The
train ride to Pattipola
It’s been over 3 months since we did our
bike ride around the country. We’ve had enough time to recover and think about
another adventure. One thing was for sure. We’re not going to do that bike ride
again for a really really long time to come.
So after much deliberation, we finally
decided to climb Mount Namunukula – a mountain range with nine peaks towards
Badulla in Sri Lanka. If you had read my posts earlier, you would recall that
we were attacked by bees during our ascent to Mount Kirigalpotta and hence
discouraged us from climbing Thotupola Kanda, which was just a stone’s throw
away. Well, the bee season was over, so what better time to squeeze in the
third highest mountain of LK other than now?
Itinerary made, we got back to waddling
through the days leading up to the hike. Two days before the hike, the railway locomotive drivers decided to
call a union action. This put us in a spot of bother as the train was a key
component of our itinerary. We made it onto the Pettah railway station on the
13th of February only to find that the whole o Colombo was waiting
to get onto the Badulla night mail train. There were fewer trains running and a
lot more people trying to get to their homes out of Colombo for the long
weekend – a really bad equation for a hiker carrying a backpack weighing over
10kgs and a tent to boot.
We had no option. We HAD to get on this
train. The train was about half an hour late and this added to the tension on
the platform. Security was lax and there were fights breaking up in small
pockets across the entire station. It resembled one of those D-Day movies where
everyone was trying to get to safety at all costs. The train arrives. And the mad dash began.
I remember using strength that I never knew I had to push and force my way into
the compartment. There were swears and curses by angry commuters thanks to my
10kg backpack, but I had to ignore. The objective was to find two feet of space
and an empty space in the overhead rack to push the tent in. With much difficulty,
all three of us were successful – albeit in different corners of the
compartment. We didn’t worry much about it – it’s a 6 hour train ride. Although
we had no space, we had plenty of time.
After a couple of hours, the traffic
subsided considerable and we were able to breathe freely again. We even managed
to find a space to sit and we took turns giving our legs a much needed rest.
The compartment that we were in was occupied by a group of cadets from Nalanda
College going for a training camp in Diyathalawa. Those boys were fun. They
kept the entire compartment entertained with their light hearted banter and
merry singing – which I might add, was rarely on key J
Before we knew it, we were at Pattipola.
This must be about the 4th time that we’ve come to the highest
station in Sri Lanka. We’ve always had good memories associated with it. And we
were hoping that this would be no different.
The
hike to Thotupola Kanda
Our first milestone was to reach Thotupola
Kanda – the 3rd highest mountain in Sri Lanka. We had plans to do
this the last time we were in Horton Plains about 5 months back. But the timing
was really bad since we went smack in the middle of the blooming season. You can read about that here. However, we were determined to do it this time – bee stories
or not.
There were about 5 and a half kilometres
from the station to the Horton Plains – Pattipola entrance gate. We were fresh
enough and keen. So we were able to reach the gate by about 6am – just as the
gate was opened for visitors. We purchased a ticket to the Plains and made the
short hike to the entrance turnoff to Thotupola Kanda. This proved to be a
pretty easy hike since we had to do just about 1.5 kilometres to reach the summit. We stopped for a break and a customary photo and then began climbing the
mountain. On our way we could see the remains from
the blooming season. The Nelu flowers were pretty much dead and there were no
bees. It was like walking through a destroyed and forgotten city since we knew
how thriving this area was not more than 5 months ago. Half an hour more and
the scenery changed magically. We were confronted by the all too familiar
greenery which can only be found on uninhabited mountain tops and the familiar
smells of morning dew and fresh flowers. The sun was blazing down by this time
and the lack of mist made it easier to see for miles and miles over the
mountain range. This is what you’re missing by sitting in front of your laptop
reading this J
Before long – there we were. On the top of
Thotupola Kanda. There was a small radio tower, a shack and some solar panels
on the summit. I don’t know whether this is currently in service or not. But
the radio tower provided one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. We
were so high up we could see mountain ranges covered in mist sprawling as far
as the eye can see. It was like a scene from a fantasy movie. We clicked enough
pictures and took in all our eyes could take in before reluctantly deciding to
make our way back. It was about 7.15 am. We’ve made good time and the rest of
the itinerary was open before us. Also, we couldn’t get a proper sleep on the
train since there were no seats. So on our way down, we put our bags down on a
flat piece of land surrounded by nothing on 3 sides to have power nap. There
can never be anything better than chilling and having a bit of rest on top of
the world with the entire countryside visible below you, can there?
Fresh and rested, we woke up at about 7.45
and picked up our bags and the tent to make our way down to the Horton Plains
entrance gate again. Our next connection was a train to Demodara from Pattipola
at 1.10 pm. So we had plenty of time. But to our mild amusement, we descended
the mountain in about 15 to 20 minutes.
