Ella, Sri Lanka - Walking and Waterfalls

When we arrived in Sri Lanka we decided to hire a driver for the 8 days that we were due to stay. It didn't cost much more than all of the taxi, train and bus fares would have and it saved us a lot of travelling time so that we could spend longer in each place.

After a brief overnight stop in Colombo we headed to Ella. The first thing that we noticed about Sri Lanka was that it is greener, cleaner and calmer that India. We loved it straight away. Ella is surrounded by beautiful hills and tea plantations. We hiked up Ella rock, one of the iconic hills of the area. Unfortunately we got caught in a thunder storm whilst we were walking which meant that when we got to the top we couldn't see as far as you can on a clear day, but the view was spectacular all the same. It was rather a scramble to get to the top, and frankly we were out of practice, but we made it in the end.

The route to and from Ella rock involved walking along the train tracks (and getting out the way of any passing trains!). We even made a little rather flea bitten friend who followed us all the way to the top and back down again.

We also visited a beautiful waterfall which was regularly frequented by locals for a quick dip.

The town was well equipped for backpackers, with lots of very good restaurants. This was the first time that we had seen so many Westerners in one place at once since starting our travels. Clearly a popular place!

After 3 days in Ella we headed on to Kandy in the centre of the country for a night before continuing on to Habarana. We went along to a cultural dance which was interesting, if a little amateur, but the fire walking that ended the night was good fun.