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| The scenic view from the top of Devil's Staircase... |
As truly as meant by the name itself, 'The Devil's Staircase' is one of the most adventurous and challenging trails in Sri Lanka without any doubt. This path connects Ohiya and Kalupahana Junction and is the closest route if you'e travelling to Horton Plains National Park from Colombo - Batticaloa (A4) main road. This famous route is little over 14 kilometers long trail of sharp zig-zag twists, that are extremely steep and difficult, but quite thrilling to travel.
I accidentally first saw this adventure in an article shared on Facebook. While going through it and seeing the photographs shared, I wanted to experience it real by myself. So, after wasting a lot of time in gathering a team and fixing dates, finally a weekend was chosen to explore this adventure with three other friends, Vikum, Sandun & Janitha.
As it was our first experience though this route, we decided to start from Ohiya and to come downhills through the trail to Bambarakanda Waterfall.
To Ohiya by Train
Vikum, Sandun & I first came to Fort Railway Station on that Friday with enough and more time to spare, while Janith was coming from Ambalangoda and supposed to join us at Fort before the train departs. After purchasing tickets to night mail express train to Badulla, we decided to go to Maradana Station by another commuter train. This is to catch the Badulla Night Mail Train from Maradana, when it first arriving from the train yards, to secure few seats for us. As it was a Friday, we expected a fully packed train as many people from outstation areas working in Colombo used to travel home during weekends. We also didn't forget to buy some food and snacks for dinner and also for us to have during the journey. We were so lucky that day, only three of us were there to get into the train from Maradana...
Now, everything was happening fine as planned, except Janitha's arival . He was supposed to be with us by 8 o'clock, before the train departs. All of us were nervously waiting for him, when we got to know that he was stucked in between a huge traffic jam in Colombo... Eventually, even though the train departed little late, he was unable to make it on time...!!!
All of us were so upset and nervous at that time for what has happened... We hurriedly started looking for alternatives... Someone suddenly remembered that he has a chance to catch the train if he's able to reach Hatton Railway station before the train reach there. Night Mail train to Badulla is known as one of the slowest trains in the country and it stops at several station for a considerable time to exchange mail bags. So.., this was our last hope...
And.., finally it's the way it happened... Jantha was able to catch a bus leaving to Hatton and he was there in the Hatton Railway Station earlier than an hour to the train...
After a long tiring train ride, we finally reached Ohiya by 4.30 am in the morning. It was freezing cold outside and we spotted a small food stall nearby, opposite to the Railway Station. Thus, as we felt little bit tired and hungry after a long train ride, we hurried in there to get something to eat and for a cup of hot tea. There were some fresh hot 'Pol Rotti' (made of Coconut and flour) with extra spicy 'Katta Sambol' (made of chillies)... It was the most wonderful meal suiting to the colder climate around.
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| Ohiya Railway Station |
After enjoying few hot Rotties and a hot cup of black tea, we decided to start our trail as a early as possible,to experience the sunrise from the top of the mountains.
Through the roads lead to serenity...
Around 5.30 am in the morning we began our journey. Environment around us were still covered by darkness, mostly because of the taller Pines trees all over us. The nature around was super silent and there were not a smallest noise to hear, not even by birds. After waking several hundred meters through the road towards 'Horton Plaints', we reached to a small 'junction' and it's the starting point of the path towards the 'Devil's Staircase'.
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| The starting point of the 'Devil's Staircase' path... |
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| Way to Horton Plains... |
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| Jantha & Vikum... |
First part of the path was mostly covered by tall Pine and other large trees, thus the road was bit darker and colder. Soon we arrived to a more open area with a variety of bushes all around. There we took some time to change the heavy clothes and sweaters we were wearing.
At that time suddenly someone of our gang alarmed an upsetting news. We have forgotten to take the bag containing food while leaving the train...!!! So, we only left with a packet of biscuits, a small bottle of jam, a bottle of water and few cans of beer for our whole hike...!!! (There were not a single place to buy any stuff until we reach to Bambarakanda waterfall, which was the end to our trail.) In addition, we had some small bars of chocolates and sweets we bought to give to children in the isolated villages in between.
