Trekking Knuckles Ranges

After a good night’s sleep and breakfast we met Malick at 08.30 for a drive out to the Knuckles ranges. Past Rangala and Elagola we stopped and changed into a 4 wheel drive with our guide VJ. The road wound up and through Duckwari tea plantations of Finlay’s.
Our guide suggested two routes one to a waterfall the other up a peak. Both started with what turned out to be a stiff climb in hot sunshine with which we struggled; 700 m in 1500 m. There was some spectacular scenery, flowers and a few birds but it took quite a while and scrambling to reach the waterfall. It was a lovely spot and welcome cool water. It was even more of a challenge climbing up from there and we were definitely flagging when we descended the challenging climb and both of us had some slips and needed the help of our guide to get us down in one piece.
We just managed to clamber up into the jeep and were well pleased to meet up with Malick for a ride home. Even this proved a challenge as we passed the Kandy cricket ground where Sri Lanka were playing West Indies and the traffic was even more chaotic than usual.
Shower was welcomed and a short walk to the Empire Cafe for excellent meal followed up by a beer in the bar of the old Queens Hotel.Read more