The City Of Light, Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya ‘the tea capital of Sri Lanka’ or the ‘City on the plain (table land)’ is a picturesque town of Sri Lanka, located in the middle highlands of the country at an elevation of about 6,128 feet comprising of a very moderate climate. This location is the most significant tea production area of the state that is dominated by the tallest mountain Pidurutalagala. It is regarded as the most-visited mountainous resort with breath-taking and awe-inspiring landscapes. The endless array of tea farms are totally amazing and compel so many people to take cheap flights to Colombo to behold the beauty and lushness of this magnificent land.

The area was discovered by the explorer Samuel Baker in 1846 and was called as ‘Little England’ where British indulged in many pastimes like hunting of deer, fox and elephant and they also uses to play golf, polo and cricket there. Now a days it is frequently visited by a number of travellers for the activities like go-cart race, pony race and auto rally.

The buildings here still hold their colonial characteristics amongst which the General’s house, Hill club, Grand Hotel and Queen’s cottage are very famous. You will truly wallow the flashbacks of antediluvian time once you visit these antiquated buildings. The town is very vibrant and vivacious because of the festivals for Tamil New Year and Sinhalese which are organized here in the month of April.

Victoria Park is the most dazzling site of the area which has fishing and boating facilities on Lake Gregory. The park is a bewitching oasis of various beautiful breeds of birds such as the Kashmir Flycatcher, Scaly Thrush, Pied Thrush and Indian Blue Robin. In the close vicinity of Lake Gregory lies the Galway’s Land National Park which is a wildlife sanctuary located on an area of 0.6 square kilometres and houses 20 exceptional breeds of travelling birds and 30 distinctive breeds of native birds.

Besides the Horton Plains National Park is also located in Nuwara Eliya which is an astonishing area of grassy timberland and this site will truly enthral the bird-lovers as it features many colourful and unique birds like Sri Lanka White-eye, Dull-blue Flycatcher and Yellow-eared Bulbul. The most fascinating enticement at the Worlds End is the 1050 metres elevated sheer brink of the rock from where the return path will provide you the jaw-dropping scenes of Baker Falls.

The widespread farming of fruits, vegetables and flowers provides a very scenic view and Little England is also bordered with lush fields of carrots, potatoes, roses, leeks and tea. Another place which is of great importance for Hindus is the ‘Seetha Kovil’ a folklore temple that is located in ‘Seetha Eliya’ village. Legend tells that the Hindu princess Seeta was kidnapped by the King Ravana who kept her in the area, where temple is located. There are many other interesting and appealing places at this magnificent city that will be unveiled once you have a voyage there. So pack your luggage and get ready for a unique fun.