Sri Lanka Hill Country

(By Chris & Jen)

Otis approaching the Little Adam's Peak shoulder summit

After our safari in Uda Walawe, we swam a bit in the hotel pool and arranged for a car to bring us to our next destination, Ella. It was unfortunate that we met up with a globe trotting family really more as we were leaving, they were fun to talk with.

We left the jungle and began heading uphill. We were heading to hill country -- home of lush green hills and tea plantations. At first it seemed like normal Sri Lankan roads: small shops hard against the shoulder, animals of all sorts displaying an active disregard for oncoming vehicles, and, on the road, pedestrians, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, tuktuks, cars, busses and delivery trucks all engaged in a complex and impenetrable dance where, happily, everyone knew the steps so collisions were kept to an absolute minimum.

Chris and Jen brace against the wind while our driver inspects where the car would likely have landed

Soon, however, we began to really climb. Ella is almost exactly 3000' higher than Udawalawe, and the climb mostly occurs in the last handful of miles. Gentle switchbacks soon gave way to severe switchbacks, and vertiginous shoulders were protected, if at all, by sub-sub-western standard guard rails. 

Ravana Ella Falls

The lack of barrier did not stop drivers from passing on blind curves or otherwise taking risks straight out of a Steve McQueen movie, but we made it to the (almost) top where our driver paused at Ravana Ella Falls, a popular attraction on the outskirts of Ella, the site of a famous kidnapping in Sri Lankan folklore, and a frequent spot for tourists to try to climb the falls and tumble to their deaths. As I recall, its also where we saw our first monkeys.

Toque Macaques

36 reported deaths to date - so, uh, don't try to climb the falls

Ella was only a few more minutes up the hill, and we stayed at a guest house called Lucky Star Lucky Star. Ella is a lot cooler temperature-wise than anywhere we had been to so far, and some of the highlights of our stay in this tea town included tons of monkeys, my first sort-of-burrito since leaving the United States, climbing Little Adams Peak, visiting the Newburgh Estate green tea factory and dining at Café Chill, a restaurant that would be at home in New Jersey.

Jackfruit trees can have fruits as large as 80 pounds, and you can use them to make delicious vegan barbecue

The view from the top of Lucky Star

Jen and Otis pose on the walk to Little Adams Peak

Otis at a summit east of Little Adams Peak

Some dudes enjoy the view with us

some dudes pose on the way down

Newburgh Estate tea fields are very scenic!

Otis samples high grade green tea at Newburgh Estate 

Walking home through tea country

After two nights in Ella, we left for the even higher, even tea-ier town of Nuwara Eliya. Nuwara Eliya is the highest city in Sri Lanka, sitting at over 6,000' and in our very spacious guest house room at Spring Garden Guest House, it was genuinely pile-on-the-blankets cool, so our host built us a fire every night using coconut husks dipped in coconut oil as fire starters.

Wasantha lights the fire

Nuwara Eliya is known as Sri Lanka's Little England, and while it has a golf course right in the middle of town, we didn't find it to be as English as we expected. Our favorite bits were hiking to World's End in Horton Plains National Park, Victoria Park and pizza at Salmiya Pizzeria. We had hoped to climb Adam's Peak, and lots of people go to visit tea plantations or some of the many waterfalls, but we didn't feel inspired by tea or falling water, and Adam's Peak turned out to be unreasonably far away.

Approaching Little World's End in Horton Plains National Park

Otis takes in the 1000' drop at Little World's End

Otis lingers near the 3000' drop at World's End

The views are legendary

Otis gets close to the action at Baker's Falls

A very bright lizard in an invasive gorse bush

Impressive flowers in Victoria Park, Nuwara Eliya

After Nuwara Eliya, we headed north and down to Kandy, which we'll tell you about in a future post. Before we go though, the train journey between Ella and Nuwara Eliya (and to a lesser extent, between Nuwara Eliya and Kandy) was a highlight of the trip. It doesn't travel fast, but it is comfortable, you can put the windows down, the weather is lovely and so is the scenery.

Waiting at Ella Station

Jen enjoys the breeze

Chris enjoys the breeze

Jen at the high-tech departures board at Nuwara Eliya Station

Go to Ella, skip Nuwara Eliya if you want to, but definitely take the train!