Long journey to Pidurangala Rock Sigiriya

Everyone who goes to Sigiriya climbs the Sigiriya Rock.  We decided to be more adventurous and climb the Pidurangala Rock as well.  

We had read that Pidurangala is far less-visited than Sigiriya.  And so it was.  Finding Sigiriya was easy - one can simply follow the stream of tourists.  Getting to Pidurangala was more of a challenge.  

From the top of Sigiriya, you can look across to Pidurangala.  We knew it wasn't far, and from checking at the hotel, we knew that we could get there by following the main road to Habarana.  So we set off walking.  At the beginning, we could see the rock, rising above the jungle, but we soon lost sight of it as we got closer and the trees around it got taller.

We walked a long way, looking for a sign to Pidurangala.  We came to a small, overgrown side road.  There was no obvious sign that it led to a tourist destination.  So we kept walking.

We walked further and, after about 20 minutes, caught up with some tourists who were plainly lost.  They were looking for Sigiriya.  They asked us for directions, and full of self-importance, we explained that they had taken completely the wrong road, and sent them back in the direction of Sigiriya Village.  Knowing that we were on the right road to Pidurangala, we ploughed on.

We kept walking.  We walked quite a long way, past another small country road - more of a ghostly track - that led vaguely in the right direction.  But we couldn't see Pidurangala amongst the jungle, so we decided to walk on and find a local to ask directions.

We were pointed in the direction of the second small road (although, later, we would learn that the first road would have been more direct - we went exploring without a map, but you can find one here).

Anyway, off we went...

On the way, we came to an old, and apparently deserted monastry, unique for showing Buddha under the shadow of a cobra.  There were no signs, and we weren't sure of its name.  It was beautiful, serene and quiet - like nobody had visited this place for years.

It came with a stupa, but the grounds were overgrown and appeared neglected.

Mrs Herbivore was a little scared of ghosts at this place, so we kept walking down the road, in search of Pidurangala.

It had taken us a good hour and a half to walk from our hotel in Sigiriya, but finally, we found the entrance to Pidurangala.  It was a very different experience from Sigiriya Rock.  At Sigiriya, we had to queue for tickets, and then queue for a ticket check.  In contrast, we were the only people at Pidurangala - and we actually had to look for someone to find us a ticket.  Each ticket cost LKR 500 for admission to the cave temple, which also permitted us to climb the rock itself.

At the bottom of the hill, a short walk from the ticket office, is the cave temple.  A helpful attendant kindly showed us through to see the ancient sculptures, and a reclining Buddha.  This temple was clearly well-kept and in regular use.

After visiting the rock temple, we set off to the top of the Rock.  The attendant asked us if we wanted a guide.  We politely declined, and he warned us to be careful of snakes.

The climb to the top was not like Sigiriya.  Whereas Sigiriya had well-worn tourist paths, clearly maintained at some expense by the auhorities, Pidurangala was rather more wild.  It really was like being in the jungle, and in places, there were no paths at all.

We were relieved that we didn't see any snakes, but after a short, steep climb, we reached a much older, and less maintained Buddha.  On the way, we passed clefts in the rocks where the monks had lived ancient times.  The climb to the Buddha probably took us 20 minutes or so, and was relatively easy for anyone from a hilly city.

The Buddha marks the end of the maintained path - but from here you can keep climbing, through and over rocks to the top.  A top tip is to follow the arrows painted on the rocks to get to the top, even if they appear to go the wrong way.

The climb from the Buddha is more challenging.  You really do have to scramble, stretch and climb a bit to get to the top.  We managed in a pair of sandals and flip-flops respectively, but proper shoes would probably have helped.

From the top of Pidurangala, we could look out towards Sigiriua Rock, where we had been the day before. 

The view of Sigiriya was beautiful and amazing.  We could make out the hordes of tourists on the other rock.

But we enjoyed the relative solitude of Pidurangala.  In the hour or so we spent there, we saw only a handful of people.  It was almost like being alone in the world.

From the top, we ventured down.  Getting down seemed to be much easier and quicker than the climb up.  We were tired and hungry, and fortunate to find a tuktuk at the bottom.

The tuktuk took us back to the village in Sigiriya for lunch.  The tuktuk route was rather more direct than our walking route to get there; and as we neared Sigiriya Rock, we finally found a sign pointing to Pidurangala!

If we had taken the right road, past Sigiriya Rock, our journey would have been much more direct, and much quicker.  But perhaps not as much fun.