Sri Lanka hill country: tea, trains, and the Knuckles Range
The slow blue train from Kandy to Ella is routinely called the most scenic railway journey in the world. It is also loud, perpetually delayed by monsoon landslips, and crowded with travellers hanging precariously out of open doorway carriages.
Yet as the broad-gauge locomotive groans uphill into the central massif, leaving behind the tropical heat of the lowlands for cool, eucalyptus-scented mist at 1,800 metres, the romance of the hill country is undeniable.
The rhythm of the Main Line railway
Engineered by the British in the 1860s to transport coffee and Ceylon tea from mountain plantations down to the port of Colombo, the railway winds around sheer granite ledges, passes through forty-six hand-cut tunnels, and crosses the iconic Nine Arch Bridge in Demodara.
Buying an unreserved second-class ticket for 600 LKR (€1.80) at Kandy station at 7:00am, you share a bench with school children, tea pluckers, and vendors carrying wicker baskets of deep-fried spicy lentil patties (isso vadai) wrapped in old exam papers.
In the central highlands, geography is measured vertically in cloud layers and emerald contour lines of manicured tea bushes.
Trekking the Knuckles Conservation Forest
While Ella and Nuwara Eliya draw busloads of tourists, the Knuckles Mountain Range (Dumbara Kanduvetiya) north-east of Kandy remains rugged and sparsely walked. The range resembles a clenched fist, with thirty-four peaks rising above 1,500 metres.
Trekking through the cloud forest requires hiring a local village guide from Meemure. The forest is dense with moss-draped rhododendrons, endemic purple-faced langurs, and relentless land leeches that infiltrate socks within minutes of walking through wet ferns.
- Leech defence: Traditional leech socks (tightly woven unbleached calico pulled up to the knee) rubbed with tobacco extract and soap are far more effective than chemical bug sprays.
- Estate lodging: Staying in converted planters' bungalows (bungalows) provides insight into colonial tea manufacturing, from mechanical rolling tables to wood-fired drying ovens.
- Local food: Highland meals centre on fiery curries: jackfruit curry (polos), coconut sambol with bird's eye chilies, and red unpolished rice.
Evening mist in Haputale
We broke our journey in Haputale, a windswept Tamil market town perched on the southern ridge of the hill country. From Lipton's Seat at dawn, the ground falls away 1,000 metres into the southern coastal plains, with the Indian Ocean visible as a shimmering silver line fifty kilometres to the south before morning clouds rise to blanket the valley in white.
Planning a route across Sri Lanka's central highlands or looking for Knuckles trekking guides? Say hello.