Yes, tell your story. Be an example to others. Tell everyone about your journey, and then others will also find the courage to reach destinations….
There are thousands of journeys one makes during his or her entire lifetime. All of those are capable of creating at least a single memory. That’s why rewinding those precious memories are that important. Thus this is all about a journey to one of the most eye-catching places in Sri Lanka: the Galboda Waterfalls.
- Date: 20th of February 2020
- Distance from Bandaranaike International Airport: 110 km
From busy streets – to the mountain mist
“A traveling enthusiast, and contradictions to travel not applied”, what else could you expect? Our Uni-friends were planning to go on a train journey. Several days of planning finally ended up choosing the Galboda waterfall which is located in the Nuwaraeliya District.
Finally, the day of the wonderful journey arrived. Believe me, when it comes to traveling, train journeys take the top spot. All of us were there at the Fort Railway station. It only took Rs.250 for the train ticket from Colombo Fort to Galboda station. The “Podi Manike”, Colombo-Badulla express train, was already there. Finding a nice compartment where enough seats were available, created our train journey to be more and more interesting.
The train departed from Fort Railway Station at 5.55 a.m. Knowing that the journey normally takes at least 4 hours, we started our usual train journey activities, which consisted of eating a variety of sweets, singing songs and capturing beautiful photographs of nice scenarios. At about 9.00 a.m. we reached Kandy station. This is the place where the next half of the train journey begins to reach Badulla. Galboda, our beautiful destination is met at this particular route.
The train started its journey again to Badulla and we were arriving at our amazing destination. At about 10.55.a.m. we reached Galboda station, one of the most beautiful stations in Sri Lanka. The station was filled with thousands of various colorful flowers and they brought a different kind of beauty.
Off of train tracks – and on to hiking tracks
Then the hiking journey, one of the best parts of traveling began. We got to know the directions to our beautiful destination from a villager. It was said that we should have a 2km hike to find the cascading waterfalls. The very first 150m meters, we had to go along the rail track. The route was extremely beautiful, filled with various ornamental trees and, short but dense bushes.
Stepping along the rail track we could enter the estate where the direct path started. It was an absolutely calm and quiet environment. Anyway, it was a bright sunny day and the sun was bothering us a bit. Nevertheless, that utmost beauty could win our natural and artificial lenses. The best view which one could experience along this hiking journey is the view of the rail track beyond the valley.
Despite being hiking lovers, the journey was a bit hard since it was a bright sunny afternoon. Anyhow, we managed it and experienced the beauty of the environment capturing many photographs. Believe me, I would like to tell you as a traveling lover “chocolates and water ” are the best solution for long vigorous, tiring journeys. Hope you also try that.
The elephants beneath white curtains
Before reaching the falls we had to pass a vine bridge. It’s not well maintained and we had to go one by one. Then we were really astonished, seeing our amazing destination. The environment around the waterfall was cool with much rain. The waterfall was about 30 m high. We got to know from another villager that the width of the waterfall ranges from between 3 m – 6 m, depending on the season. The name of the fall “Galboda” is created because of these cascading falls. It is adjoining a gigantic stone. It derives from the huge stones located at the foot of the falls, seeming like the huge elephants.
We managed to climb to a huge stone located in the middle of the waterfall. We were there under the waterfall at its mid-height. Anyway, it’s not too safe, stepping along those stones in the middle of the falls cause at any second, the water level can change since Galboda is highly dynamic when it comes to changes in water flow as well as the width of the waterfall. Galboda is located near the villages Nawalapitiya and Watawala. You may know that Watawala is the area that gets the highest rainfalls in Sri Lanka. That’s why the water level of the waterfall is highly dynamic.
Actually, this place was not full of travelers, thus still calm and quiet, revealing its hidden beauty. Galboda is actually far more like an isolated village because of transportation issues mainly, not having a direct, well-maintained road system is the main reason for the hidden beauty of the Galboda falls.
Various kinds of orchids were also seen but we couldn’t grasp any faunal communities. Only a little doggy fellow met at the hiking route and we gave some biscuits to him as well. Anyhow, after reading some biology books I could get to know that several types of endemic reptiles can be found in this particular area.
The waterfall was quite a good place for having a bath. We could see some cliff jumpings off the waterfalls which deemed risky for us.
Back to the suburbs
Spending about 2 hours there, having a bath, and capturing nice photographs we started our journey back to Galboda station. This time it was not that hard merely because we have adapted for that route. After arriving at the Galboda station we bought tickets to the Fort station and waited till the arrival of the Train. The time was 2.15 p.m.
After getting on the train we had our lunch there. During the journey, we saw the beautiful Ambuluwawa temple tower, a biodiversity complex far beyond the mountains. Through our favorite singing episodes, one of the best parts of train journeys, the train reached Kandy at about 4.00 .p.m and stopping at the Fort station at 7.05 p.m.
Actually, this wasn’t a long journey, just a single day trip. But there is a truly nice fact about Sri Lanka which is “Beauty lies Everywhere”. All you want to do is to look for that hidden beauty. You do not need weeks or months of tripping plans to find out the beauty of mother Lanka. Just have the courage and create little steps, where you will find beautiful destinations you have never experienced before.
Photo Credits: Janani Chathurya (FOS Media)