10 Things to do during your Riverston-Knuckles visit

On a misty March morning, while sipping some really sweet black coffee from the balcony at the Arangala Forest Lodge, all I can see is the Knuckles Mountain Range. The locals call this the Dumbara Kaduwetiya meaning the “Mountains full of mist”. The hotel at Arangala is another story. That deserves an entire post for sure. But to keep it simple, it is one of the best accommodations in Matale, Sri Lanka. Okay, back to the main story… If you want to visit the Knuckles Mountains from Matale, the main trail or the route, would be through Riverston.

Travel Tip: Be sure that your vehicle tyres are in good condition. The trail to Riverston must be done in a vehicle because apart from the short visits, 80% of the route should be driven. There are no fuel stations in the Riverston area and make sure your fuel, tire pressure/condition, and vehicle are in working and safe condition

Riverston

The word itself is not a local Sinhalese word. There are two popular beliefs on how this word came to be.

Riverston | Rivers and Stones	Riverston | Lots of reverse and turns in the route
It’s said that when the British were surveying the area in the Dumbara Kanduwetiya (now often called Knuckles Mountain Range), the entry path to the mountains was full of rivers and stones. This later became Riverston and the name stuck. This is the more logical explanation. Rivers & Stones.	Because all vehicles that entered the forest through this area had to do a lot of reverse and turns to reach the mountains, the area became Riverston. But if so, the name would be “Reverston” – not Riverston.

The road from Matale's Rattota (රත්තොට) to Hettipola (හෙට්ටිපොල) via the Riverston route is one of Sri Lanka's most scenic. Some claim that anyone with a heavy heart should take a bus from Rattota to Hettipola, and the beautiful nature and fresh forest air will heal all worries.

— Meshaun Journeys (@meshaunjourneys) March 27, 2025

Places to visit in Knuckles Mountains via the Riverston route

A quick search would list out many locations to visit and see. But in the actual trail, since I followed the road from Rattota to Riverston and so on, there are some main places to visit. Let’s find out 10 interesting places to visit and experiences to enjoy during the Matale Rattota to Riverston to Lakegala route of Knuckles Mountains.

01. Bambarakiri Ella | බඹරකිරි ඇල්ල (Bambarakiri Falls)

One of the first stops on the Riverston trail would be this waterfall. Along with a hard turn, you notice the shops out front, the board that says the pathway to Bambarakiri Ella. There’s enough parking on the sides of the road and an assistant to help you find a nice parking spot (a tip of Rs 50-100 is recommended). Walk through the pathway and you arrive at the beautiful Bambarakiri Ella.

Many visitors highlight the Hanging Bridge that separates the Upper and Lower waterfalls but during our visit on February 2025, the bridge is no longer safe to walk. It’s broken and literally hanging for survival (pun intended). Still, you can walk aside the bridge and walk near the waterfall area. It’s a short waterfall compared to the taller ones that are famous in Sri Lanka. Still, the natural beauty overrides all doubts

The basin-like area right beneath the Bambarakiri Ella calls out for a bath but it’s not safe. Just in recent years, this waterfall recorded over 17 deaths from accidents by visitors who chose to take a dip in the waters. Safe to say that Bambarakiri Ella is meant for sightseeing only – not for bathing.

02. Kithul Shops (කිතුල් කඩේ)

This is an interesting experience along the way and therefore added to the list. It’s a simple shop run by a local family and they sell many items based on Kithul products (jaggery palm or fishtail palm). The store people are very friendly and are always excited to show their products.

Some of their Kithul-based products include:

03. Riverston Tower & Riverston Viewpoint

The whole trail starting from Matale to Rattota is named after this landmark. Why?

There are a few highlights at this stop. Riverston Tower, Riverston Viewpoint, and also the Riverston Gap – Hulan Kapolla (හුළං කපොල්ල).

Entrance ticket fees to visit Riverston Mountain are as follows

• Foreign Adults = Rs 930.00 per ticket
• Local Adults = Rs. 75.00 per ticket

Riverston Gap (හුළං කපොල්ල)

Would you believe that this cozy looking bend is one of the scariest to almost all the visitors to Riverston. At 1424m above sea level, some of the harsh winds that flow through this bend pushes away all visitors. With the slopes too steep right next to the bend, some visitors make it a massive adventure just to pass over this bend. This is called the Riverston Gap – or in Sinhala as Hulan Kapolla (හුළං කපොල්ල) where it’s more of a heavily windy location to pass.

