Planting trees and raising awareness along the Kelani River….

The spirits of the Yathrees were not dampened for a second today, despite torrential monsoon rains all morning. We are very impressed to see their persistent positive mentality on such a long journey.

We continued our environmental training of the Yathrees this morning in our stunning rainforest. We also took the opportunity to study the water quality of the Kelani River, which has become heavily laden with sediment, highlighting the importance of stopping deforestation and replanting trees to prevent erosion, soil loss, and damage to this unique river ecosystem.

We ventured further downstream to the picturesque Hakbelawaka bridge, where we met supporters from the local government, undertook an awareness campaign and planted trees. The trees were a gift from the local Chairman Pradeshiya Sabawat who has been a huge supporter of our Journey.

Chairman Pradeshiya then invited us along to his headquarters at the nearby town of Yatiyanthota, where we were met by a gathering of government officials, the local school principal, the local head monk, and other supporters. We discussed our Journey, as well as strategies to encourage more environmentally-friendly practices in Sri Lanka. The Yathrees were even given a chance to introduce themselves and individually discuss their experiences so far.

The local officials were very impressed at the progress of our rehabilitated youth from the Northern and Eastern Provinces, who joined us through the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation. The Chairman then treated us to lunch, and donated many more trees to us.

We spent the remainer of the day visiting towns along the River, undertaking awareness programs and turning heads with our popular street performances.

At dusk we made our way into the mountains to our resting place at a historic hilltop temple complex, as invited by the highly-respected and charitable Mapitagama Family.

- Pat

White water rafting down the mighty Kelani River..and taking Kithugala by storm with an eco-awareness campaign!

We had an unforgettable morning rafting down the hair-raising rapids of the Kelani River, the Yathrees first experience of such an adventure. Between the wild rapids we took the time to marvel at our stunning rainforest setting, as interpreted by our naturalist guides.

We then dried ourselves out and hiked up into the high-country to visit the world-famous Beni Lana caves, the dwelling place of some of the earliest homosapiens (up to 30,000 years ago!). This stunning archaeological site nestled in the side of a cliff face made us reflect on the scale of environmental destruction that humans have caused in such a minute period in the history of Earth.

We then traveled to Kithugala, where the Yathrees scoured the town, performing dramas in the streets about caring for Mother Nature, and engaging with locals about environmental issues such as polythene waste, climate change, water pollution and sustainability. The Yathrees have impressed us with their confidence and passion to raise awareness of these important issues, and promote simple solutions.

We stopped off for a quick visit to the stunning filming location of The Bridge On The River Kwai, before reaching our accommodation at the eco-friendly, tropical paradise of Wanadula Rest, where our host Lucas discussed with us how to transform any property and building into an eco-friendly, natural haven.

Sorry about the late post of this blog, torrential monsoon rains and our remote location has made it tricky to find internet service!

Action packed eco-Adventure experience!!!

Never have I ever had such an action-packed day in my entire life! Our legs are tired, our throats are soar from cheering on our friends, but our hearts are filled with an experience we will cherish for the rest of our lives. The idea of today was to “step outside of our comfort zone” and work as a team, as introduced by our inspiring eco-adventure guide and experienced ecologist Mahesh.

We spent last night in tents, with the Yathrees taking sentry posts throughout the night. Rather than seeing this as a task, they were highly grateful for the experience, and even pleaded with us to let them do this every night!

We rose at dawn to raise the Sri Lankan flag, before jumping into a meditation and yoga session to get our minds and bodies in tune for the day ahead. We then launched into some innovative and hilarious group activities. I have never witnessed such comradery, selflessness, teamwork and participation in all my experience in adventure guiding!

A morale boosting Haka (Maori-dance) inspired performance by Team-River, in the pouring monsoon rains

After breakfast we took to some rope courses in the jungle canopy, and despite torrential monsoon rainfall, which persisted all day, none of the Yathrees ducked for shelter or complained once – rather, cherishing this added challenge from Mother Nature.

Kanchana being lifted down from the high ropes course

After lunch we hiked through awe-inspiring jungle, across wild river crossings and into the mountains around Kithugala, with the raging sound of the Kelani River never far away. We passed the location where the classic World War II movie, Bridge over the River Kwai was filmed, and even visited an eco-friendly micro hydropower house. This led us to the rarely-seen Katarum River, where we took turns in plunging down a hair-raising rock pool slide!

Upon returning to base camp we sent the Yathrees off to prepare a drama to perform tonight to reflect on this marvelous day. Judging by the Yathrees performance so far, I trust this will be a hilarious, jaw-dropping, tear-jerking and heart-warming evening!

