23 June 2014 Horton Plains
The Horton Plains circuit is a wonderful leisurely three-four hour walk. We were lucky to see a herd of Sambur in the early morning mist. The scenery began a bit like Scotland, with moors and low lying ferns, but quickly changed into forest. We were also grateful that we made it to to World’s End before the rest of the tourists. We were not allowed to bring any plastic into the National Park, which was cool, though we still managed to see a small amount of plastic rubbish during the walk – there is just no stopping some people. The walk itself is quite stunning, with changing landscape every 15 minutes or so. Waterfalls, lakes, varied vegetation, if you enjoy nature at all, we heartily recommend Horton Plains.
24 – 26 June 2014 Ella
The next day we caught the 11am train to Ella. When the train arrived the locals advised us we would have to get down onto the train tracks to board the train. We bought third class for 40 rupees each (about 35c). Third class in this instance was fine, we heard stories of people being packed in like sardines, but we were lucky to have four seats to ourselves for most of the journey. We never bought first class as it is air conditioned and the windows are always closed. Local vendors cruise the isles selling fruit, yoghurt and local fried chickpea goodies. It is a beautiful train ride through large valleys of tea plantations. We were a little bit anxious that we might miss our stop as we didn’t know which train station was before Ella, but naturally the locals sitting across from us just knew that we would be going to Ella and advised us as we were approaching.
We hadn’t booked any accommodation, and when we arrived, asked one of the local touts to recommend a good guesthouse. Straight away a very polite man advised us he had a guest house with Wi-Fi and hot water for 2000 rupees and that he would take us there to have a look first. The guesthouse was a little way out of town, but the owner advised he was happy to take us in and out of town in his tuk-tuk for free, sweet! When we arrived, we were extremely happy, it was a huge, very clean practically new room right on the doorstep of little Adam’s Peak. Unfortunately he is not online yet, but his guest house is called ‘Chill’. I was almost a bit disappointed that we had booked our accommodation somewhere else for the next two nights as this place was fantastic. True to his word, the owner (Daneshka) took us into town after a hot shower and we ate at ‘Chill’ bar, which was also great. Alex ordered the curry of the day, which was nine curries! The staff kept coming up and asking if he wanted more!
Next morning we climbed little Adam’s Peak, which was a fairly easy 20 minute stroll. The top has amazing 360° views and well worth the effort. Lunch at a very local restaurant followed by a few drinks at Chill Bar again, we could get use to this! We had dinner back at the Waterfall Guesthouse which is a beautifully located place in the forest http://waterfalls-guesthouse-ella.com/. We had dinner with two other very interesting couples. Next day we decided to chill at the guesthouse as it was such a lovely place to just be.