Kaludiya Pokuna - Kandalama

Ruins of a temple in kaludiya pokuna

I packed a couple of t shirts, my camera,  GPS,  and the first aid kit and off  I went with my father on a small trip to the dry zone,  We first drove ourselves to Kaludiya Pokuna, dambulla. It is an arcilogical site slightly off the tourist map, so it was just us who were there and Mahinda who happened to be the caretaker, and he was nice enough to take us around. We passed a stupa (religious dome like structure) which was in ruins; however the workmanship of men a thousand years ago was really a work of art. He continued taking us around the site and talked of the many rock caves that people in the past used for meditation. We were all excited about it and asked him to lead us over, and so he did lead us to 7 caves out of around 100 odd caves scattered around a 187 acre land.

The caves were huge in size some even could host a well over a dozen who needed refuge either from the scourging heat or the monsoon rains! And on the 7^th cave it even had a wall that still stood over the years, the plastering used was still holding on to the wall, I just couldn’t believe it!

Sleeping Giant - kandalama lake

The Sri Lankan history is simply marvelous, any way 

I was keener on getting to the top of the mountain,

 as the peak of the mountain was the “nose” of the set of mountains that made up the “sleeping Giant” however Mahinda was not too keen as he had never done it before, so I guess I have to leave that for the next trip. 

Kandalama lake

However my father and i leaving Mahinda took off on a small trek to the top of another mountain,  we were pulling our self on a sheer rock face, to my surprise I saw a small pond full of water , this was a pleasant surprise, passing all that we reached the top where we spend a few moments gazing out into the yonder , we could see the Kandalama lake right infront of our eyes , it was a great sight!

Having spent some time up there we climbed down and ready for the next destination!


Small trek in kaludiya pokuna, dambulla  with thathi
august 2012