04

        Duwilli Ella located in Knuckels mountain range, it’s a vast area that covers a significant number of mountains, waterfalls, flora, and fauna. From that, one of the most isolated, difficult to access and undoubtedly breathtaking waterfall is Duwili Ella.  It's situated in the middle of the knuckles range and to reach there using any path you have to walk in the thick jungle for at least 12-18Km along one way.

When it comes to Duwili Ella Cave Camping, Duwili Ella can be reached through few roads. The routes are Rambukoluwa, Walpolamulla, Ranamure, Meemure, and Bambarella.

Duwili Ella consists a set of waterfalls which has approximately 12 cascades. This waterfall water streams shape like dust (Duwili), therefore, these waterfalls called as Duwili Ella. There is a small cave behind the highest water stream and can accommodate nearly 20-30 people (depending on the tents and other gears). The trail requires the proper permission from the relevant authorities but there are many doing the hikes in the conserved area with their own risk, may cause big penalty from government authorities. But yet never heard any got that penalty, so it's still up to own risk to take on this trek if you haven't proper permission. Trek path has marked by red color, but in some places, it’s a bit difficult to locate due to various reasons. It's advised to do your own research before the hike by referring previous articles, discussions or contacting previous hikers. And also experienced local guides can be found from Atanwala and take one of them if you have not sure on the landmarks.

Although we didn’t take precautions for wild elephants you should be mindful about them if you go in June – December.

Take leech repellents as they are plenty, but I recommend Dunkola which is the best remedy for me.

Rain is frequent in this area and better equipped for that too.

The smaller the group is better because when the group gets larger, much time is consumed and you have limited time to reach the cave. Also, everyone should be mentally and physically strong and should understand each other well.

I went this hike with Trekker Sri Lanka (https://www.facebook.com/trekker.lk/), I would say the team was well prepared and really helpful and equipped for the journey. They never forget to make the journey enjoyable and memorable. I would recommend you to talk to them for any further information.  

Trail route:

Colombo Fort -> Kadawatha -> Kandy -> Mathale -> Raththota -> Pitawala via Riverston ->  Atanwala (ඇටන්වල) -> Atanwala Sohona [ඇටන්වල සොහොන (වැව)] ->  Malkirigolla Gap (මල්කිරිගොල්ල කපොල්ල) -> Weragala Muduna (වේරගල මුදුන) -> Weragala Kadaman (වේරගල කඩමං) -> Walpolamulla Wewa (වල්පොලමුල්ල වැව) -> Walpolamulla Devipidum Galwala (වල්පොලමුල්ල දෙවිපිදුම් ගල්වල)-> Kirimatiya Kubura (කිරිමැටිය කුඹුර) -> Kirimatiya Kadaman (කිරිමැටිය කඩමං) -> Nugathalawa Ela (නුගතලාව ඇල) -> Nugathalawa Pathana (නුගතලාව පතන) ->  Nugathalawa Mada (නුගතලාව මඩ) -> Weddahena Kadaman (වැද්දාහේන කඩමං) -> Weddahena Kubura (වැද්දාහේන කුඹුර) -> Weddahena Oya (වැද්දහේන ඔය) -> Polwaththa Kadaman (පෝල්වත්ත කඩමං) -> Polwaththa (පොල්වත්ත) -> Polwaththa Ella (පොල්වත්ත ඇල්ල)->  Dumbara Ella (දුම්බර ඇල්ල) -> Biththiya (බිත්තිය) -> Naran Aththa Oya (නාරං අත්ත ඔය) -> Eli Hatha (ඇලිහත) -> Sansun Ella (සන්සුන් ඇල්ල) ->  Duwili Ella (දුවිලි ඇල්ල) -> Weddahena Oya (වැද්දහේන ඔය) ->  Rabukoluwa (රඹුක්ඔළුව). 

PS: Happy to say, this was one of a kind experience you can ever get.