Tour of Sri Lanka 2025 | Day 10 | Ella | 95.8 kms

I woke up around 6:30am and took my time getting ready. After finishing my morning chores, I went to the terrace to write in my diary and have a cup of tea. Hadas, a woman from Israel, joined me and offered me a cup of tea that she brewed. Hong Wei from Taiwan also joined us, bringing a salad she had prepared.

We get talking over a cup of tea for quote some time. We almost finish our 4th or 5th round of tea. Around 8am, we start to get going. Hadas needs to pack up as she will be leaving the hostel while Hong needs to prepare for today’s day of exploration. I complete my pending diary sitting in the room and there after get ready to start the day. I am ready around 9:30am. I bid goodbye to Biba and Helena as they too leave the city today. I present them with my local town delicacy.

I start the day by heading towards the Diyaluma waterfall. It’s a long drive of around 40kms. Takes me around 1.5hrs to reach. The last 10kms of the road are broken, first experience of bad roads. One the way, I pass through the rubber plantations. It’s morning time and I see a lady collecting all the rubber sap collected overnight in the small bins. I see 2 full buckets of white sticky liquid ready to be taken away for further processing. Then up ahead over a bridge, I come across the Diyaluma waterfall.

I stop and click some photos. Apparently, I had researched that you can even go to the top of the waterfall. I take the help of Google and proceed ahead. It’s just a 2km road further which turns sharply upwards from the main road and towards the mountain. I can see pepper plants being cultivated on all other plant branches. I stop the bike at a shop, use their parking space and also make a request to keep my helmet. From there, it’s almost 20 min uphill trek through dense vegetation. The sun is at full intensity. I reach the place sweating and panting. At first, I visit the top waterfall and then the natural pond through which the water cascades downwards.

The top waterfall also has a natural pong created on top of it. This pond is accessed via a man made route which takes another 15 mins. I visit all the waterfalls and ponds located there and get my photo clicked by other tourists as well. Only when I am satisfied and photos taken that I make my way downwards to the hotel parking lot. There, I have a light refreshment of Mangoes and Coconut. After that, I move back towards the direction of Ella to see another waterfall. It’s close to 17km from my current place. I climb the mountain halfway and then take a right towards the waterfall. The sloped stepped paddy fields make a stunning sight to see.

The plants are not yet full grown and with the sun behind the mountain, it makes a perfect backdrop for a photo. I move further down and park my bike near a hotel and go walking down towards the falls. Takes around 15mins in the scorching heat. It’s a simple waterfall with a pond in front of it. Not many people are there. Waterfall climbing activity is also available but I skip. I sit for a while watching the flow of the water. While returning, one of the locals tell me that there is even a bigger waterfall down below and shows me the path that leads to it. It’s a very narrow patch downward and I feel little claustrophobic. I come to realize that I am the only person going down towards the falls. After around 20min hiking down, I reach the falls which is truly majestic that the previous one. I thank myself for listening to me and taking extra efforts to see it.

I click some photos before making my long way towards the parking lot. I am full drenched in my own sweat. Once the bike starts moving, I feel relaxed and cool . The time is near to 4pm. I plan to visit my last place for the day which is the Ravana caves, closer to my hostel. My body cools down as I gain elevation. Estimated arrival time by Google shows around 4:35pm while the cave closes around 5pm and so I rush. I arrive at the parking lot. Pay entrance fees of 200LKR and start my climb. The steps are of concrete and close to 500 steps. I climb with ease. Since it’s the close of the day, only 3-4 people can be seen along with me. The last section to that cave is rock and slippery. I reach the cave from base in 15min flat. It’s a large pre-historic cave and believed having 3 tunnels linking to various locations. Also, it is said that Ravana kept Sita here when he abducted her. I try to go more inside but the smell is unbearable. I can listen to the sound of the bats.

I click some pictures and make my way towards the bike. I then leisurely drive across the town taking some new roads just to see things around before returning back to the hostel to freshen up. I head to the terrace for a evening cup of tea. It starts to drizzle so I wait it out. Once it stops, I head to the walking street to see things around and one final look at all the shops as I would be leaving the town tomorrow. I’ve almost pretty much seen everything and so come back to the hostel a little while later and have beer on the terrace. Hong joins me after a while and we spend the rest of the evening talking about countries like Taiwan, China, S. Korea etc. Family life and travels off course. Around 10pm, we call it off and head to our respective rooms for a comfortable sleep.