“Ella” means waterfall in Sinhala, and the many waterfalls around this hill country town, along with the tea plantations, scenic train rides and hikes attracts many visitors to Ella during their time in Sri Lanka. The Main Street is the heart of the backpacker scene, with restaurant on restaurant selling pizza, beer and all night parties. The souvenir shops and hustling drivers felt like a far cry from the Sri Lanka we were falling in love with. We were staying slightly out of town, up a series of switchbacks, a marginally paved road and some under construction steps. The highlight of our accommodation was the view from the deck that looked out directly at popular walks Ella Rock and Little Adam’s Peak. It was otherworldly, with mist swirling down through the valleys and jungle-clad ridges stretching back as far as the eye could see. The type of scene you see in a guide book or computer desktop, and we had a front row seat from our $15 a night guest house!
It won’t come as a surprise to any of you that we largely avoided the Main Street, apart from a few visits to sample the local culinary delights including a pizza, gelato and coffee. All great, and much appreciated! We also got up to our usual nonsense of walking into places and eating whatever we were given, and one morning had some leftovers from a family at our guesthouse (unbeknown to them) who skipped the coconut pancakes and the fried roti rolls - absolute madness!!!
Our first full day in Ella was one of our absolute favorite days of the trip so far, and included the Ella trifecta of tea estate, waterfall and a hike! On a recommendation from Juliet, who we met in Galle, we had done some research into AMBA estate, a tea estate about a 30 minute drive from Ella. AMBA is an organic farm, guest-house and social enterprise, where maximising local employment and income is prioritized, while preserving and restoring the natural environment. Although the accommodation was slightly out of our budget this time, they have a daily tour at 11 AM which we were very excited to join. Learning about the tea growing and production was fascinating, before this day I actually had no idea that all the different types of tea (black, white, oolong, green etc) were all made from the same plant, just treated differently during production! Our wonderful guide also went into detail about the role of tea in Sri Lanka, and how this has changed over the years. It was brought to Sri Lanka from China by the British, and at the height of this period Sri Lanka was producing 800 million kilograms of tea each year! Sri Lankan tea is the equivalent of a fine French wine, the soils and climate produce a vastly superior product compared to other parts of the world. Since Sri Lanka gained independence, tea production has reduced significantly (down to about 350 million kilograms) as a lot of the skills and knowledge were lost after this time. The teas we tried at AMBA were delicious. The flavours were bright yet subtle, each tea astoundingly different from the last when you remember that they are all made from the same plant! It reminded me of a wine tasting, learning about the different notes you get from each and what food would pair nicely. They do actually offer a tea and food pairing tasting!
Another very interesting conversation was around the tea pickers. Historically, the British brought Tamil people from India to work on the plantations without proper pay or documentation. This has led to generations of undocumented Tamil people living and working in the highlands of Sri Lanka, who are still today an incredibly oppressed group of people that face large stigmas about their work and identity. Tea picking is seen as an inferior role in society, and the lack of ownership over a business or assets (as opposed to being say a tuk tuk driver with your own vehicle and business), is a major barrier for getting young people into the industry. This is part of what AMBA is trying to combat, giving workers buy-in to the business through a profit sharing type model.
I also particularly enjoyed the conversations about brand. A lot of Sri Lankan tea is blended with the tea from other countries, and not differentiated as a luxury, superior product the way it could be. To me, this was reminiscent of the start of NZM, and the way New Zealand wool was traded as a commodity product with no differentiation from its Australian or South African counterparts! The main issue here is budget for global marketing, and a lack of a unified approach from the industry nationally. AMBA specifically is doing some amazing work and has small boutique retailers all around the world carrying their product.
Outside of just tea, AMBA also produces delicious coffee and a range of jams and preserves, which we got to sample after our tea tasting. We also stayed on for a delicious lunch of freshly made roti and pumpkin soup which was simply divine. 90% of what they serve is grown and made onsite at AMBA!
AMBA has a number of walking trails around the property, one which connects to a trail that goes all the way back to Ella, via Ella rock. This was our route home, and after lunch and coffee we started the walk, which we expected to take about four to five hours. The walk was full of amazing moments, including the ‘World’s End’ view point, a secluded swimming hole at the very top of the legendary Ravana Falls (featured in the Ramayana), a forest monastery, sunset at the top of Ella Rock and a dusky/dark walk out through tea plantations and gardens to the railway that would take us back to our accommodation. I could write paragraphs on all of these moments, but I will let the pictures do most of the talking, apart from the forest monastery, which was a very special moment for us. And as we couldn’t take photos, I will have to explain!!
We had seen ‘Forest Monastery’ on the map and were suitably intrigued. We’d just reached the top of the biggest climb in the walk and were wandering along the ridge towards Ella rock when we came across possibly the most peaceful place I’ve ever been in my life. There was a beautiful garden and a small selection of wooden buildings, and a couple of young monks in orange robes playing with a paper plane. We said hello to one of the more senior monks, who invited us into an empty hall, probably used for teaching, meditation, worship etc. He invited us to sit down and offered us some snacks, and proceeded to ask if we had any problems we would like to discuss with him! We used google translate to discuss big ideas such as the root cause of happiness and sadness, fixes for modern day anxiety and the importance of living in the present. The conversation ended with a group meditation, which felt like an immense privilege to experience in this environment. It’s hard to explain how special this all felt, being at the top of a mountain, conversing with a monk about life over google translate, in the most beautiful of locations. It’s definitely a touching experience that will stay with us. We could have sat and talked for hours, but it was starting to get towards dusk outside, and we still hadn’t made it to the top of Ella rock! As we said our goodbyes the leaving remarks of the monk were especially poignant and will stay with us as we move through this trip and beyond.
Feeling incredibly touched we made our way up to the top of Ella rock where we appreciated the last of the sunset, before making our way back down to Ella using the light of our phone torches. We found a gorgeous local spot for dinner, newly opened and with the family cooking right in front of us. They asked us for google reviews which we were happy to oblige, as the curries were delicious.
We had one more full day in Ella which we filled very easily with a 6 AM yoga class, chasing waterfalls and a visit to an active Buddhist monastery at sunset. The road up to the monastery was wild. Buses passing buses on blind corners, vehicles going head on towards each other daring the other to be the one that backs up, and so many unpaved switchback turns! Josh did an incredible job navigating all of this on our rental scooter, but by the time we got to the top I felt anything but centered and peaceful! The monastery itself was beautiful, and experiencing the processions of offerings and chanting at sunset was really special. The buzz and energy was worlds away from what we had experienced the day before, but totally moving in a different way.
The next day we packed up and headed to the train station, to depart on one of the most scenic train rides in the world and head towards our next stop, Sri Pada / Adam's Peak. After our first underwhelmed impressions at Ella town, we managed to have an incredibly special few days around the Ella area. My advice to anyone visiting would be to use the town as a base, but spend your time exploring the surrounding area to get to the heart of this hill country town.