Riverston Viewpoint

To anyone who passes the Riverston Gap would be the Riverston Viewpoint.

Walk down the footpath to your right and you arrive at this beautiful scenic place. Overlooking the entire plains and mountains in the distance, this is quite the breathtaking view of a part of the central hills.

Riverston Tower

The tower on Riverston Mountain, commonly referred to as the Riverston Tower or Riverston Telecommunications Tower, is a VHF (Very High Frequency) transmission tower located near the summit of Riverston Peak

This tower is part of Sri Lanka’s telecommunications infrastructure, likely used for broadcasting or communication signals, taking advantage of the peak’s high altitude and strategic location to cover a wide area.

04. Pitawala Pathana (පිටවල පතන)

Pitawala Pathana is a unique montane grassland in the Knuckles Mountain Range, near Riverston. It’s a 10-hectare expanse of turf grass on a rock slab, ending at the 300-meter Mini World’s End cliff with stunning views. Rich in biodiversity, it’s home to rare species like Kirtisinghe’s rock frog. To keep things simple, imagine. a large grassland and a very cool climate with winds?

The entrance ticket has to be purchased from the Pitawala Pathana office – right next to the Vehicle parking area.

Travel tip: The canteen is open on some days but was closed on our visit day. There is a hidden meal area behind the Ticket office. There are concrete seats and tables laid out for anyone to use. Also, the washrooms here are properly maintained.

05. Mini World’s End (පුංචි ලෝකාන්තය)

Don’t let the name fool you. Even though it’s called Mini-World’s End, giving the title of World’s End to Horton Plains National Park, this 300m drop at one end of the Pitawala Pathana is really steep. Honestly, it’s one of those places you can feel that you are on the Top of the World. The distant views of the Knuckles Mountains and the cool winds with the high POV scenery, really shoots some adrenaline into your system.

06. Sera Ella (සේර ඇල්ල)

This is one of those famous waterfalls which you can go behind the waterfall and see the water fall in front.

Swimming here is not recommended as its water levels are not stable. Especially during the rainy season (Sri Lanka actually has a lot of rain), the water levels change quickly and swimming, bathing in waterfalls cannot be recommended or guaranteed with safety.

Even though this is far from Riverston by the time you visit Sera Ella, still this would be a good visit even though you have to come back another 13 km just to get on the main road.

Travel Tip: Don’t forget to buy some fresh Lime juice or a Cup of Tea from the locally-run shop. The elderly-couple is very kind and always loves a good talk.

07. Thelgamu Oya Bridge and bathing spot

Remember that this whole trail so far needs to be covered by a vehicle? If you check Google Maps, it shows only 45 km and you might think it only takes 1-2 hours tops. But in the real road conditions, stops, the ups and downs of the Knuckles roads, it nearly takes a minimum of 5-6 hours to get here.

Traveling all this distance in the vehicle, with braking and engine braking, your vehicle will be nearly binding the brakes. You can feel that when you reach it here. So the best thing is, let the vehicles rest, engines and brakes cool down while you take a dip in the cool waters at the Thelgamu Oya. From both sides of the bridge, you can get down and like you can see in the image, it’s quite safe and neat for a water-bath.

08. Kalu Ganga Viewpoint

One of the scenic water-bodies during the journey from Rattota to Hettipola would be the Kalu Ganga Reservoir Viewpoint. By this location, the shaky-and-broken roads are done with and it’s all neat roads. So the Riverston trail takes on a completely new-look after hours of driving in shabby roads since all morning.

If you check the main rivers of Sri Lanka you might notice it says that Kalu Ganga starts from the Sri Pada Sanctuary and flows to the ocean from Kalutara. But that’s a different Kalu Ganga. This is not the same river or connecting to the Kalu Ganga Reservoir. This Kalu Ganga connects to the Amban Ganga and finally connects with the Parakrama Samudraya in Polonnaruwa.