So, after having few biscuits as our breakfast we again started the trail... We were amazed with each and every step we kept forward with the breath taking views all around us. The entire area was surrounded by greenly mountains touching the clouds with their tops.
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| Scenic roads to the heaven.... |
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| Scenic roads to the heaven.... |
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| Scenic roads to the heaven.... |
Abandoned Tea Factory & Isolated Villages
We went through number of mountains and tea estates. We only met a very few people and houses, most of them are labors working in the surrounding tea estates. One main thing we noticed was that, those people in those village had very limited access and engagement with the outside world, specially the little children. They showed us a very delighting and surprised reaction when we gave the chocolates and sweets for those little ones. For many, it seemed that small ten rupee chocolate is worth more than everything. All of us were so delighted to see those happy faces. |
| One of the Little ones we met... |
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| Some other.... |
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| Surprised with the Chocolate... |
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| Small houses.... |
After walking for some time, we noticed an abandoned Tea factory. This 'Udaweriya Tea Factory' was not operated since long time, so heavily damaged and almost rotten. With the permission of the security guy there, we were allowed to go inside and to have a look. There were many abandoned machinery and a tractor was there. We noticed a small hospital and an ambulance with flat tires, and those were also not in usable condition.
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| Abandoned Udaweriya Tea Factory.... |
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| Abandoned machinery... |
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| Closed hospital... |
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| Isolated villages... |
During our journey we passed few villages. West Haputale, Libon Estate, Ohiya Estate, Nagadowa Estate and Udaweriya Estate are some of those. As we heard, there are about a thousand Tamil estate workers are living there. They only have a very little public facilities. Few Hindu kovils, a church a school were the only ones we noticed during our walk.
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| The school, they say... |
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| Misty Mountains... |
After many hours of walking admiring the wonderful and breath taking surroundings, we came toward a small lake across the road. This little water path is the source for the tallest waterfall of Sri Lanka, 'Bambarakanda Waterfall'. Even though, we wanted to stay there for a while to refresh ourselves with the ice cold water of that stream, suddenly it started to rain heavily. Luckily all of us came prepared with rain coats, knowing the uncertain weather condition of this part of the country.
We had to move faster in our latter part of the journey 'cos rain got even heavier. Due to this we missed to enjoy and experience many wonderful moments as how we wanted. We missed many many scenic captures too. But, it gave us an unforgettable experience, travelling through a part of this paradise in heavy rain.
After couple of hours at around three o' cock in the afternoon we managed to come closer to Bambarakanda waterfall, with wet clothes and aching legs. We had a bath in the waterfall and refresh ourselves and had lunch from a small shop close by.
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| Bambarakanda Waterfall |
Then we got a three-wheeler taxi to main road and headed towards Colombo by bus, giving end to a wonderful lifetime experience.
Few Travel Tips...
- If you’re planning to travel by train, (downhill from Ohiya) better to book at least a month ahead to avoid the hassle.
- If you intend to travel by bus, (uphill from Kalupahana) take Colombo – Badulla (99) and get off at Kalupahana junction.
- It is best to start the hike early to avoid unpredictable weather conditions. Remember to carry a raincoat.
- Take small gifts to the little children in the villages. (Few small chocolates or sweets would do. Those are very rare things for those kids.)
- It's more comfortable if you could wear shoes with strong soles with tight grip since the road is strewn with hard rocks.
- Bambarakanda to Ohiya road has a higher elevation than the other way.
- The distance from Kalupahana to Ohiya is 21 Km and from Bambarakanda it is around 15 Km. although you can ask for shortcuts from the estate people to reduce this distance.
- Keep your pack as light as possible. Water streams are available along the trek but carry a bottle of water with you.
- Better not to attempt the hike alone.
- Most of the estate people are Tamil and hardly speak any other language.
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