Sri Lanka It's Happening

May 21, 2008

My first close encounter with the sixth highest mountain in Sri Lanka; Great Western was in 1992, when we visited my brother in law at the Great Western Estate. Well, he wasn't my brother in law at the time, but he was the assistant manager of the estate and was living at the Gal Kanda bungalow.

The estate covers the lower half of the mountain and right at the edge of the tea plantation is a Hindu Kovil. In 1993 we walked upto that Kovil for the first time. The kovil would be at an elevation of about 1500M, the peak towers a good 700 meters above it.

Soon after Nishantha moved to Watagoda estate and lived at the Yoxford bungalow. Even from Watagoda estate you can still see the mountain very clearly. It's so prominent that you can clearly distinguish it all the way from Pathana to Nanu Oya.

Nearly everytime we visited the place, I climbed to the top of the Watagoda rock. I got so good at it, that I could race to the top in forty five minutes. Even though the peak is a sheer cliff the climb isn't really difficult and you don't need ropes. That's because there is a small shrine at the top of the peak and steps have been crudely hewn into the rock face and at the most difficult places pitons have been sunk.

Every time I climbed to the top, I would think about climbing Great Western but never got around to it. Then Nishantha was promoted as manager of Watagoda estate and moved to another bungalow which is somewhat further from the peak. After that, my journeys to the top of the Watagoda rock became less frequent.

Thereafter Nishantha was promoted to Group Manager and moved to Great Western Estate. He has been living in that bungalow for nearly six years yet neither of us ever climbed to the top. That is until this monday.....

Posted by raditha at May 21, 2008 2:55 AM