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Home , Haputale, Nanu Oya

©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd

The Hill Country

 Includes Why Go? ...... 144 Picture and visions of golden beaches probably Adam’s Peak...... 163 dance before your eyes. But there’s another side to this ...... 166 island. It’s a side where mists slowly part to reveal emerald Horton Plains National carpets of tea plantations and montane forests clinging to Park & World’s End...... 173 serrated ranges bookended by waterfalls. This is Sri Lanka’s Belihul Oya...... 175 Hill Country; a place where you can wear a fleece in the day- time and cuddle up beside a log fire in the evening. A region Haputale...... 175 where you can walk to the end of the world, stand in the ...... 178 footsteps of the Buddha, paddle a raft down a raging river, Ella...... 179 enjoy the drumbeat of traditional dance and be surrounded ...... 185 by a hundred wild elephants. Koslanda...... 186 With a hit list like that it’s perhaps hardly a surprise that when many visitors look back on their Sri Lankan adven- Wellawaya...... 186 tures it’s not the beaches that make them smile fondly, but Uda Walawe rather it’s the surging, rolling highlands. National Park...... 188 Sinharaja Forest Reserve...... 189

When to Go Best Places to Nuwara Eliya Eat °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm 40/104 16/400 ¨¨Sharon Inn (p154) 30/86 ¨¨Grand Indian (p172) 12/300 ¨¨High Tea at the Grand (p171) 20/68 8/200 ¨ ¨Olde Empire Cafe (p154) 10/50 4/100

0/32 0 Best Places to J FDNOSAJJMAM Stay Jan Perfect for Apr The Sinhalese Jul–Aug Ele- ¨ ¨Baramba House (p160) clear days, crisp New Year means phants put on ¨¨Planters Bungalow (p181) nights and the horse racing and their best frocks pilgrimage up a hectic social for the spectac- ¨¨The Kandy House (p160) Adam’s Peak. calendar in ular Kandy Esala ¨¨Ferncliff (p171) Nuwara Eliya. Perahera festival. ¨¨Tea Trails (p166) The Hill Country The Hill Country Highlights 143 Diyaluma Falls Wellawaya Falls Ella A16 Haputale to Ella Badulla A4 Dunhinda Haputale

Koslanda Uma Oya Uma Mahiyangana

Welimada Walawe Ganga Uda Walawe National Park

Victoria- Madugoda

Sanctuary Bandarawela Randenigala Oya Weli Ragalla Kalupahana Ohiya Counting elephants by by elephants Counting Discovering your inner your Discovering Rising before dawn for a for dawn Rising before A5 Knuckles Range (1863m) Hakgala Reservoir A18 view from the stunning heights heights the stunning from view (p174) End of World’s 7 8 6 Uda Walawe Walawe in the Uda the dozen (p188) National Park birdwatcher amid the tangled amid the tangled birdwatcher the Sinharaja of perfection (p189) Reserve Forest Falls World's End Randenigala Nuwara Eliya Bambarakanda Belihul Oya A26 (2357m) Totapola (2524m) (Mt Pedro) Victoria Reservoir (2395m) Kirigalpotta Horton Plains National Park Galaha Ramboda Falls Kandy Nanu Oya A4 A17 Ramboda Pussellawa Rakwana A9 Hatton

Madampe

Peak Wilderness Sanctuary Kiruwananaganga Falls Ganga Kothmale Reservoir Hinipitigala (1171m)

A5 Deniyaya

Maskeliya A18 Mahaweli Rattling and rolling with and rolling Rattling Winding down in Ella down Winding Pelmadulla A10 (p179), combining excellent excellent combining (p179), and food home-cooked walks spectacular 5 4 to ascend the sacred heights of heights the sacred ascend to (p163) Peak Adam’s Tamil tea-pickers on a slow, on a slow, tea-pickers Tamil from journey train slow Ella (p184) to Haputale Reservoir (2243m) (Sri Pada) Castlereigh Kotapola A7 Adam's Peak

Bible Rock (798m) Mawanella Utuwankandu Dalhousie Sinharaja Forest Reserve Weddagala 0 km Pinnewala Orphanage Elephant 2 miles Kalawana A1 Norton Bridge Estate Kitulgala Mederapitiya Carney Gilimale Karandunpona Junction Rambukkana A21 ers at the Kandy ers Millennium A4 etting away from Sri from away etting

Ganga by buzz energetic a’s G Knuckles Range (p161) Range Knuckles Experiencing the excite- Experiencing

Joining devout pilgrims and Joining devout Kiriella A6 ank

T Kuda L of forests hiking the montane the 3 2 Hillhe Country Highlights 1 (p149) Perahera Esala following flickering torchlight torchlight flickering following ment of elephants, drummers drummers elephants, ment of and danc Elephant Foundation Elephant 02 01 A1

A8

Colombo (95km) Kalu