Overlooking Lipton's Seat

Lipton's Seat. No I didn't pose.

What do you say about the perfect hike? Turns out, not so much.

For the first time, I managed to go on a hike, not get into any major mishaps and complete it with all my limbs and metabolism intact (cue Idalgashinna memories). 

I do have a small amendment though. We didn't hike to Belihuloya and Adara Kanda. We were researching the hike online - as everyone should - when we realized that Adara Kanda was like Horton Plains without the crowds: just as huge, just as remote. It was no place for two people to hike in alone, so we put that back on the bucket list and searched for other places that were close by.

We hit upon Lipton's Seat.

Lipton's Seat is a viewpoint located high on a hill in what is now the Dambetenna Estate. Miles and miles of verdant tea bushes, as far as the eye can see. It was where Sir Lipton used to gaze out at his empire. Clearly, colonists and tea barons had taste.

Vehicles go all the way to the top so technically, it's not much of a hike. But we'll get to that later.

We bought tickets to catch the infamous 8.00 PM night train from Colombo Fort to Badulla, to get down in Haputale. Third class reserved  seats cost LKR 400 each. You can also get the superliner luxury bus; tickets are LKR 900 per head to Badulla.

via Google Maps

We got down from Haputale around 6.10 AM. I have just 2 photos of the sunrise btw because I value my sleep over a good photo. I can hear Instagram growling at me. My boyfriend was up and taking pics from 5. Why???

පාන් බාගේ බස් එක 

Lipton's Seat is about 15-20 km from Haputale and you can take a tuk, bus or hired vehicle. The tuk will take you all the way up to the Seat and charge you LKR 800, which is fair. We did not have 800 to spare so we decided to bus it.

There are 2 buses going up there: one stops at the Dambetenna estate town. It's more like a junction than a town but you get the gist. There's about 5 km from there to Lipton's Seat. The other bus goes further up and carries a board saying 'Litpion's [sic] Seat'. That will drop you at a fork in the road and you only have to walk 2 km. 

If you're tempted to choose the first one, don't. Despite having a tarred road, the climb up is grueling and you'll be too exhausted to enjoy the view by the time you reach the top. We took option #2 and paid LKR 75 each for the ticket.

(FYI we brought out dinner and breakfast with us to save money and time coz shops in Haputale don't open till well past 8 and we wanted to be on our way before then)

The ride is bone-rattling and packed. The buses are tiny, to accommodate the crazy bends in the road but the drivers have lost their fear glands somewhere in the past. They drive insanely fast until they spy an oncoming vehicle. Then they jerk to a stop and slowly rev the engine again. I was suddenly super-religious and praying to every known pantheon to keep us safe. I do not wanna die. Not like that.

Once we were dropped off, we started the climb. In a few places, we skipped the long bends in the road and clambered up steps in the middle of the tea estates. Oh yeah, did I mention? From the time we passed Haputale, were were inside tea plantations. 

The walk was hard but refreshing. There was so much to see and the green has never seemed so green to me. The air is so crisp up there it hurts your lungs to breathe but you don't wanna stop coz it feels super clean, the way air never is in Colombo or Kandy. 

We finally made it up around 10 but unfortunately, we were in for a bit of a shock.

Which I'll tell you about, next week :)