Tag: unforgetable

“Horton Plains… Anything but “plain.”

By Vikas Kakwani

“Horton Plains… Anything but “plain.”

(Vikas and his wife and son travel regularly with The Wanderers and here’s his post from Horton Plains, Sri Lanka)

“In the name of Ravan, what would you do in Sri Lanka for 8 days?” was the question posed to us when we planned the travel. How absolutely wrong could that turn out to be?

Each day offered us something new, from heritage sites to high rises, from hill stations to pristine beaches, from idyllic resorts to maddening shopping and from tea plantations to Horton plains.

It was Horton plains that got my fancy. Horton Plains National Park is a protected area in the central highlands of Sri Lanka at an altitude of approx 2,200 metres and is situated 32 km from Nuwara Eliya where we stayed at The Grand Hotel that was the residence of Sir Edward Barns, Governor of Sri Lanka, till 1850 (to write about just the hotel will be another blog).

We started off from the hotel at 5:30am with packed breakfast and drove for just over an hour to the entry of the national park. It was cold till we started walking. The total trek circuit is of 9 km and it offers three major scenic location viz the World’s end, the mini- world’s end and the Baker’s fall but more than just that, the experience is simply awesome. The terrain changes from normal hilly tracks to forest trails to rocky grooves. One can be carefully treading the slippery rocks at one moment and in the second moment find oneself atop the open hills and soon after climbing the tree roots while holding on to the branches. Bird watchers are treated with a vast variety of beautiful birds and the fauna lovers with exotic plants. The world’s end is truly breathtaking. The fall is steep so one doesn’t see anything down below and the cloud forest is thick so one can’t see anything ahead giving an impression of being the end of the world. It took slightly over 4 hours to complete the trek. The iPod nano recorded the exact distance and steps that we walked. Just as an advice, wear comfortable walking shoes and carry a water bottle.

Finally, if you are not one of the fitness freak, you might need to go in for a foot massage after the trip but in the end, all the pain will be forgotten thanks to the wonderful memories that you would carry forever… In all, a trip to Sri Lanka will not be complete without the fabulous experience on the Horton Plains.

Israel- the Non Stop country

  Abhik Dutta, Director & Co-Founder of  The Wanderers gives a brief synopsis of his trip to this ancient land and comes away fascinated.                                                                                                                                           

Known as much for its Biblical past as it is for its vibrant present and a promising future, Israel embodies a great ‘never say die’ spirit that encompasses the very life of Israel.

I had always wanted to visit Israel having grown up reading books about the country and its people, how the state was formed, about kibbutz life, their culture of innovation, the politics and religion of the region, the holocaust etc. So, when I got the invite from the Israel Ministry of Tourism to visit the country, I already had one leg in the El-Al flight!

Tel-Aviv, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea is a city on steroids! An active city, where people are forever on the go. Cycling, running, skating, sailing, segwaying, dancing. Always moving. No wonder its called the Non-Stop City. Jaffa, is the exact opposite. Quiet, reflective, artsy, historical. To escape the noise and pulsating rhythm of Tel Aviv, we headed for the quiet lanes of the Old city of Jaffa where we visited the Ilana Goor museum (which is also the current home of this gifted artist).  At the Nalaga’at Centre located near the wharf, we got a taste of different wine in a pitch black restaurant called BlackOut, escorted by blind waiters! A most humbling experience.

An orthodox jew pedals up a street in Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, we followed a local family through the old streets as they celebrated the Bar Mitzvah function of their son’s coming of age. I prayed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and laid to rest, then headed down the lanes to the Western Wall or Kotel (earlier called the Wailing Wall) where I prayed once again donning a ‘kipa’. Later, I visited a Roman Catholic Franciscan cemetery to pay respect at the grave of Oskar Schindler, the German who saved over a thousand Jews during WW II. Remember the movie Schindlers List?

I also visited the Holocaust Museum. It was a deeply moving experience. The architectural marvel hides the brutality, pain and suffering depicted inside its grey walls as it takes you through the history of the Holocaust with heart rending stories of suvivors, bringing their pain closer to our hearts. And finally, after 2 hours, I emerged at twilight from the dark corridors of one of last century’s most sordid periods to a patio overlooking the dazzling lights of Jerusalem. A sign of light and hope for the future?

While traveling to the Dead Sea we took a cable car ride up to the hilltop fortess of Massada (over a 1000ft high), now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built by King Herod in 30 BC. It has majestic 360 degree views of the Jordan Rift Valley and Dead Sea on one side and the desert landscape on the other. I decided to run down the  ‘Snake Path’ on the way down- a decision that affected my gait over the next 3 days!

That evening we drove in Landrovers into the Judean desert to watch a surreal sunset and the next morning I was up at dawn to master my ‘water floatation technique’ on the Dead Sea. As opposed to the Jordan side of the Sea which is rocky (I happened to visit Jordan in September earlier this year), the place where we entered the water was sandy  and well-maintained. We floated around for the better part of an hour before heading back to our hotel and drove onward to Eilat on the Red Sea.

Solomon’s Pillar, Timna Park

Eilat is hedonism at its Middle Eastern best. The Red Sea is perfect water sports, scuba diving & snorkeling during the day and post sunset, the city makes a quick switchover to the good life full of great cuisine, music and clubbing. Blessed with year round mild weather (water temperature rarely dips below 20deg C), Eilat is the perfect place for relaxation in Israel. We snorkelled in the Sea, discovered the beauty of Timna Park and its ancient copper mines nestled in the magical surroundings of the desert and as the lights of the city dazzled, we made our way to the Three Monkeys Pub to listen to an English band and down a few beers..a perfect way to wind up my short trip to Israel!

 

-by Abhik Dutta, Director & Co-Founder of  The Wanderers