Milestone achieved, we started our hike
back to Pattipola through the same route we came.
Spring
Valley – the lost gem of Badulla
The railway strike was in full force. Upon
reaching Pattipola, the station master told us the 10.15 am train was cancelled
and that the 1.15 train will also be late about an hour. Our hiking was done
for day one anyway. So we didn’t really mind as long as the train did come. Our
plan was to make it towards Spring Valley (which was on the foot of the
Namunukula mountain range) on the Demodara – Badulla road and then camp there
somewhere overnight. Tomorrow morning we would make beeline from Spring Valley
to the highest peak in the Namunukula range. Since we had lots of time to kill,
we decided to take a small nap in the station and then left the station towards
Pattipola town to have some good lunch.
Fish is a luxury when you’re this high up
in the mountains. So the choices were limited when it came to rice and curry.
However, we were hungry enough to devour half of Pattipola. So we helped
ourselves to some salmon rice and plain tea and walked back to the station in
expectation of the train. Again, we dozed off slightly till the train arrived.
We were in luck. The train did come at about 2pm and we were able to get on
without much of a hassle. The train wound its way through some
utterly, stupendously beautiful countryside. If I could do this or a living I
would jump at the chance. The waterfalls, the tea estates, the winding rail
tracks, the mountains etc would be a sight for any Colombo dweller. We passed
over the world famous Demodara Bridge within a couple of hours and I cursed
myself for having the camera safely tucked away in the camera bag.
Within minutes we arrived at the Demodara
station and caught a tuk tuk to take us to Spring Valley and the legendary
Black Pool. It was a little further than we expected. We had to travel about 10
kilometres till we finally reached the pool. We had to walk through a
precarious man made bridge and reach the Kovil in Spring Valley. The pool was
right behind it. This was a welcome break. There was no one else in the pool
and we had it all to ourselves. So we shed our clothes and took a dip on the
shallow side. The deep side should be avoided at all costs – just so you know.
After a refreshing dip, we got dressed again and made our way to the Kovil. The
next step was to find a campsite.
Through numerous nights spent on mountain
tops, we knew by experience that Spring Valley in itself was the ideal location
to camp. It was surrounded by mountains, the breeze was pretty low and it
wasn’t as cold. Also, a stream running parallel to the Kovil, which provided us
with a water source to fuel up tomorrow early morning. And we saw the ideal spot
too – right in the corner of the Kovil premises. We asked around from the
estate workers about whom we should speak to in order to get permission. We were directed to a house a little further
away on the hill where the ‘leader’ of the estate resided. I can’t quite recall
his name and he wasn’t home either. But another fellow in the household spoke
to him on the phone and he gave us the green light.
Night was falling fast. Without wasting
much time we unravelled our trusted tent and set up camp in the Kovil premises.
This was smack in the middle of an estate, so the entire tea estate
civilization along with its ‘line’ houses was around us. And the inhabitants
were very accommodative. They popped into the kovil premises from time to time
as they passed by to see if we were okay and if we needed anything. We assured
them we were and by 7pm, we had had a bit of dinner and settled into sleep. We
were extremely tired after that sleepless night mail train ride. And before
long all three of us were snoring away.
The
climb to Namunukula
We were up by 6am. We were enlightened
about the many trails to the top of Namunukula the day before. But since we
were not locals, we were told that the best way to the top is to take the bus
to Nallamalai from Spring Valley and start our hike from there. There were only
two buses on this road. And they weren’t very frequent. If we were lucky there
was might be a bus at 6.30 am. But we weren’t. So we had to wait for the CTB
bus that was supposed to come at 8am.
This is when our luck started to run out.
That bus never came. The estate workers were confident that CTB fellows faked a
breakdown since it was a Saturday (This is apparently known to happen in the
CTB). We waited till about 9am with no luck and so we finally decided to hire a
tuk tuk to Nallamalai. By 9.30 am we were in Nallamalai. The tuk tuk driver
showed us the start of the trail. The start of the trail was through some
civilization. And this is by far not the shortest route to the top. But since
we were foreigners in this land, we had to stick to the known trail. The
villagers at the bottom elevated our tension a bit when they said that there
was no clear path to the top. The villagers had peeled a little bit of the bark
off trees along the trail in order to make sure that they did not get lost. All we had to do was follow these marked
trees through to the Turpentine tree forest and then through dense jungle to
the top. Pretty easy right? I laugh now about our naivety.
