What is Pada Yatra – Foot Pilgrimage
The traditional 2 month-long pada yatra/foot pilgrimage from Jaffna to Kataragama annually in May-June-July is a traditional procession of village devotees who represent the rural voice of Sri Lanka. This is not a political or any NGO rally as myself misunderstood earlier.
The Pāda Yātrā tradition is an essential part of Lanka’s multi-cultural ethos. The Yātrā begins with pilgrims moving from one sacred site to another, with their numbers growing as the Yātrā progresses. Over 30,000 pilgrims walked the final leg through Yala National Park in 2019.
Actually, we couldn’t cover the whole distance hence we joined it from Okanda. From Okanda It is usually 4-5 days journey around 100kms, here is my story about how we nailed it within 3 days.
Day 01 Colombo to Kuda Kabilittha via Panama – Kataragama Pada Yatra 05/07/19
10:20hrs – We were lucky enough to grab the last and the least 3 unoccupied seats from the last bus for the day to Panama. After 8 hours of the ride, we reached Panama by 06.20hrs in the morning with various kinds of back pain etc. lol. Our bus fare was 950LKR pp.
We walked around and bought some short eats (Vegetable rotties & few parata rotties), long enough hard polyester roll to use as our camping mat. Then we were searching for a ride because we have to travel another 14kms to reach Oknda Murugan Kovil (entrance point). By chance, a kind safari cab driver shared his empty ride to Okanda for 500LKR. If not, it would cost around 300LKR.
07:30hrs – We jump off from our ride and had a quick bath from one of the Aandiya well nearby the Kovil. At that time there were around 1000 pilgrimages around the Kovil to begin the journey. We also participate the morning chanting and observe the blessings from the God Katharagama for a safe journey. There were few colorful kolam (artworks on the floor) there too.
08:15hrs – After taking a token from the entrance we began our journey. The token is only for the counting purpose and Sri Lanka Army is there to help you out in any conditions for a safe journey. A pack of deer welcomed us within our first kilometer by crossing our path. Unfortunately, I forgot my memory chip and it was a sad beginning for me by the way. All the snaps were taken by my Samsung Galaxy note 8, Gopro hero 5. My Sony alpha buddy was hanging around me without her memory chip all over the trek.
Pada Yatra can be extremely challenging, both mentally and physically due to two high temperature & dehydration, because the path terrain with long valleys (no shade from the sun), water crossings and sand.
Therefor it is important to prepare yourself well enough for the critical conditions. The importance of constant hydration and taking enough salts to keep the cramps away are key factors to make your journey enjoyable.
08.30hrs – First stop
08.45hrs – we reached Giant Hearth Stone (Yoda lipa) where 3 giant rocks situated as a hearth stones across the road
09.00hrs – First few miles until we pass the Kumana turtle Conservation Center entrance it was shady and not very crowded. We only found 2 groups of people only.
Small tip : Join with a group or someone who has done the trek before. Their experience will help you to navigate through the rough terrain. I was not well experienced though because I am not familiar with dry zone treks hence this is my first time too. Asanka and Pasindu, my partners have already experienced the trek last year and I was like the annoying buddy for them. Asking tons of questions to deduct my curiosity was the best part for me but not for them, lol.
Backpack – Suit up your backpack well
3 water bottles(3L) one for energy drink (Jeewani) and two for drinking water.
There were water points along the track to fill your bottles. But there were times that we ran out of the water because of the massive sun burn. If you are a tourist, it is advisable to use water purification tablets or a life straw. I highly recommend jeewani, the life saver which helps us a lot along the journey.
*It is important not to drink too much water at once but keep drinking a small portion of water regularly. This will keep your lips wet.
Enough food and clothes for 3-4 days, not too much and not too less is preferable. Because you have to carry them for over the journey. I was managed to survive with 2 sets of clothing. Each day you will be able to wash your hiking clothes and dry it before the next day. Since you have to carry a backpack between 10-15kg across 4 days in Hot Sun, minimizing the load will make your journey enjoyable.
As your footwear you can take out Canvas Shoes or Hiking Shoes and Socks as a backup a pair of Slippers or Sandals might be desirable.
Do not wear new shoes. It will chafing your legs and make the rest of the journey hard as my friend Pasindu faced. You might require to take off your shoes when crossing water paths and muddy areas. Some legends like me, (hahahaa) tend to wear slippers throughout the journey since it is easy to take them off. But I was suffering from the burning throughout the day.
09:45hrs – So we stepped another 45mins and half to take a rest. After that we crossed our first lake and walked along the bank to reach Babura camping site.
10:30hrs – It was fully occupied and crowded around the lake. Most of the pilgrimages stop there to prepare their lunch. The rising sun rise slow down our trek little by little as we could feel the tired and thirsty little bit more.
Small tip: Never ever forget to bring your sun glass, fully covered hat (mask) & to wear a long sleeves t-shirt. It was like burning to ashes when I realized the value of those. Btw I covered my head with a t-shirt and that helped me to protect my glorious head.
11:00hrs – Another break on the bank of the Alligator tank. After crossing another lake, we reached under a huge shady tree on the river bank. While looking at the waves we could count around 15 alligators mocking the muddy water here and there.
12:00hrs – We walked another 7-8 kilometers ahead and reach our lunch preparing spot as our colleges planned. It was nearby a lake, a water tank and two tamarind trees. We tasted the fresh tamarind before our lunch and lay down there for 30mins like dead. We were the only people who cooked there at that time.
01:00hrs – We were like hangover after our quick nap. I think you can imagine the situation under a fully burning sun in Summer. Dhal & soya curry filled our bellies and force us into anther 30min rest. We ideally spent 3 & half hours there under shadows to avoid the mighty sun to be frank.
02:30hrs – Left the lunch taken area and trek over an hour to reach the bird watching tower. It is situated nearby a lagoon and hundreds of birds were flying and resting there. Most of them were migration ones. We were treated there by some Tamil young group and we also treated them back with some biscuits. We have to walk another 8kms from there to our camping site (Kuda Kabilittha). Without taking any extra time we left there to reach Kuda Kabilittha to end our first day.
16:35hrs – It was fully crowded under the Kumbuk trees around Kumbukkan Oya (river). Kumbukkana is a main resting point of Kataragama pada yatra. We laid down our mat and waited until the sun set, Another Tamil family nearby treated us with sweet rice (a rice made by adding sugar, hakuru and lotus seeds) & it helped us to forget our after effects of 22km journey. Then we took a bath around 18.00hrs. It was pleasure to floating on the water and watching the sunset over the Kumana sky.
The group we met before invited us to join them to have dinner and that was a kind invitation which we couldn’t reject. They were camping nearby us and we took our dinner sharing our experiences and life stories. It was glad to realized that two of them were Sinhalese and one was my Instagram follower with a great photography maniac.
Have you ever felt the taste of curd, mango & sugar mixed together with rice? We were also suppressed at a glance. The method is to mix them all & eat them together. As they told us the main reason behind this meal is nutrition. However, it was an unforgettable night for us with that amazing dinner.
So, we made our mat a comfortable zone and call it a day of our Kataragama pada yatra journey.
Leave a Reply