Reflexions of a Lone Venturer: Camping at Bambaragala Pathana

Sri Lanka is full of many beautiful places. As someone who loves to explore and be connected with nature, I am always on the look for such places. Bambaragala Pathana was such a place that I accidentally spotted in Facebook and wanted to explore. Although it was not known to me, it is a very famous place in Badulla and being a place that is easily accessible, it attracts many locals and hence could be crowded specially during holidays and weekends.

Bambaragala Pathana is in Uva Province about 147km away from Colombo and closer to Badulla. If you are coming from Badulla, you must take the Namunukula bus. The easiest is to come through Bandarawela. Once you reach the club junction you can either take a Tuk tuk or walk about 2km to the location. If coming by a vehicle you can park it as villagers have facilities for that closer to the location.

I long weekend was coming in March so a friend of mine Thiwanka wanted to go somewhere. As I prefer travelling with minimum people specially two, I agreed as we have not done any camping together. We were looking for options and Bamabaragala came on the top of the list as we wanted to travel light and using public transport. So, for the 3 day journey our first stop was Bamabaragala.

We took the night mail and as Thiwanka was coming from Colombo he got into the train at Fort by about 8 p.m. The train has left and as it was a long vacation and Sri Pada season the train was terribly full and luckily, he has got a seat on the 2^nd class. I was planning to join from Peradeniya and the train was to reach Peradeniya station by 11 p.m. It was raining very heavily in Kandy, so I took a tuk tuk and reached Kandy station from where I got a connecting train to Peradeniya.

For our timing, the night mail was late. By the time it reached Peradeniya it was past midnight. I had my camera, tent and backpack and gave it to Thiwanka who was seated. With great difficulty I entered, and I had space only to keep my two feet. The train was sardine packed. The railway was to have a strike on that day, but they have called upon it for some luck. Maybe due to that the train was moving so slowly, I think a snail would have crawled faster. Due to the delay our train had to wait for every other train to pass. Usually by Hatton people get off and we get seats, but this seemed to be breeding people and I got a seat only after Pattipola. I was so exhausted. As soon as I got a seat, I naturally fell asleep and as a result could not get a good view on the outside. By the time we reached Badulla it was almost 11 am, 4 hours late in the journey. Luckily, we did not have a difficult hike and I would not have taken this train again, but it was the most convenient way of reaching these places.

Badulla train ride is considered as an iconic travel. You pass through the hill country and can see the green misty mountains, pastures, iconic places such as the 9-arch bridge, Demodara station and passes through many tunnels that gives the passengers a unique experience.

We being sleepless and tried the first thing was to get some food. So, we went to place and had rice as we were to have something simple for the night. Then we went to the food city and bought water, some bread, Nescafe and snacks for us for the dinner. We got into the Passara bus and got down at the 10^th post from where we took the Namunukula bus and got off at the Club Junction. From the club junction we took a tuk tuk that dropped us near the walking path to Bambaragala patna.

By the time we reach the place it was around 2p.m. The weather was bit hot but as you start walking through the trees, we felt cooler. When we reached the place there were few guys and couple. They have come to spend some time there and there were not planning to camp. So we had the privilege of deciding on the camp site and we choose a location closer to the edge from where we could get a good glance at the surrounding and also if we are lucky to see the sunrise.

We walked around taking some good pics. My Gopro was given to repair and Thiwanka had his one from which he took man pics. I had my camera and phone. The view was amazing. The sky was clear at that time so we could have a good glance of the view below from the top. An uncle came selling some patties, so we took some and he said usually the place is crowded during weekends. When we stand at the top, we can get a good 270-degree view. On a clear day it was told that the Mattala runaway could be seen from the top. From the edge of the hill one can see Namunukula area, Buttala area, Monaragala, Wellawaya, Wewekele, Bibilegama etc. depending on where you are.

So, we set up the tent. It was a two man tent I bought recently, and this was the first time I unpacked it. With fingers crossed we put up the tent and it was on a hard rock and the place we set was not even. But that was the place that gave the best view. As we were tired, we naturally fell into sleep when someone came and talked to Thiwanka. One of his friends and his wife had come taking Thiwanka’s direction. They spent some time admiring the place and went back to Ella where they were to spend the night. We only had two power banks and they were dropping to zero and Thiwanka went down to find a house to get them charged. While he was gone, I got a book and started reading when another group of boys appeared with camping equipment. There were about 10 in the gang and they set up their tents closer to ours. I knew that serenity I was planning to experience is going to be lost. When they were almost done another group came. Luckily, they knew the place was not enough, so they camped few meters away. So, including us there were three groups.

