Dismissed by some travel guidebooks as a small hill town
with nothing much to do, Ella is the one place in Sri Lanka that I wanted to
visit. A small town with nothing to do?
That’s definitely my kind of place.
A pleasant five-hour car ride from Unawatuna along the
southwest coast of the island and through the narrow winding roads of the hill
country brought us to Ella. We spent those five hours admiring the passing
landscape and chatting with our driver about the flourishing tourism in his
country, the 2004 tsunami, and the time he worked in the United Arab Emirates
where he learned to speak fluent English.
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Ella Rock viewed from Little Adam's Peak |
Ella largely consists of a main street lined with shops and
cafes that branches out to dirt tracks leading to a plethora of guesthouses that offer splendid views of the mountains. From the
balcony of our small cabin, we could see the famous Ella Rock, imposing in its
magnificence. The sight of that mountain caressed by milky sunlight never
ceased to amaze me. And when we climbed it I was awed ten times over.
On a morning filled with the opulence of summer we started
our hike to Ella Rock. We walked from the inn to the main road to the town
center to the railway station; we went down the tracks then continued walking along
the tracks past another train station and onward to a dirt path on the left
side of the tracks; we crossed a footbridge, went through a tea plantation, and
followed the tree line up the mountain that lead us to a ridge from where could
see the stunning verdant hills of Ella. From this view point, we walked up an incredibly
steep rocky path amid a forest of eucalyptus trees until we reached the
mountain peak. It took us four hours to get there. There are many routes—some very
complicated ones--to Ella Rock, and we would have been lost if not for the very
detailed directions and the hand-sketched map provided by our innkeeper. On the
map he marked which path we should take and which ones we should avoid as well
as landmarks that will guide us along the way. These include mileposts, some
Buddhist statues, the ruins of a house, and a certain long flat rock that he
said we would recognize when we see it--which, to my surprise, we did.
While others would generally spend a couple of days in Ella,
we stayed there for six. In those six days we were able to hike not only to Ella
Rock but also to Little Adam’s Peak and Demodara Nine Arches Bridge; we relished
the inn’s traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of egg hoppers, pani pol (Sri Lankan pancakes), roti, fresh fruits, coffee, and tea served right on our porch;
we watched Western backpackers in full hiking regalia wander aimlessly around town;
we learned how tea was picked, manufactured, and sold; we walked everywhere,
wondering how that small town can remain as it is and not be overwhelmed by the
influx of foreign tourists attracted to its beauty; we didn’t want to leave,
but we had to, of course.
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