Haputalle
Located between Belihui Oya and Wellimada
is Haputale, a small town perched steeply on
both sides of a sharp ridge at the southern
edge of Sri Lanka's flamboyant scenic hill country.
122 kilometers from the capital of Colombo Haputale
could be reached by train in 9 to hours whilst
public bus or hired transport will yake an hour
less to reach this panoramic small town. Haputale
is renowned, like so many other hill towns on
the island, for its spectacular views. While
you travel make sure to turn off the air conditioner
and grab a window seating to feast your eyes
on magnificent waterfalls looming mountain ranges
and the misty breeze that will gently blow on
to your face as you experience the temperature
decreasing as you near you destination. One
of the most disconcerting is obtained from the
main street, which seems to disappear into thin
air, although in reality it just makes a right
turn. On a clear day you can see from this ridge
all the way to the south coast, and at night
the Hambantota lighthouse situated at the Southern
coastal areas of Sri Lanka could also be sited.
Adisham is a large, granite, country house
surrounded by lovely English gardens and orchards.
Completed in 1931 by the Scottish tea planter,
Sir Thomas Lister Villiers, it was designed
after Leeds Castle in Kent. Since 1961 it has
been a Sylvestro Benedictine monastery and novitiate,
although the grounds and two preserved colonial
rooms can be visited on Saturday, Sunday, poya
days and local school holidays April, August
and December. The Tangamale forest reserve 8
kilometers west from this country house could
be reached by an increasingly overgrown but
visible track that runs through the pine and
eucalyptus groves serving as sanctuary to a
variety of birds like the orange mini-verts,
green barbets, blue magpies, hornbills, orioles
and many more.
There is the familiar and seemingly dangerous
Bermuda Triangle and Sri Lanka’s not so
familiar but positively benign Cultural Triangle.
However, the country has another geographic
triangle, the Health Triangle, and Bandarawela
has much to do with it. Within this triangle
are a number of destinations waiting to be discovered,
such as Haputale, Badulla, Ella and other towns.
andarawela lies at the heart of the Health Triangle,
an upcountry area with apexes at Welimada, Haputale
and Ella. In this zone – average elevation
about 1,200m and average daily temperature 21°C
– the open skies, the winds and the direct
sun unite to create an atmosphere of ease, release
and wellbeing.
Throughout the Health Triangle, special destinations
abound, made all the more captivating by the
beneficent climate and scenery in which they
are set. Some are natural, like forest sanctuaries,
vast and enchanting tea plantations or hilltop
vistas with some of Sri Lanka’s best views.
Others are manmade – places of worship
or a colonial planter’s fancy. All are
worth the time it takes to get to them, especially
at a walker’s pace, receptive to the sensations
of the wild.
The Diyaluma Falls is a 220-metre high waterfall
on the Punagala Oya located very close to the
A4 road between Koslanda and Wellawaya. The
Punagala Oya rises from the Mahakande pass and
flows into he Kuda Oya, a tributary of the Kirindi
Ganga, which flows into the sea near Tissamaharama.
The Diyaluma Falls, the second highest in Sri
Lanka, is the last of a series of waterfalls
on this river. It is an impressive sight when
you stand almost directly beneath the waterfall
on the road. The water appears to be propelled
over the cliff face and falls in one long and
clear drop to a pool below beside the road.
Above this big fall are several smaller waterfalls
and rock pools. They can be visited by walking
about 500 metres down the road and taking the
estate track that turns of sharply to the left.
Proceed for 15-20 minutes along this track until
you come to a rubber factory, where you turn
off left uphill. At the top, where the path
forks, take the right branch, which leads to
the pools above the main fall.
The Sinhala name Diya Luma - more correctly
Diya Haluma - means water-gush. On the other
hand Diya Luma may be translated as liquid light.
This alternative meaning is connected with an
ancient story retold which states that in unsettled
times, when the island was disintegrated into
many principalities, there was a young chieftain
who was for some reason banished from his clan
and forced to live in exile in the highlands
of the natural rampart which rose from the maritime
plain. He was betrothed to a lady of high degree
who, rather than forsake her lover, was determined
to join him.
All the passes leading from the low-country
to the hills were strongly guarded. Consequently
escape was impossible. One day, as she stood
gazing at the precipitous mountainside, an idea
began to take shape in her mind. Here indeed
was an obscure way of leaving her home, an altogether
bold and daring plan. She bribed an emissary
to carry a letter to her lover disclosing how
she proposed to join him, minutely setting out
what he should do to assist her And so, late
one evening on an appointed date she stealthily
made her way to the foot of the mountain and
found dangling over the face of the escarpment
a rope of twisted creepers. She glanced round.
No one was about.
Taking the end of the rope she lashed herself
to it, and began her perilous journey upward.
Every moment was packed with peril. Swayed hither
and thither, dashed against the cruel jagged
rocks, gripped by sickness and giddiness, she
was hauled hand over hand up and up. There was
every hope of her gaining the top. In fact the
toilers above were even rewarded with a glimpse
of their precious burden, under the overhanging
lip. At that moment, however, disaster intervened.
The rope caught fast in a cleft. Frantic efforts
to pull it free proved fruitless. Beyond all
power of human aid the lifeless body of the
maiden dangled in dizzy space. They say that
the Gods, moved to pity by the harrowing spectacle,
caused a stream of water to gush from the mountain
and veil all evidence of tragedy in a watery
light, or Diya luma.
Thus Haputale a calm hill town, surrounded by
lush greenery, tea estates and gigantic mountain
ranges is a never to miss ideal town on your
travel to the hill country.
