Holidaying in Haputale :

‘Higher’ perspective

Wimal Devasiriratne

We were in need of a holiday and decided to make to a quiet town in the hill country. After a half hour of surfing the internet, we decided on Haputale. We set off on a week-day after booking a hotel room, also through the internet. I was adamant that we had a room with a good view of the mountains, and the hotel promised me one.

It was an uneventful sleepy four and a half hour ride in an intercity-bus, to reach our destination. The hotel was in the heart of the town and as requested the room allocated had a panoramic view of the Haputale mountain range. Haputale cannot boast of any side streets since the whole town runs along the road - A99, the Colombo – Badulla main road.

Although there were no parks, gardens as in Nuwara Eliya, the climate was ideal. The town is blessed by two kovils at the entrance to the town from Beragala side and on this day well patronized. The few fruit stalls had local fruits like guava. Butter fruits or avocado, and the imported apples and grapes, but prices were reasonable.

There were a couple of eating houses, who cater mainly to the Tamil population and had plenty of parippu and ulundu wade, and of course Dhosai. We watched the train Podi Menike practically stopped at the entrance to the town, since the Railway Station was only about 100 metres from the town.

True to their word, the view from our room was fabulous. One could see the plains of the south low land and on clear days at night one could see the flashes of light houses at the Little Basses off the seas at Kirinda

The changing climatic scene itself was breathtaking – one moment a clear scenic beauty of tall trees and green tea gardens, undulating hills and valleys, and next comes shroud like veils of mist and heavy fog, bringing along a cool fragrance of the green tea plantations. I open the window to touch the misty fog creeping in to envelope me with an air conditioning that no man-made machine could achieve. How beautiful.

The world waking up in the hills is a thing of sheer beauty. When you are practically on top of the world at over 5000 feet, and closer to the clouds, one sees the birds flying below you and mist and clouds of various proportions floating and climbing up the hills, some little pools of clouds dissipating while the heavy ones enveloping another hillock.

After a good cup of plain tea with a touch of sugar (the best way to drink good tea!), we inquired the way to the bird sanctuary Thangamalai. We were advised to take the Welimada Road and around two kilometres on the way is the famed bird sanctuary which is also the way to Adisham Bungalow, where Jams and Marmalades are made by Christian priests. With my binoculars and camera hanging round my neck we trudged along. From Colombo, the Welimada road is at the very entrance to the town.

The walk was refreshing and the fresh cool air gave the psychological refreshment to push aside any thought of tiredness or desire to pause – other than to wonder how the British conquered these hills to their advantage. We saw the present day independent houses built for the estate labourer and plots of vegetables grown down the valleys. Enjoying the scenic and isolated beauty made me feel as if I had been released from exile.

We walked along the contours of this winding road and pruned trees of tea, when I first sighted a pair of Golden Orioles gracefully and silently descending on a leafless tree. Next moment this vision was surpassed by the unique songs they sang for each other, one after another. The sight so romantic, the beauty of the Golden Orioles music, I was lucky to feel its magic.