Until we reached the mountain turn-off to
Passara, there were a couple of locals on the trail. We were still at the
bottom of the mountain so to speak. We had to ask directions till we reached
this point. Thereafter we were on our own. The trail was pretty clear until
reached a little stream. We freshened up and filled our bottles at this point
and crossed the stream. This was when things got complicated. The first couple
of trees had marks leading to two different trails. Indika and I kept our trees
with Prishan and went along the two different paths to do some scouting. Indika’s
trail had marks to a considerable distance while mine had none. So the rational
decision was to follow the trail to the left.
We did so, and we were getting increasingly
unsure about the route we were taking. There were no signs of a trail and it
hardly looked used. But the good thing was, we were going up. So we had to end
up somewhere. Prishan’s GPS tracker was on and it was tracking the path we were
taking too. The incline was pretty steep. And we were getting tired and
dehydrated faster. But finally, we saw the starting patch of the Turpentine
forest. We gratefully stumbled into the forest and took a much needed break to
account for our faculties.
Although the incline was steep, the path
ahead was clear. When you’re this tired and hiking, that gives you a lot of
confidence. We could even see the peaks from here. But there was some way to go
before we reached the top. We navigated through the Turpentine trees and
finally reached the end of its patch – to be confronted with a dense forest. The tree marks were still visible. But this
was unlike any other hike, we’ve done before. We had hiked through forests
before, but then again there was a trail. Here there was none. We just had the
tree marks to guide us and the forest was getting thicker and harder to
navigate with each step. We didn’t think it was safe to stop in one place for
long because we had no idea what kind of animal was watching our every move.
So, with the hot sun blaring down on us, we trudged through the mountainous forest
with the little energy we had.
Half an hour more and even the tree marks disappeared.
The area was now relatively thinly spread, so we had more visibility but still
we couldn’t see the end of the tree line. Indika volunteered to go up a bit and
scout for a trail. I remember him shouting from the top saying that he has
encountered a large rock and that he couldn’t see anything beyond it. He came
down to where we were and we sat down to have a break and decide upon the next
course of action.
This is when we had a stroke of luck. We
heard voices from the bottom. It appeared that we were not the only ones
summiting Namunukula that day. We shouted and did the customary ‘Hoowa’ to get
a response. But at that altitude, the voice carries farther than necessary and
we weren’t really sure whether the voices were coming from above or below. But
after a while, we heard a response ‘hoowa’ from the other party. We were
silently overjoyed. The voice that responded was that of a little boy. We
finally figured out that the voice was coming from above us. We shouted and
asked for directions. And we followed the voices to the top. We avoided the
rock and beat a path through a side and climbed with a reinvigorated spirit. A
few more steps and the landscape changed completely. The tree line magically disappeared
and we were now on what appeared to be a familiar landscape – that of a mountain
top.
We waded through the chest high undergrowth
with a new lease of life and saw the other party a little further away. And
that was it. We were right on the top after the most difficult hike we’ve ever
done. We almost gave up under the big rock thinking we were lost. Only to
realise later that the summit was right above it. That was a life lesson learnt
on the mountains.
After spending some time snapping some
pictures, we were finally ready to descend. But we weren’t really looking
forward to going down that same route we came. The locals on top asked us to
follow them to our relief. So we joined the back of the pack and walked down
with them. However, the route was not less hard. The declines were steeper and
our propensity to topple over was far greater. But we were less apprehensive
because we were with experienced people who knew the route.
We walked and descended over a stream and
finally reached the Turpentine tree forest. After a small break, the younger
natives raced down the hill to the point from which we started the hike – The Passara
turnoff. We took our own time since we were straddled with 10kgs each. Upon
reaching the bottom, an elderly gentleman invited us to have lunch with them at
a waterfall nearby and offered to drop us off at the bus to Passara. We tried
to decline his offer politely because we did not want to burden them anymore.
But they were insistent. At the waterfall on the road to Passara, we all
stopped and he gave us a massive lunch packet which we gobbled down heartily after
thanking him and his daughter profusely. After lunch, the group broke off into three
sub groups. We followed the elderly man and he guided us onto the main road
through a variety of shortcuts across the estates. We got to know that he was a
native from Namunukula town and that he was a farmer. He even showed us his
paddy fields from the point where we were at.
Evening was falling fast and we were making
good ground through the estates at record speed thanks to ‘Uncle’s expert local
knowledge. Luck was on our side because as soon as we reached the main road,
the bus to Passara ambled on down from the mountain. He stopped the bus for us
and the younger folk of his clan instructed the conductor to drop us off at the
tenth milepost – from where we took a bus to Badulla town and subsequently, a
bus to Colombo.
And thus finished one of the toughest hikes
yet. We came back home thinking about the wonderful escape, the adrenaline rush
and the absolutely amazing people we met on top of a mountain. Hopefully we can
keep doing this in time to come.
You can find pictures of this hike on my
Flickr profile right here. So until the next hike then - travel well, travel
safe.
Miranga
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