A few months after the hike to Bible Rock, we planned our next trek- a day’s hike from Hanguranketha to Nuwara Eliya across the hills, this time only those who had developed a true liking for it joined in. We planned to follow a horse track used by the early British planters to cross from the earliest tea growing areas in Hanguranketha to the newly opened plantations in Nuwara Eliya to visit their friends and relations.
The well-paved horse track was marked in the one-inch map. It seemed feasible to cover it in one day. We left our families in Nuwara Eliya and set off the following day in a hired vehicle down Hanguranketha road to Mandaramnuwara.
From here we turned off from the main road to a gravel road leading to a tea estate. Ahead, we could see the Pidurutalagala range that we were supposed to cross to reach Nuwara Eliya.
As we trekked further up we had a spectacular view of the terraced paddy fields of the villages in the valley below. As the road began to wind round the mountains we took short cuts on foot paths in between the loops, up steep inclines to reach Kabaragala estate.
The estate labourers told us that they used to go to Nuwara Eliya to see films and return before night fall on this path. But that had been about a decade ago, it later on came to light, as there had been an insurgent camp here during the 88 JVP uprising and nobody had gone that way ever since.
Hiring a labourer from the estate, we entered the jungle from the border of the estate. Trekking through the thick forest we came to an open stretch on a steep slope covered with only shrubs and Mana grass. We had to cross holding on to the shrubs and Mana grass making sure not to look down as it was terrifying. After getting across, we could see how dangerous it had been for the slope had been caused by a landslide. But we were rewarded-a stream flowed down from there into the valley below. We lingered over a pre-lunch dip and lunch which was to prove detrimental to our timing.
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The first evidence of the horse track was the remnant of a suspension bridge over the stream. Later the horse track made its appearance in the form of a faintly observable bank and a road surface - well paved at places with flat rocks and drains laid across the road. Trekking along it was easy as it wound round the mountains keeping to the contour lines as far as possible. The difficulty arose when the bank of the road became untraceable and we came up against a thick growth of bamboo. All attempts in various directions to evade the bamboo failed.
Finally we decided to explore an alternative route to a tea factory visible in the valley below. So near it looked, yet far away in reality and frustratingly inaccessible. One option was to go back on the very path that we came along, even if we were to renegotiate the landslide area this time in poor light.
As darkness fell, we proceeded by torchlight. A missed step in the dark would result in a disastrous fall down the precipitous slopes. After going down to the third bend, further movement became impossible forcing us to abandon any further hiking for the day. We finally had to concede the fact that we were stranded on top of the Pidurutalagala range without food or water, to survive the cold night and that too without warm clothing. Adding to the agony was a sudden heavy shower of rain.
How we passed that night is history now, but would nevertheless merit mention in any book on survival. Team spirit came into action. Ideas started pouring in. We hurriedly cut some branches from trees with the aid of torchlight, and placed them very close to each other slantwise against the bank to form a makeshift roof for our dwelling for the night.
Equally important was to protect ourselves from the cold. The rain had wet the available firewood and also our match boxes. But a non-smoking member in the group, presumably having a premonition of the events to come, had brought along a cigarette lighter. A pit was dug, discarded scraps of paper placed in it and ignited.
Firewood was chopped; pulp scraped out and put over the burning paper. As the wood pulp caught fire, wet firewood was kept over the fire to dry up to be put into the fire later on. Once the fire was established everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Further relief came when someone pulled out a packet of cream crackers followed by a bottle of arrack. Three rounds of a stopperful each made us feel very lively until sleep caught up.
At first light, we resumed the trek, getting our bearings with the assistance of the one inch map. We made out that we had to trek south to reach Nuwara Eliya and on the way, found exactly the same bamboo that halted our advance the previous night. This time our tracker managed to cut the way through and hurrah! we were back on the horse track once again.
We continued south, and started seeing a cliff parallel to the direction of our movement. The cliff was marked on the map rising up almost perpendicular, bewildering us as to the feasibility of crossing it. Then the tracker, suddenly became active, showing us a gap in the cliff in the distance where they used to cross to Nuwara Eliya. The map too indicated the existence of this gap and the foot path running through this.
It was only now, that the tracker realized that the route they had taken in going down to Nuwara Eliya was not the horse track but a short cut across the jungle straight from the waterfall we passed to the gap in the cliff. The earth slip had completely altered the landscape, thereby preventing him from getting his bearings.In spite of having starved from the previous day, we were in no hurry.
Leisurely trekking down towards the tea estates we proceeded further down to enter a village tea kiosk and literally emptied its shelves. From there a van ride took us down to the circuit bungalow for a reunion with our anxious families. |
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