The Global Paddling Community

The journey through Sri Lanka continues.

I mean, overall it was a 50-60 km first descent with plenty of falls, slides and rapids, with portaging around two 80+m waterfalls, jungle, leeches and action.

This time I am just writing about it, even while I think I was the first guy putting a boat into the river but my ailing knee (we are talking 2004!) gave away on the first fall and I had to limp out of the gorge. The meniscus blew out and I needed an operation, which then included staying on the beach for a week to get back on my feet. Obviously I didn’t have an insurance to pay for it , so it went on my own wallet.

The Pelibox is holding the operation funds.

But back to the kayaking. The Russians also had a trip planed in Sri Lanka and showed just up in time to visit me at my hospital bed. Which gave me time to tell ‘em the goods of the country. I am just a nice guy.

This obviously included the river and writing this article. I am even nicer then I thought myself.

But yep, their English isn’t the best and neither is mine but, the photos make up for it and as mentioned above, its well worth to report about a gem of a river which you can descent on a nice beach holiday with some action thrown in.

There’s obviously more in Sri Lanka and especially more waterfalls but they are either hard to get to, or plenty of meters tall. One particular river to look for is the Badulla Oya. It also should be a first with nice slides and nice falls. Interested?

There are some more photos on www.shivaoutdoors.com in the photo gallery.

Nearest weather station (°C):