The guiding question for our trip is “How can we better understand the fascinating ecology of Sri Lanka’s highland ecosystems through an interactive trip that emphasizes learning through the medium of photo documentation and journaling? To what extent have humans modified the landscapes and ecology of the central highlands?
The end of chapter, commences the beginning of another. It was difficult for me to fathom the thought of not looking forward to my next Week Without Walls (WWW) trip. This year I was lucky enough to get highlands, a trip I had been eyeing since ninth grade. I knew that it encompassed loads of hiking and photography; two areas I enjoy participating in. Each of the destinations were places I had already been to with my parents, which made me curious as to what would make this trip unique. My mind was blown to unmeasurable extents with the vast landscapes, icy waterfalls and overall serenity. I felt more grounded than ever before!
We went to Belihuloya, Horton Plains national park, Kirigalpotta, Totupola, Nuwara Eliya and Piduratagala. Each place had its own unique adventure. I still remember the initial icy feeling when we jumped into Lanka Ella falls, in Belihuloya. It was like swimming in melted ice, every inch of our bodies were frozen but with the excitement of the gorgeous waterfall we were distracted. Horton Plains was a breath taking hike in general, around every corner and over every hill I was constantly astonished. The vast plains and clear blue skies, barely resembled Sri Lanka. It felt foreign yet the hike was extremely enjoyable, with the different species of trees and plants. It was like we were children again, singing songs and playing games as we hiked. All our stresses were left back in Colombo as we couldn’t have been anymore blessed. As we searched for the peak through the tall weeds, people kept shoving each other down as the struggle was real as we attempted to get back up. Kirigalpotta, Totupola and Piduratagala, all had breath taking views. I was in awe with the beauties of the island I call home. Perspective is everything, the busy streets filled with pollution almost seemed irrelevant. The mountain ranges were insight along with the residential areas. Specifically with Totupola, we woke up at 5 am to commence our hike. It was around 5 degrees Celsius, we were all wrapped in layers as we began a tranquille and sleepy hike. I remember reaching the top in time for sunrise, breathless with the most magnificent sunrise in front of me. I was mesmerized by the view, the bright orange blended in with yellow over a tint of red. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, truly out of this world. Nuwara Eliya was in sight from the top. Throughout the drive I was looking for the peak we hiked earlier that day, still amazed as to how minuscule we are from the peak of the hill.
(The group at Lanka Ella Falls)
(View from Piduratagala peak, highest in Sri Lanka)
I was able to experiment with my camera in manual mode and develop a variety of skills in relation to this. This is an area of my camera that I am not that familiar with, as it is difficult to master it successfully. However, thanks to the patience of my peers and mentor Mr. Lockwood, I was able to grasp the basics. Through which I captured: slow motion water, mountain ranges, sunrises and close ups. It was much more rewarding than shooting on auto mode. This trip was a great opportunity for photography, as we visited landscapes of different ecosystems. Which created a diversity in species and overall views. The photos from the album are vastly different from each other, probably one of the more unique aspects of the trip.
Over the course of the trip, Mr. Lockwood our supervisor constantly educated us on the differences in the ecosystems. One of the more interesting ones, being the dwarf trees/ forest. In my IB biology class we had discussed the causes and reasons for the dwarf forest in the ecology unit. It was interesting to see the change in the trees as we went higher in altitude. Specifically, when we hiked Totupola with each couple meters the height of the trees decreased significantly until we were a lot taller than them. This was an adaptation characteristic of the tree to the low oxygen, water, sunlight and nutrient levels. This demonstrates the affects of global issues like global warming on the bio diversity of Sri Lanka. Through the process of natural selection the bio diversity is able to adapt to the rapid changes caused by global warming. It was interesting to see the effects human activity actually has on our planet, which made the realities a lot more visual as we are frequently taught about the issue but the first hand experience was a wake up call.
Overall, so many memories were created during this five day trip. I was able to grow my friendship with the students from the grade below. As well as strengthen those with people from my grade. My personal highlights were probably swimming in Lanka Ella Falls with everyone. As we all shared the pain of the icy water, through the obnoxious laughter and screams that left us. It was a very special moment that could never be described through words. It was truly living in the moment as we salvaged for warmth with each other. To my dislike the stay at the dormitory (asylum) was probably the other highlight. The fear of sleeping with rats running around, we were all in our cocoons within our own sleeping bags. The nights spent eating dinner at the table bonding over our horrible experiences, will be missed. It was a difficult time but made so many great memories, with the lack of electricity, rats, broken shower and inconsistent food. The collaboration that went into going to a traditional vegetable market to by raw materials for cooking at night. Later I had Andrew and Divyanshu in my cooking group, and lead them to successfully peel onions whilst burning tears trickled down our cold cheeks. I would give anything to relive this trip once more with the same people! I would also like to tribute the Totupola hike which I did in memory of my grandmother who passed while I was on the trip. She was constantly on my mind and especially on that gorgeous hike.
This is some of the photography I did over the duration of this trip:
