Travel
to Sri Lanka and make your dream Holiday come true!
Holiday in Sri Lanka is ideal if you're looking
forward to have fun, enjoy the sunshine and frolic
in white sandy beaches. If you want to do bird
watching, see wildlife paying a visit to Ceylon will
be a holiday you'll never forget. If you want to try
out eco tourism, Sri Lanka is a marvelous place to
spend your vacation. Sri Lanka is one place where
you could be in harmony with nature like in no other
place. By spending your holiday in Sri Lanka you'll
get so much of entertainment.
A Holiday in Sri Lanka means that you'll have loads
of fun, experience a unique culture
& heritage at www.lanka-travel.info
Lanka Travel Directory is the web site giving the
most comprehensive information on Ceylon. So if you
are thinking of a Vacation in Sri Lanka you have
come to the right place!
The railway from Colombo
to Badulla, approximately 300km or 180 miles in length,
ranks among the great train journeys in the world.
Starting from Colombo a few metres above sea level, it
goes through some of the most beautiful landscapes in
the country, racing across the western plain replete
with smiling paddy fields and joyous palm trees swaying
gracefully in the whispering wind and entering the hill
country at Rambukkana some 85km away. From that point
onwards it is a continuous struggle up the mountains,
except for a brief respite along the Mahaweli valley
between Peradeniya and Gampola—forging its way through
45 tunnels, hugging precipitous slopes, leaping across
rivers and streams, breathing the aroma of tea in our
verdant tea country, until it reaches the summit at
Pattipola 6226 feet above sea level. A foreigner once
remarked that from the summit point on some day one
could almost touch the clouds. From the summit the line
descends into the Uva valley hastening through marvels
of engineering ingenuity to Badulla at an altitude of
2140 feet above sea level.
Nanu Oya
The line to Nanu Oya (5291 feet
above sea level) was completed in 1885, some 31 years after the
first sod was cut in Colombo by Governor Sir Henry Ward in 1854.
Situated at the head of the Kotmale valley, it is flanked on one
side by the majestic Great Western range and on the other by the
north western slopes of the Hakgala Mountain. Nanu Oya is an
important railway junction not only because of its proximity to
Nuwara Eliya, but also because some years ago, a narrow guage
railway took off from this point to Nuwara Elya, Kandapola and
Ragala. Nanuoya can be a very inhospitable place especially when
the south western monsoon brings in the wind, chill and rain.
Before the construction of the railway, the Nanu Oya, Ambewela
and Pattipola areas were teeming with wildlife. It was the haunt
of elk, wild boar, wild buffalo, leopards, deer and elephants.
This precious wildlife was ruthlessly decimated by so-called
British sportsmen like Harry Storey, Samuel Baker, Tommy Farr
and Gordon Reeves. Some of them like Harry Storey and Samuel
Baker recorded their very unsportsmanlike exploits in their
books Hunting and shooting in Ceylon (Storey) and the Rifle and
Hound in Ceylon (Baker). Our colonial rulers turned a blind eye
to all this.
"From Nanuoya the line climbs via Abbottsford estate passing
through forests flanked by the Conical hill and the great
mountain of Hakgala in the north east and then runs parallel to
and eventually joins the wooded railway Gorge near its top.
Running along the edge of the Elk plains, it passes Ambewela and
continues to the summit 3/4 mile beyond the Pattipola station.
This is the highest point reached by a 5’ 6’ broad guage main
lime, anywhere in the world."
In a footnote Wyatt states that the only competing line known to
him is the little used one between Quetta and Chamma in Pakistan
which has an altitude of 6398 feet at the Khojak tunnel.
Pattipola is a moody place. This is particularly so during the
period May to October. Often train travellers keep their windows
open to experience the thrill of having the thick mist creeping
into the compartment. From the summit point on a clear day,
there is a fine view of Totapolakanda, behind which are the
famous Horton Plains.
