Camping at Gawarawila plains

Red – Route to Gawarawila, Orange – Short walk through the stream in second day, Blue cross – World’s end like place – click to enlarge

Studying the map was my childhood hobby. As soon as I returned from school every day, I used to open the World Atlas Map book and travelled around the world in my imaginations. It is still my hobby but the medium has changed to technology, a.k.a Google Maps. A couple of years ago, when I was looking for trails to Adam’s peak on Google maps, I noticed a place like Horton Plains on the peak Wilderness Sanctuary. It looked nearly impossible to access through the ground on Google Maps due to sudden elevation. Though I was eager to find out more about it, I couldn’t find a single thing for years.

Luckily, we have a life-saver called lakdasun.org and a bunch of inspirational people like Ashan and as usual, with their help, I found more details and inspiration to discover the Plains in the Peak Wilderness. The plains in the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary are called Gawarawila. It is said to be the place where Gawara (Gaur) last lived in Sri Lanka. Ashan’s single day adventure to Gawarawila in early March 2015 kicked my butt of my chair and forced me to run to Gawarawila.

I didn’t want to delay my journey as the rains would arrive at the Peak Wilderness in early April. However, due to my work-load at the office, the earliest I could take leave was on 29 March. After much discussion and planning, two of my hiking partners were ready to share the adventure with me. Our initial plan was to camp for one night in Gawarawila and then wades through the stream towards the World’s End like place – which had a sudden drop of 400 to 500m and may be camp there if possible.

Frist day

After meeting at the Pettah public bus stand, we took the Colombo – Thalawakale bus at 10 pm to Hatton. Since it was the pilgrim season, we managed to catch Hatton – Nallathanni bus from the Hatton railway station and got off at the Maskeliya town around 3 am and then slept in the Gartmore bus as Ashan and Chamara. Unfortunately, the bus to Gartmore estate wasn’t running that day. So we had to take a different bus and then take a tuk-tuk to reach the estate from the main road. The tuk-tuk guy was very helpful and provided us with many details. Unfortunately, his story was not something any nature lover wants to hear. One of his stories was about how he and his gang stayed in Gawarawila for months to dig for gems. He was so proud about it as it was such a difficult task and they managed to dig every possible place in the plains :X and a huge well-like hole in one place, which we later discovered.

View of the Adam’s peak – On the way to Gartmore estate

View of the Maussakele reservoir from Gartmore estate

Tuk-tuk guy was showing the Mooray estate trail to Adam’s peak

Tea and the endless mountains

The Adam’s peak

The backpacker

The map :D

Gartmore falls falling from Gawarawila plains

View of the Maussakele reservoir from Frogmore estate

Stream next to the Shrine

The view was amazing

Why on earth did we let sudda destroy our mother nature?

After having breakfast and good bath in the stream near the shrine, we started the adventure around 9am and entered the forest. There is a somewhat clear foot-path until you reach Gawarawila. However, saving the coordinates of the path marked by Ashan in his report on our phones was a great way to avoid getting lost in the trails made by the Sambar dears. It took us about one hour to reach the main stream and then another one to one and half hours to reach the plains.

Entering the jungle (wearing a short was a mistake which I soon realized)

Checking the coordinates saved on the phone.

I have no words to describe the plains. It was so beautiful and quiet. None of us uttered a word but walked in the plains for a good hour taking in the fresh air and admiring the beauty of the place. You can see Adam’s peak very clearly but the sky changed rapidly due to the floating clouds and drizzle, and the scenery went out of view. Something that we noticed and made us panic a bit was that the plain was not good enough to put up a tent. The grass was quite tall and the space between grass roots felt like holes. You can’t see them by looking across the plains, but when you walk on the ground, you will feel them. Therefore, the three of us split and searched for a good place to camp. Finally, we found a place a little bit upwards of the stream, next to the huge well like gem pit that the tuk-tuk guy told us about. It was the place where gem miners had deposited the sand that they had dug out of the gem pits. We spent about ten to twenty minutes to level the ground during the heavy drizzle and then put up the tent. It rained quite heavily for about two hours. The rain then stopped and gave us a clear sky for the rest of the day and night. Since we saw many foot prints, we expected to see many animals. We even came out of the night in the freezing cold and shone our torch across the plains expecting to see animals (may be a last Gawara too :D) but we didn’t see any expect for some huge black monkeys.

The Gawarawila plains

The plain was such a beauty

Walking in the plains and taking in the fresh air

The holy peak from the plains

The stream which flows exactly through the middle of the plains

Holy peak form the plains

One of many gem pits

The grass was quite tall and the space between grass roots felt like holes – not an ideal ground for putting up a tent

A huge gem pit – We put up the tent next to this hole

Successfully put up the tent

Bread, halmesso and baked beans for lunch

No matter how far you run away, you cannot hide from mankind ;(

The mist is slowly approaching like a ghost

Good morning

Icy cold water refreshes your stomach

Night shifters worked hard last night – In the morning, you can see thousands of spider nets across the whole plain

Creativity and hard work

Morning sun shine helped us dry our wet cloths

Second day

Early morning, we had breakfast, washed our faces (we couldn’t have full washes as the water in the stream was icy cold) and we started our next adventure. After reaching the main stream, we changed in shorts and flip-flops as we had to walk through the stream again to reach our next destination. However, it started drizzling while we were getting ready. Uncertain about whether to continue or go back to the estate, we started our journey through the stream. It is quite difficult and time consuming to trudge through the stream. There is no way you can do the journey via land due to the thick bushes and trees. We checked the map one hour later and noticed that we hadn’t completed even 20% of the journey. At the same time, it started thundering and the drizzle got heavier. It was dangerous to continue as we didn’t have a plan B if the water level rose. I don’t think anyone could have a plan B if they took that path. Therefore, nobody should try it during the rain or in rainy climate. So, unfortunately, we had to turn back and forget about the second adventure. I think our decision basically saved our lives as heavy rain started and continued for hours as soon as we reached our starting point.

Can’t start the day without a good cup of tea

Looking ahead to the next adventure

Could have been a beauty with more water

Turning back

Rain disrupted our journey and it even halts our work in Colombo, but work was not halted for the estate workers. They cannot stop working even during the rains as their work is directly related whether they will eat at night or not. Also, the rain doesn’t fade their smiles and welcoming faces. The estate supervisor invited us to his house and gave us much needed hot tea and room to change our wet clothes. We then called the tuk-tuk guy and got a ride to the Maskeliya junction to end our adventurous journey.

I was not sure whether I should write a trip report about my adventure, and I therefore delayed it for eight months. This trek could be illegal as the Peak Wilderness is a protected area. Also, Gawarawila is an unspoiled place (except for the damage done by illegal gem miners), so I didn’t want to see lots of (irresponsible) people go there and make it another garbage pit. So, please act responsibly if you go there and don’t forget to leave your footprints only.

Thanks for reading!

This video includes clips from three of my journeys including Gawarawila. (Dehenakanda-Adam’s peak trail, Ohiya to Bambarakanda and gawarawila)