We have driven up to the hill country after an early morning 'safari' yesterday at Yala National Park. Picked up by a converted jeep with 'luxury' seats set high up above the road, we raached along the roads to the dry dirt roads of the national park. our driver apologised for the speed but he wanted to get into the queue for tickets and permits early! Permits were issued and this was the sign for everyone to gun their engines and take off at break neck speed again along the parks dirt and corrugated roads, often overtaking on corners in an effort to be the first to spot a leopard or an elephant keeping in touch with other drivers by mobile, so everyone got the chance to see. Reminded me of the tow truck drivers in Perth who always appear so quickly when there is a prang!
We did see a leopard very briefly through the trees on the side of the road, and we saw several elephants, a couple of crocodiles, some mongeese ....or is it mongooses... And a couple of monitor lizards and some spotted deer ... So not a bad collection for a couple of hours hurtling round the roads.
The road to Ella was windy and slow with much to see along the way. Sri Lanka needs rain badly but near the highlands it is still very green. We stayed the night at the EllaGap Guest house which had amazing views of the valleys below before the mist came in and we watched the 20/20 cricket last night with the drivers and tour guides on the TV in the lounge. Sri Lankans love cricket so if you can drop a few names, you get instant interest.
This morning we drove through the tea plantations to Lipton's seat, greeted at the end of a gentle uphill climb by a cup of tea and some Local snacks hot off the wok. They tell you they aren't spicy and you believe them until it is too late...when the chilli hits the back of your throat!
The tea plantations hug the hillsides in an ordered form of plants and pathways, with rainforest alliance posters along the way and quotes in English every few hundred yards posted on the side of the road, about sustainability and our relationship with the land. interesting they are all in English and most of the workers are Tamils whose grasp of English is not great.
We had a tour around the tea processing factory and now we know where a lot of your daily teabags come from if you purchase Mr Lipton's bags. The plant was built in 1880 and hasn't changed much apart from mechanising the machinery. The staff work barefoot and the tea is spread on the floor to ferment. They make teabag tea and it takes many kilos of leaves to make one kilo of tea leaves ready for us to use. the women pickers pick about two sacks full a day weighing 20kg....they are paid according to how much they pick and it is a year round process only stopping for festivals and occasional holidays. it is pouring with rain now and the hill is shrouded in mist so in a couple of days there will be new leaves to pick. We also have a power cut, hopefully it will be back in time for the cricket to start on tv tonight!
The Muezzin has started up for evening prayers ..a little eery through the gloom and the thunder and lightning...
Tomorrow we are catching the mountain train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya and then the next day to Kandy or thereabouts.
Will be back again soon.
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