5am Pidurangula Hike

What an amazing experience - we had to start this at 4.30am however, up and ready to leave by 4.45am in the morning...flip...but it was totally worth it.

We climbed into one of those Safari vibe trucks and hit the road - the plan was to first hike up Pidurangula - which would give you a really great view of the said “star of the show - Sigiriya” then to drive to Sigiriya...we had already decided though $30 each to climb up the stairs to the top was a bit steep - and we were totally stoked when we got to the top of Pidurangula and had an amazing view of Sigiriya - and it only cost 500Rupees = R40...as apposed to the R370.

The hike was mostly in the dark up - the last bit the sun was starting to show and it made it easier, but the last day 100m was a proper climb...there were a few, head shakes, and some stern words to each other...and of course plenty of “you’ve got this” (more from An than Jo).

When we got to the top the views were absolutely breathtaking - with the sun rising on the one side and Sigiriya on the other!

It was definitely the highlight of our Dambulla stay that hike 😊

After that we headed to a spot where we could get a great view of Sigiriya from the ground and we drove past the biggest pile of poo EVER - turns out there were elephants all around us in the jungle 😊...didn’t see one, but just knowing we walking around and and elephant can just pop up in front of you was kinda cool!

Lastly we drove past this huge lake, Lake Kandalama which also was amazing with the early sunrise!Read more