Investigating the Waulpane (Wawulpane) Lime stone cave

How to get there?

On the Ratnapura to Ambilipitiya road between Godakawela and Pallebedda junctions, there’s a road to the right side which leads to Kumburugamuwa. From the main road, you need to travel about 13km on a mountainous narrow road to reach Waulpane village. Unfortunately, I wasn’t tracking the road on GPS, but remembered to mark the location.

Road condition as of May 2010 is pretty good.	Road condition as of May 2010 is pretty good
Road condition as of May 2010 is pretty good	Except for the last 500m to the cave

Preparation

The cave is owned by bats (100s of them) and is very very dark. Cave ground has at least an inch thick bat droppings, may be a bit less on the path where people usually walk

Following is recommended as preparation gear before you go there for a real investigation.

• A rain coat or similar cover to protect your self from frequent bombardment from bats

• Rubber boots
  • Slippers are not recommended as inside is very slippery
  • Canvas shoes may be OK if you are willing to throw them away after the expedition (in an environmentally friendly manner of course) or willing to carry the smelly shoes for the rest of the trip.
  • or Go totally unprepared, we went barefoot
• A mask to cover the nose to avoid the obvious smell of the fertilizer.
• Powerful flash lights – You can get a Petrol-max from the village, but if you are going for a serious investigation, I recommend to take your own flash lights.
• When using your cameras, better to use it under a cover like an umbrella to avoid bat droppings. Better to use a powerful flasher to photograph inside the cave. My camera’s internal flash at full power was unable to capture anything useful.

What is there to see??

• Lime stone cave
• Lots of bats and few cockroaches
• Water fall inside the cave (suppose to be 150ft high – I’m not convinced though)
• Those cones like things made out of lime stone that are formed over 100s of years of natural activity. (sorry for my lack of knowledge on these things)
• I was told that there’s a fossil also. But wasn’t able to see anything due to poor light condition.

Cave Entrance	Entering the cave with our local guide.
Looking into the cave : Those stars inside cave are the eyes of bats shining on the camera flash	Path over the rocks and tree branches
Look at the texture of the rock on the bottom right. Don’t mistake that with sand, it is bat droppings	More stars… (You can see my hand trying to cover the camera)
More inside the caves	More inside the caves
These stars are droplets of the waterfall	More waterfall pictures…
More waterfall pictures…	Us inside the cave
More bat eyes	Yodaya kapu wala (යොධයා කැපූ වල) : The place you take the much needed bath after the expedition

Yodaya kapu wala (යොධයා කැපූ වල)