sri-lanka-13-full-pdf-ebook.pdf

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toy-town ambience does have a rose-tinted
English country village feel to it, though it
comes with a disorienting surrealist edge.
Three-wheelers whiz past red telephone box-
es. Water buffalo daubed in iridescent dye for
the Tamil Thai Pongal festival mingle outside
a pink, brick Victorian post office. A well-tend-
ed golf course morphs into a rolling carpet of
tea plantations. The dusty and bustling centre
of town is a thoroughly Sri Lankan tangle,
but scratch the surface a little to reveal colo-
nial bungalows, hedgerows and pretty rose
gardens.
In earlier times, Nuwara Eliya (mean-
ing ‘City of Light’) was the favoured
cool-climate escape for the hard-working
and hard-drinking English and Scottish
pioneers of Sri Lanka’s tea industry. A rainy-
day, misty-mountain atmosphere blankets
the town from November to February so
don’t come expecting tropical climes. But
during April’s spring release, the town is
crowded with domestic holidaymakers
enjoying horse racing and sports-car hill
climbs, and celebrating the Sri Lankan New
Year. The cost of accommodation escalates
wildly, and Nuwara Eliya becomes a busy,
busy party town. For the rest of the year, the
economy is based on tea, cool-climate veg-
etables, tourism and even more tea. Treat
yourself to a night at one of Nuwara Eliya’s
colonial hotels, play a round of golf and a
few frames of billiards, and escape into the
town’s curious combination of heritage and
the here-and-now.
The town has an abundance of touts eager
to get a commission for a guesthouse or hotel.
They’ll intercept you on arrival at Nanu Oya
train station with fabricated reports of accom-
modation being closed, cockroach-infested or
just plain crooked. Just ignore them.

History

Originally an uninhabited system of forests
and meadows in the shadow of Pidurutala-
gala (aka Mt Pedro, 2524m), Nuwara Eliya
became a singularly British creation, having
been ‘discovered’ by colonial officer John Davy
in 1819 and chosen as the site for a sanatori-
um a decade later.
Subsequently the district became known
as a spot where ‘English’ vegetables and fruits,
such as lettuce and strawberries, could be
grown for consumption by the colonists. Cof-
fee was one of the first crops grown here, but
after the island’s coffee plantations failed due
to disease, the colonists switched to tea. The
first tea leaves harvested in Sri Lanka were

planted at Loolecondera Estate, in the moun-

tains between Nuwara Eliya and Kandy. As

tea experiments proved successful, the town

quickly found itself becoming the Hill Coun-

try’s ‘tea capital’, a title still proudly borne.

As elsewhere in the Hill Country, most of

the labourers on the tea plantations were

Tamils, brought from southern India by the

British. Although the descendants of these

‘Plantation Tamils’ (as they are called to dis-

tinguish them from Tamils in northern Sri

Lanka) have usually stayed out of the ethnic

strife that has rocked Jaffna and the North,

there have been occasional outbreaks of ten-

sion between the local Sinhalese and Tamils.

The town was partially ransacked during the

1983 riots.

At nearby Hakgala, there is a significant

Muslim population, but internecine strife is

not a problem.

1 Sights

Victoria Park PARK

(admission Rs 300; h7am-6pm) The lovely Vic-

toria Park at the centre of town is one of the

nicest, and best maintained, town parks in

South Asia, and a stroll around its mani-

cured lawns is a pleasure indeed. The park

comes alive with flowers around March to

May, and August and September. It’s also

home to quite a number of hill-country bird

species, including the Kashmir flycatcher, In-

dian pitta and grey tit.

At the far end of the park is a small chil-

dren’s playground and miniature train.

Pedro Tea Estate TEA FACTORY

(admission Rs 200; h8-5pm) To see where your

morning cuppa originates, head to the Pe-

dro Tea Estate, about 3.5km east of Nuwara

Eliya on the way to Kandapola. You can take

a half-hour guided tour of the factory, origi-

nally built in 1885 and still packed with 19th-

century engineering. However, due to the

type of tea processed here (a very light tea),

processing only takes place at night when it’s

colder, so you’re unlikely to see much action.

Overlooking the plantations is a pleasant

teahouse. Photography inside the factory is

forbidden. A three-wheeler from Nuwara

Eliya should cost Rs 350 return, including

waiting time. Alternatively you could hop on

a Ragalla-bound bus (Rs 13) from the main

bus station in Nuwara Eliya.

Galway’s Land National Park PARK

(Hawaeliya; admission US$10 plus overall tax 12%

v AT; h6am-5pm) One of Sri Lanka’s newest