, and didn't even know there was a sheer drop right behind us when we were busy posing for photos! hehe..

It really gave us tons of great memories to cherish. I so wanna go there again sometime.. hopefully.. =D

oh.. you're most welcome. ^__^

PS: Can you post more pics for each topic? you could place them as thumbnails to reduce page load time.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Hi Harumi,

Thanks for the long comment.

I will add more pictures. Thanks for enlightening me about adding pics as thumbnails.
You may visit my picasa site for more pictures. But I need to update that more often :)

The leaches would give you a hard time in Knuckles. But what to do..that is their territory :) Glad you so many interesting and rare species. Im sure you saw the 'Ang Katussa'? the lizard with a small horn on top of his mouth.
I think i have visited the 'punchi lokanthaya' you mentioned, although there are many such places in the central highlands.
which peak did you climb?

Thanks for sharing your experience :)

Harshi said...

Oops! sorry for rambling.. lol

No problem. And thanks for the link too. I've bookmarked it, will check them leisurely.

Yep, I remember that lizard's name well, but not sure if we had spot it that time.

Wow.. you mean there are more than 2 World's Ends in Lanka?

We climbed 'Gombaniya' peak (1,906m as per Knuckle's site).. and we hiked about 1.5km or so up I think. The track was arduous with precipices at some points.. so it was all thrilling and exciting to the max.. at least for newbies like me and some of my pals.. =D

You're welcome. ^__^

Kirigalpoththa said...

Harumi,

Only one 'world's End', But there are many small ones - 'Punchi lokanthaya'.

To my knowledge, 'Gombaniya' is the highest peak of the Range. Great feat!
Definitly the track must have been quite difficult to travel..
I have not climbed 'Gombaniya'. But have climbed 'Kalupahana' and few others in Knuckles.

Thanks for sharing your experience :)

Harshi said...

Oh ya, I knew already that there's only 1 world's end in Lanka.. lol

Yep, it sure is. Really? that's good. And no problem. ^__^

Anonymous said...

I went on a hike to hanthana when I was in the first year of the uni. Was a great trip. I traveled kinda alone and it was the most wonderful experience ever.

Hanthana has a strange lonely air over it. You can't get rid of that feeling when your in the area. Even today when I look at the photos taken there I still feel that lonely feeling. And I just crave to get back to that place.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Chamila_DeAlwis,
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I too had a similar experience hiking all alone early in the morning from Pattipola to Horton Plains. A kind of lonely feeling yet you feel you are very closer to the nature :)
I'm sure Hanthana too would offer you similar feeling.

Whacko said...

Will be heading there tomorrow i think! and also riverston. Thanks for the post as always!