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| Wednesday, 7 January 2004 |
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Undoing of the Plains by Tharuka Dissanaike Horton Plains is not a picnic spot. This is a difficult truth that has to be faced by the hordes that visit it. It is a far cry from Peradeniya or Hakgala gardens, its ambience cannot compare with Bopathella Falls or the Menik Ganga near Kataragama. But you just have to take one look at the teeming crowds of laughing holiday makers that congregate on the Plains during the 'season' or long holidays you realize that their perception of Horton Plains does not distinguish it from Galle Face in the heart of Colombo. I blame the over-zealous electronic media for this false impression. Of late travel magazine-type of programmes has become extremely popular over television. TV, being of course the national past time, a lot of Sri Lankans were suddenly transported from their living rooms to exotic and little traveled locations across the country. Long weekends became 'hip' and cheap transport via diesel vans and the better quality of roads in the outstations made within-country travel the second most popular national pasttime. On the surface, there is little wrong with making a 'trip' and having a good time over the numerous long weekends that bless our calendar. In fact it is certainly an encouragement that a nation so weighed under political, ethnic strife and the cost of living, has the resilience to put all these aside for an extended weekend and have fun. But the early travel magazines over TV erred by not promoting responsible travel values in people. Over visitation became an issue in areas and places, which had never before seen anything akin to crowds, litter, forest fires and accidents on the roads became the order of the day. Over the years, the situation at Horton Plains has actually improved. The Department of Wildlife Conservation is quite strict about carrying plastics and polythene into the National Park. Bins have been provided by the private sector for those who need to dispose of trash and at least you don't see families cooking adjacent to the grassy plains, loud music and dancing along the hike to World's End etc. But a recent visit there made it clear that all was not well up in our country's highest and arguably the most scenic National Park. There are still youth playing cricket on the flatter areas of the plains, a lot of garbage is thrown out of the bins rather than in them, whatever is thrown inside the bins are promptly dragged out by the crows. (Yes, there are boards saying No Crows on Horton Plains, but apparently these birds cannot read). At the entrance to the park- which is the gate through which crowds are allowed to walk to World's End, bags are checked for plastics and polythene. Anything found is confiscated. Very good. But unfortunately glass bottles are allowed and we saw a few spots where bottles have been smashed against rocks in the path of other hikers. Matchboxes, lighters and liquor are not allowed either. There are dire warnings against bathing in the streams and especially at Baker's Fall. But what was most striking -at no point is the hiker/ holiday maker told the exact nature and distance of the trek. It was only upon return that we realized the round trip to World's End and back is a whopping nine and half kilometers. Only half of this route is flat pathway- the rest climbs steeply, descends just as sharply, there are stream crossings where one is likely to get entangled in thorns and stuck in peaty mud and areas where the road becomes slippery with loose pebbles and leaky spring water. We were left wondering whether some of the people we passed along the route will ever make it. One was a foreign family with a baby stroller, there was a wheezing middle aged lady who was fighting for breath after a steep ascent, there were numerous old ladies in Kandyan sarees and old gentlemen in sandals, there were young women carrying babies and small children in frilly party-like dresses and dainty pink shoes. No wonder people enter the plains all smiling, happy, joking and laughing. At the other end, those who make it out of the trek path intact and without help, simply collapse on the green, exhausted, hurt and all too often suffering shoe cuts. It would only be fair for the Department to educate the people who undertake this arduous, at least three-hour walk, on the difficulties and the nature of the path. Appropriate dress and shoes have to be insisted on. Surely baby prams cannot be allowed into such a difficult trek- divert them instead to the Nuwara Eliya Park. A little orientation before the trek can help greatly, especially in the case of children who holler and shout inside the Park without realizing that they are disturbing the wildlife and the general remote/lonely ambience of the place. |
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