Kurundu Oya waterfall is the second highest waterfall of Sri Lanka which is situated in Walapane area. This water fall got its name because it starts from Kurundu River. The fall is high about 206m. This is very beautiful and very high. Though this water fall is very beautiful it’s not famous like other main waterfalls. Reason is the location of this fall. It is far away from the main road (need to travel 18 Km to Kandapola road from Nuwaraeliya town.). If someone needs to visit this fall he/she must go through hills, down hills and also through dangerous cliffs. Piduruthalagala Mountain is much closer to Kurundu oya waterfall.
Kurundu oya starts from the north brow of the Piduruthalagala Mountain. This connects with other water streams that starts with Hiphorest Mountain and flows through tea estates. At one end of Mathurata, this kurundu oya falls from a Granite rock, creating the amazing kurundu oya alla as two tiers. Because of this amazing creation the starting point of the water fall cannot be seen from bottom. This is very rare in waterfalls.
As the hike due on 3rd of Auguest 2013, the students who love hiking gathered to science faculty. There were about 40. President of the club gave a brief introduction about waterfall and the route that we have to travel. In the meeting that held weekly, members were advised to wear long sleeve tops as there is a poisonous tree called maaussa.
We left the campus at about 8.30am. Had a great fun during travelling by bus, sang songs. We got off from the bus in walapane town. Time was exactly at 12 noon. It was too hot & even difficult to bear. Again the president gave some advices, also explained the way that we had to behave during hike. Some members were appointed as head and tail as usual.
Then the journey was started. Though it is said that the waterfall is surrounded by several tea plantations we couldn’t see them. That may be due to deforestation. The area was arid at the beginning. Instead of beautiful tea lands we had to walk through marginal tea lands. After walking about 400-500m we had to climb stair case.
Though it was the beginning it was really a difficult task. Stair case was ended up with a Japanese temple called peace pagoda.
There, we rested about 15 minutes. Ate biscuits and became fresh. One of our sisters felt bad after climbing stair cases, so she was taken back to bus. Two sisters & 2 brothers went with her. This is why explorer club is known as a family. Always members of the club help each other due to brotherhood.
Then the journey was continued and we walked through a stony land. Here we could see Grandish trees that are high in timber value. Also some grass species, sudana, white oak could be seen.
Also we could see several plantations of villagers such a carrot, cabbage, radish. The tired feeling disappeared when our eyes caught the scenery of the water fall.
To reach the upper part of the waterfall needed to walk about 3km into the forest. It would be a difficult task to find out the way. Seniors did a great job finding the easiest way to reach the water fall. We were glad as it didn’t rain. If not leeches may attack us for sure. Coffee, Cardamom, Kalaa thibbatu, Kudumiris, Hinguru/gandapaana was some plants that we could observe during the hike.
As mentioned above all of us were very careful &cautious about maaussa plant as it was very dangerous. One of our friends did a great exploration. He guessed a plant as maaussa and touched it purposely to confirm whether it is the maaussa plant. Wow! Marvelous guess. It was the plant. He was suffering from great pain. This hero is not anyone else, he is our AI (agricultural instructor) brother, muditha aiya from agriculture faculty. But it was very helpful for us to recognize the plant and to be more careful. Others who came after him were safe.
Maaussa plant
When we heard the sound of the waterfall it was just like the medicine for our tired bodies. At last, at about 2 pm we reached the upper part of the waterfall. It is true, at the moment of seeing the waterfall, our tiredness disappeared.
We had our lunch there as usual, according to uec manner, introduced ourselves to others, took photographs. President told us about the water fall. And another senior member described the geographical features of the kurundu oya alla.
Describing the geographical features of kurundu oya alla
Because it got late we started the hike again towards the lowest part of the waterfall.That also was beautiful as same as the upper part. Had a great fun there. All most all the students jumped into water and enjoyed there. Water was so cold.
Lower part of the waterfall
As it was too late we started our last part of the hike, coming back. All of us were trembling and it was difficult even to walk due to cold. It was about 8p.m when we reach the walapane town again. We got into bus quickly. Had refreshment there too. On the way to university we sang songs, and enjoyed. Most of us didn’t want to waste our valuable time by sleeping. It was 12am past when we reached university. At the end of the hike we dispersed according to usual manner of the explorer club.
The interesting thing that I’ve noticed was though maussa plant is poisonous none of the seniors didn’t damage any of those plants and also not advised us to do so. It should be appreciated. As an explorer we must love our nature. If we visit any place/ environment we should leave it as it was. Then only the beauty of nature will remain.
Kurundu oya water fall is infamous among people not because of its’ less beauty. It’s because of its location. Only few may know even where it is. So it is a rare if someone getting a chance to visit this amazing waterfall. We got that rare chance and were lucky enough to be added to the handful people who visit kurundu oya waterfall because of the Explorer Clubof the University of Paredeniya.
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