09. Kulasinghe Reservoir – Moragahakanda

So, where does all this water come from? The reservoir collects its water mainly from the Amban River, which the dam spans across at Elahera. It’s also got a neat trick up its sleeve—a 96-kilometer tunnel, the longest in South Asia, links it to the Kalu Ganga Reservoir, about 10 kilometers away. That tunnel pulls in extra water from the Kalu Ganga, a tributary of the Amban, at a rate of 35 cubic meters per second. Imagine that flow—it’s like nature and engineering teaming up to keep this place brimming. The surrounding Knuckles Range and its streams add to the mix, especially during the rainy months.

How much water does it hold? This thing is massive—it’s got an active storage capacity of 521 million cubic meters (that’s about 1.84×10¹⁰ cubic feet). To put it in perspective, it’s four times bigger than the famous Parakrama Samudraya in Polonnaruwa. When it’s full, it sits at a surface elevation of 185 meters (607 feet), and with two extra saddle dams, it holds everything in tight. I’ve heard it’s the biggest reservoir in the Mahaweli Project, which is saying something given how huge that whole scheme is.

10. Wild Elephants near the Road at Moragahakanda

By this time and during this section of the Trail, it’s said that the Elephants gather to the roadsides during the evenings. Luckily, the elephants were already there by the time I passed this area. It was around 5:30 PM and since these are wild-elephants, no vehicle stopping is safe. Hence, seeing these beautiful Asian Elephants, I had to still pass them without having much time.

If you are interested in seeing the largest elephant gathering in the world; let’s do Minneriya National Park safari.

Matale > Rattota > Riverston > Lakegala > Matale

Phew. That was one of the most-scenic drives of a lifetime. Whoever said that the Riverston trail is breathtaking maybe didn’t emphasize enough. It’s raw forestry-areas and driving through this cliffs and slightly off-road was one of the best experiences to try in Sri Lanka.

This is the full view of the Route we covered during the trip. Altogether it is nearly 145 km and the full day is spent in the Knuckles Mountains. We started the trail at 9:00 AM and finished only nearly around 6:00 PM. But this was with regular breaks and stops to cover all the interesting places.

Best way to visit Riverston? get a 4Wd

Since we travelled by a 4WD Nissan Patrol, we enjoyed the ride comfortably. There are various types of vehicles the visitors will come in, some even came in the large Ashok-Leyland buses. Now that’s what I call a super driver. Some of the turns and twists in the roads are not that easy to navigate and some are literally 180-U Turns. Really wondering the skills of the drivers who manure a Bus as large as that.

Best way to visit Riverston and the surrounding routes would be to drive a 4WD vehicle. There are some Mahendra Bolero SUV trucks for hire from Rattota and you can discuss on a price for this. Some suppliers ask for Rs 30,000 per trip and these trucks can carry about 06 Adults in each truck.

But many locals also come in their cars and vans. Some in their moped bikes as well. Cycling would be quite difficult given the long distance and terrain but it’s best to make sure your vehicle is in good condition to navigate these roads.

What to pack for the Riverston Journey?

The route is scenic but it’s not comfortable. Not enough restaurants or shops to purchase anything on the way.

Best to pack drinking water, biscuits, lunch, umbrellas, hiking shoes, sunscreen, power bank for the phone.

Travel Tip: Keep a downloaded Map from Google Maps in the phone. Along the way, you lose connectivity and no signals to check routes and maps.

Where to stay in Matale?

We did the entire trail to Riverston and beyond while staying at the amazing Arangala Forest Lodge in Naula, Matale. There are some hotels and eco-lodges at Riverston and Knuckles Mountains and reviews seem fantastic. Some boast of their Instagram posts and pictures and will try the next time with a quick getaway into the heart of Knuckles and Riverston.

Knuckles Mountains via Riverston – amazing Nature

This trail is one that everyone should enjoy. The locations you will pass along the way are just amazing. Yes – I say Amazing a lot because it is what it is.

Need any help planning your visit to the Riverston and Knuckles Mountains? Connect with Meshaun Journeys and we will help you book the perfect holiday in Sri Lanka.