At this half-way point in our Journey we would like to say a heartfelt thanks to our kind and generous sponsors and supporters, your support has changed the lives of our youth, as well as everyone that we have passed along the way on our Journey For Climate Justice.

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Testing the waters of the mighty Kelani River…

This morning we ventured onwards to Polpinya Temple, where Kanchana led us in an uplifting Green Leadership training program. We then sent the Yathrees off into the wild to get some inspiration, which they put to good use with some beautiful artwork.

After lunch we continued downstream, stopping along the way to test the water quality of Kelani’s two main tributaries – Maskelyia and Kehelgamu. It was inspiring to see the Yathrees show so much enthusiasm to understand and protect these waterways, which are the lifeforce to much of Sri Lanka.

We  then met up with Mahesh from SEALS (Spirit & Eco-Adventure Living Squad) who will be leading us through an action-packed 2 day nature-based adventure course! We took up camp at the SEALS base at Kithugala, on the banks of the scenic Kelani River. We spent the remainder of the day bathing in the river and soaking up our picturesque surroundings.

All in all another glorious day! Our mouths hurt from laughing so hard, and our brains are packed full with knowledge to be the green leaders of the future.

Once again, Kelani Nadee Yatra is in the media spotlight, with a great article in today’s Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka’s renowned English newspaper:http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2011/08/21/new56.asp

Trekking downstream through wondrous jungle, under the peaks of the Seven Virgins!!

Another day…another unforgettable experience! We watched the sun rise with a jog to the nearby temple, before jumping into a Yoga session with our good friend and yoga-guru Nande. Nande then led us in an environmental meditation session, which got our brains in tune for the day ahead.

We then ventured onwards to the Canyon Hydro Power Station, where the resident engineers were kind enough to give us a tour. After testing the water quality we travelled further down the road, and begun our steep descent to the majestic Laksapana Falls.

We feasted on jack fruit curry for lunch in the spray of the falls (eaten off a banana leaf to minimise our waste), and a few brave souls even swam up to the base of the waterfall to witness its power firsthand!

After trekking back up the steep rocky path, the Yathrees launched into another eco-awareness campaign with local communities.

This was a great success and lead us many kilometres down the road, where we hitched a ride in the back of a passing small truck (imagine 25 of us clinging on for dear life in the tray!)…not a bad effort to minimise our carbon footprint! This brought us to our destination at Bokarabebilla Temple, nestled in the jungle below the Seven Virgins (a series of 7 beautiful peaks), where local monks kindly agreed to put us up for the night.

Our journey has achieved massive media interest, most notably being a  30-minute live interview about the journey on Derana, one of Sri Lanka’s leading TV stations, as well as being broadcast on national radio, where we were introduced as “Sri Lanka’s longest ever environmental education program”.

Kelani Nadee Yathra - Glimpse of First three days

Nail-biting adventure to Lakshapana Falls

Another incredible day…its practically impossible to squeeze a day’s adventures into a single blog but I’ll give it a shot!

We begun the day at dawn with some environmental meditation and nature awareness training. Our Yathrees are connecting deeply with the natural world around them, using their 5 senses to fully appreciate nature in all its forms.

After breakfast we ventured through the beautiful high-country to Koththallena where we met our friend and adventure guide Neil, a boulder-hopping Sri Lankan adventure junkie, who led us through remote leech-infected jungle (see photo below – even my super dooper Sri Lankan leech socks couldn’t save me from the onslaught!) to the Maskelyia River.

We then scrambled, abseiled and boulder-hopped our way several kilometres downstream, to the top of the majestic Lakshapana Falls. Along the way we took full advantage of the spectacular scenery as an outdoor classroom, with the highlight of the day being some tear-jerking poetry from the Yathrees on their journey so far.

We then hiked back up to the bus, which dropped us into the nearby town of Maskelyia, where the Yathrees rounded up the locals and performed a theatre piece that they had invented about the importance of Mother Earth, and why she must be conserved.

The Yathrees then launched into a public-awareness campaign about green living, particularly highlighting the littering of the streets and water supply with rubbish. Over the next 2 hours the Yathrees covered the entire town, engaging with many locals, who pledged to take a stand for the environment and do what they could to conserve their local environment. We were then invited to ceremonies at the town’s Buddhist and Hindu temples, where we raised awareness of our mission, and were blessed by the local monks.

The day came to an end with a presentation that I gave on Australia, and the environmental issues that we face (by popular demand!). As well as some training on water quality testing, which will be put to good use in our studies of the Kelani River.

- signing off on another day in Paradise…Pat