By the time Thiwanka returned it was almost 7 p.m. The place was becoming noisy and the calmness was gradually disappearing. The group next to us started making cocktails, BBQ and the other group was also started playing a JBL with music that suited a night club. Some other travelers came just to get a glace of the view and they returned. And Thiwanka told me that another group was on the way and they have hit a water pipe and started making a big scene with the villagers and we were sacred that the villagers would come and ask us to leave as one group was making too much noise which I was sure could be heard by the people below.

For me camping is about getting connected with Nature. I enjoy the serenity. I prefer going as a small group specially in a group of 2 so that I can enjoy that moment with another person. But situation did not allow me to fully experience that. Thiwanka was always busy taking photos, charging his gopro, the other gangs were making loud noises. So, this was not something that I wanted to experience but I had to unwillingly. Those little conversations that I wanted to have a calm moonlight cold night, about life, about us never happened.

As the night came, the air got cooler. The surrounding was covered with mist. Poya was two days ahead but the moon was covered. We had minimal clothing, so we had to satisfy with what we had against the cold. The other groups have made a campfire. Thiwanka and me had bread as dinner. But with time the sky became clearer. The pines with mist gave a gloomier feeling which I thoroughly enjoyed. We took some night photographs (Actually Thiwanka did from his Gopro) which I am still waiting to see but he has still not edited (He took photos almost covering two memory chips ha ha but has still not published). Had it been only the two and the environment was calmer I would have spent more time experiencing the night. But the situation demanded that I go to sleep early.

So, I went into the tent and got ready to sleep. Thiwanka also joined a little later. As the floor was not even, it was not a very comfortable sleep. Our backs were aching from the stones that emerged, and the cold also kept us awake. We didn’t even have a bedsheet to wrap around. Thiwanka covered himself from a sarong and I had to wrap my towel. But I have experienced worse colds and I would say that this was bearable. The cold made me wanted to pee at the middle of the night and I would not call it a comfortable sleep.

We kept the alarm for 5:30 in the morning. But when we peeped out it was not very clear though cold. By about six the sky became clearer. We could clearly see the clouds below. So, we got out and set our cameras to take pictures. The sunrise was also visible for our luck. It was pleasing both to the eyes and to the body to experience the view and the climate specially the freshness. So, we spent quite some time enjoying it. We had our Nescafe packets and some biscuits as breakfast. Our stop for the day was Idalgashinna. Thiwanka’s friend agreed to meet us at Ella and was willing to give us a ride to Idalgashinna.

One of the best things about spending some time in Nature is that when nature calls you can go to nature itself. So, when nature called me and Thiwanka went to poop naturally and release our waste enjoying a good view which was one of the things I always look forward to while camping. After the dump we dismantled the tent, packed our stuff and started heading to the village houses where Thiwanka has gone in the morning too to get the devices charged (Most of the time of Thiwanka in the three days was spent charging his devices, transferring data from the sim cards and taking photos and I wonder whether he actually enjoyed the journey).

When we reached the house where Thiwanka had kept the devices charging, Thiwanka suggested taking a bath as we will not be having any at Idalgashinna. Although I did not like the idea because those people had limited water, the uncle and the aunt at the house insisted on taking one. So, we had a bath and Thiwanka was wearing his Sarong which was the only one he had against cold which we realized only later at Idalgashinna. We stopped a tuk tuk who took us to Namunukula from where we had tea and took the bus to Ella to meet Thiwanka’s friends to go to Idalgashinna.

This was how our day one ended. When the camping sites are easier to reach, usually many people go there. I believe that is alright if you do not disturb others. One thing I always believe is that try to minimize the number of people that you go with and the people whom you go with. We all have different intentions for example photography, relaxing, have a chat, have a different experience, distress ourselves etc. So, when the travel partners have different interest that clashes with your expectations and the travels become miserable. Do minimum changes to the environment you are in. For example, if it is not that cold, do not put campfires, do not clear the sites to set up tents unless it is very necessary. It is good to capture the moments. But do not let photography hinder with your experiencing the nature. And remember specially if you are going to a village, to be disciplined. These people will help and support you but in return do not make a big scene and disturb their living.