Far from the scorching heat and bustle of the Sri Lankan coast, deep in the lush mountainous hinterland of this exotic island, there I found myself in the cool and fairytale-like village of Ella. Arriving in Ella, one gets inevitably captivated by its charms, making it really hard to leave when time demands. There are numberless spots of unparalleled natural beauty hidden around the intricate system of peaks and gorges surrounding the village enough for one to never get bored exploring. The first one of them we chose to go to was the Ravana Waterfalls.
The Ravana Waterfalls are located beside the main road leading south from Ella towards Wellawaya, about 5 km out from the village, at 6.8408/81.0545. There the road forms a sharp left curve over a bridge spanning the deep ravine hosting the rushing mountain stream.
Crowds of tourists are assembled on the bridge at all times of the day, taking selfies with the plunging falls in the background. A throng of aspiring tour guides, food vendors, tuk-tuk drivers and such do constantly sneak in between them in a bid to make their living.
A very short walk off the road, and you’ve made it to the first pool beneath the roaring waterfall. Yet more tourist crowds are having a refreshing swim in the cool mountain waters, while others are sunbathing atop the smooth rocks beside the pool.
That’s exactly what I did, too, for a certain length of time. But then the desire to climb up the falls that flared within my soul upon raising my head up was simply irresistible. I darted.
Later on, I heard that there is usually a guard placed on the spot prohibiting tourists from undertaking the dangerous climb, due to many fatal accidents occurring on a regular basis with tourists falling down the falls to their death. But that I heard only later. On the spot, I was simply let to scamper up unhampered.
In the thickets by the right side of the falls, following a water pipe, there is a sort of trail leading a good deal of way up safely. But I located that one only on my way down. On my way up, I climbed boldly over the boulder, needing to wade here and there through the small pools and waddle with extreme caution over ice-slippery rock, in order to reach the best climbing spots. Some of them were pretty technical and dangerous, indeed, and should rather not be attempted by people without some decent climbing experience.
At some point, where the trail-of-sorts I mentioned before terminated and led out of the thicket to the bare rock beside the stream, I bumped into a German fellow who was in the same business with me. We continued climbing up together. We went past a number of falls and pools, and over several tricky boulders, until we reached the ultimate level a sane person should climb without ropes and stuff.
That was as far up as we would have wanted to climb anyway. The spot was absolutely marvelous. It must have been the waterfall’s longest vertical drop; the longest visible from the bottom at any rate. The clamor it raised was outright deafening and the sprinkling it sprayed over its pool was equivalent of a storm. The view down was far-reaching and awe-inspiring.
I spent there quite some time, enjoying the serenity and splendor of the place, bid farewell to my new German friend who planned on not leaving before dusk, and headed back down to continue exploring the beautiful surroundings of Ella.
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