Great Heights

Atop a 4,000 ft high cliff in the stunning expanse of Sri Lanka’s Horton Plains, Vidya Balachander discovers the joy of living in the moment

- Vidya Balachander

LIKE MOST VISITORS TO NUWARA ELIYA, Sri Lanka’s most popular hill town located in the centre of the island, I was a little startled by the sudden reprieve from the sweltering summer heat. Here, high up in the hills, the thin air carried a welcome chill. It was easy to be charmed by the town’s quaintness. Pastel-coloured colonial cottages overlooked the serene Gregory’s Lake; sweater sellers did brisk business on narrow street bazaars; and several roadside stalls sold punnets of locally grown strawberries, heaped with clouds of cream.

Yet, after a couple of days in this genteel town that is often called Sri Lanka’s Little England, I was ready for a change of pace. I was travelling with a friend who was visiting Sri Lanka for the first time, and I knew that in order to experience the country’s understated natural beauty, we would have to leave the din of development behind. Bleary-eyed and bundled up against the bracing morning cold, we headed for the Horton Plains National Park, a protected grassland sprawled out over a high plateau about 30 kms away.

We had not researched Horton Plains extensively, leaving the experience open to surprises. The only prerequisite, our driver insisted, was to reach the Plains in time for dawn. A thick fog obscured the view as we navigated the steep, hairpin bends of the mountain roads. An hour later, still fending off sleep, we had arrived at the entrance of the park, already teeming at that early hour with tourists armed with telephoto lenses.