Finding peace one solo hike at a time
View(s):- Popular YouTube channel ‘Flying Me’ documents Vishwani Algewatta’s travels around Sri Lanka
By Duvindi Illankoon
A lack of travel experience didn’t deter Vishwani Algewatta from taking a leap of faith on her first solo hike. Over one day in October 2022, she walked through the Devil’s Staircase route, which connects the town of Kalupahana with the Ohiya-Horton Plains road. This was a very different trip from the one she had told her mother she was taking to the Dalada Maligawa that day – “although once I got back home, I told her the real story,” she laughs.
Vishwani, now 32, was seeking reprieve from a difficult period in her life on that trip. At the end of that long walk through the Devil’s Staircase, she says that she found the peace of mind she was looking for. She hasn’t stopped seeking it since.
Trekking to Adam’s Peak: Vishwani undaunted by the rain
There is a quote- “in solitude, the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself”- that is attributed to Laurence Sterne. Scrolling through Vishwani’s YouTube channel ‘Flying Me’ leaves the impression that this must then be a strong, deeply independent mind. Vishwani created the Flying Me channel in November 2022 to document her solo adventures in Sri Lanka; hikes to waterfalls, treks to Adam’s Peak during the off season, and camping atop mountains with stunning sunrise views are just some among many trips that are captured on the channel.
The casual viewer (most likely to be found safely ensconced in a couch, like this writer) can watch Vishwani, aided by a camera perched on a selfie stick, make her way through dense forest, scramble down rocks and make friends with dogs who become her travel buddies. It makes you wonder; how does she do it?
Logistically, she just makes time for it. A microbiologist by training, Vishwani’s full-time job in the F&B research and development sector keeps her busy during most weekdays. But on weekends, she’s off on her trips – sometimes solo or in groups, and sometimes with new friends that she made while on her solo hikes.
The other burning question for her viewers is safety. In a country with a high incidence of harassment of women, how does Vishwani find the confidence to take solo trips to isolated locations? She acknowledges the concern but says that she’s still determined to continue travelling with precautions; such as keeping her close circle informed of the details of her travel plan and never publicising upcoming trip dates or locations. She also tries to build genuine connections with residents she meets on the way. “I always listen to my gut instinct,” she says. “If it’s telling me not to go further, I won’t go.”
Namunukula: Her first successful camping experience
Still, solo travel presents challenges. Sometimes Vishwani will turn back if she is unsure of the route or conditions are poor. Sometimes she has a helping hand. One of her earliest trips was to Adam’s Peak during off season. At one point, the rain came down so hard that Vishwani couldn’t make out the steps on the trail. “I just stopped and started crying out of frustration,” she says. Recovering, she turned around and found shelter where she met a group of travellers from Cambodia. They kept her spirits up and once the rain cleared, she got back on the trail and made it to the top.
During another trip to Narangala – an early attempt at solo camping – the tent she had brought with her simply flew away with the wind when she tried to set it up. “Before the trip I hadn’t checked that the tent came with pegs to secure it to the ground, that’s how inexperienced I was,” she laughs. She was lucky to encounter some other campers that night, who helped her to recover the errant cover and offered to share their tent. Subsequently, her first successful camping experience was in Namunukula.
Vishwani has encountered those that doubt if she really is travelling solo, finding it difficult to grasp that a young woman could be this fearless. She sees it differently; rather than a lack of fear, it’s the joy that she gets from these sojourns to nature that keeps her hopping on a bus or train to the next location.
Her most viewed video so far documents a solo trip to Adam’s Peak in torrential rains. There are a few minutes at the end of the video when she’s speaking into the camera, getting battered by the rain atop the peak yet clearly exhilarated. In other videos she speaks with a deep sense of wonder about the experience of solitude in those locations. In these moments, you can’t help but feel that she represents generations of women who have sought the freedom to enjoy moments like this.
In person, Vishwani resists labelling herself. But her travel clearly inspires many, as comments under her videos show. Viewers express admiration for her nerves of steel while urging her to continue being careful. Other young women have reached out to ask for advice on their own plans for solo travel.
Vishwani is happy to share her experience with those who are curious. Her channel- with 72,000 subscribers and counting- is an outlet for this purpose but she has no major plans yet for the platform. Travel and the peace of mind it brings, she is careful to emphasise, is the point. “I live without big expectations,” she says. “That way, even the smallest things can bring me a lot of joy.”
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