It’s been in the list of our plan to visit Knuckle Ranges right from the starting of 2019. It’s the dream come true when three of us united to travel together towards the Knuckle Ranges.

We started at about 5:30 from our respective boarding house and headed from Kandy to Wattegama by bus, just 15 km from Kandy. We had our breakfast in one of the small hotel in the town and quickly headed towards Bambarella, a small remote village at the base of the Knuckle Ranges. We went by three wheeler and it costed us about LKR 1700/- which was reasonable. We reached the base at about 8:30 am. From Bambarella, we started to walk; our real hike began!!!

This beautiful forest is a part of Bambarella which I captured while walking towards the Knuckle Ranges. The places around me have a sort of strong connection even if it’s my first visit. I took everything there as something related to my homeland Bhutan because there are resemblance at its best.

While still walking uphill under the morning sun rays, Gihan and Dorji were far ahead of me trying their best to look for the best path that we can take because Gihan almost forgot the path 😂. I was trying my best to gain the maximum out of the walk before we actually reach the main base point. We were still through the village at that moment. It was a nice feeling that was so strong that it connected to my childhood.

This is probably the first place we decided to take photos owing to its magnificent beauty. The blue sky above with the tea plantation below gave a place the perfect scene that anyone can fall in love with. Two of them took photos but I just captured the beautiful landscape. I didn’t took photo of myself there.

At this time we were still walking on the rough road through that small village. Almost to the point of the main base. Hurray!!!

At every steps we took, there are reasons not to regret our plan to hike the Knuckle Ranges. By this time, we considered having already started with the hike because we have walked a reasonable distance by then.

A rocky route for a stream where only a scanty water was flowing attracted me for a while which made me to take one photo. This is to show how nature are exquisitely blended to create a heavenly place filled with melody and serenity.

There is a small water fall which was really small but I was convinced that it becomes huge and more beautiful during heavy rainy seasons. It was one good reason that put smile on my face. I was like, “Wow!” not because it’s a waterfall but it was really cool and soothing when I immersed myself there.

The climatic condition was not really to our expectations but we kept on moving hoping for the best. It was really foggy and cold. The path was moist and muddy which intensified the difficulty of our journey but we were really energetic no matter how weather treated us. Walking within the forests, crossing the only stream, through the grasses and bushes, beneath the bamboo shrubs, we moved up and up. We enjoyed the drinks and snacks what we had prepared throughout our journey whenever we felt the need. We walked, we rested and we took photographs. Eventually, after a kind of usual struggle in every hike, we found ourselves on the top of the first range. The most interesting situation was the fog covering all the places that we couldn’t even see where we reached but when we finally reached the summit, it was a kind of surprise. We reached at around 10:55 am. How long did we take to reach the destination? 😎

The summit was the most memorable site. The moment we reached there, we kept our backpacks on the rock and started our well deserved freedom. Photography was never forgotten. It was a main event there. I even recorded some video clips to show how it really looks like to be on that range. It was heavily cloudy and misty. There was a strong breeze that blew us weakening our posture in photography.

We hoped that the cloud would finally disappear and we could have birds’ eye view of the places below. However, the misty clouds could not cooperate with us. We waited with expectations. We had our lunch soon after and again waited a while. The sun was just above us which occasionally appeared and most of the time disappeared. “The sun is teasing us”, Dorji was shouting and two of us agreed. Nevertheless, we didn’t regret again. The misty clouds have their own beauty, the strong breeze has its own charm and they together created a scene that was indeed perfect for us to remain there for quite a long duration.

We sang out loud like we were in the middle of the seven billion people. We shouted whatever we liked, we whistled. We acted like a hero who dance to the tune of the breeze, spreading our hands like birds spreading their wings. Fluttering sounds from our garments also gave us amazing feelings.

We felt like we were the heroes in the battlefield. “We have conquered the Knuckle Ranges”, we shouted at times. I personally did a short duration meditation sitting on the rock facing the misty clouds. It was a relieving moment at that time.

After our tasty lunch, we again waited and then proceeded to the second range. Second range is more of a plateau than a range. It was not that beautiful though. Without spending much time there, we came back to the first range. “The first range is the best one”, we were shouting amidst the whistling breeze around us.

Knowing that the sun and the clouds are not going to favor us, we decided to descend back to the base. It was 11:57 am when we started the race back to the base. We were counting on the time very often because we really wanted to know at which time we can reach the base on our fastest pace.

Amazing!!! We reached there at about 12:56 am which means we took only one hour to come back. That’s why it’s amazing.

Finally we put an end to the long hike by coming in a public bus back to Wattegama. It was a nice day.

Recommendations

I would recommend you to visit the place with a well experienced guide. It is not difficult to climb, it’s our choice. Please, do visit.