Day 3: 

On the third day of the trip, our entire day was dedicated to Horton Plains and trying to climb the second-highest peak of Sri Lanka (Kirigalpotta). At 7:30 sharp, we were all on the bus, ready to start the journey towards Horton Plains. Once we arrived, we started the hike, which was first on open land. After a bit of walking, we had to struggle walking through long, fine grass. Not only was the grass extremely long, but the ground was very muddy, forcing us to play hopscotch in order to not get our shoes muddy. This wasn’t even the hardest part, as we had to then walk through the forest for almost two hours. During this part, it was so cramped and uncomfortable that we couldn’t stand up straight because of the trees and branches.

Open ground (Credit: Pep)

Muddy (Credit: Pep)

Can’t breathe! (Credit: Pep)

After escaping the spikes of death, we were finally back into open land. We stopped for a water break and to gather as much energy for the final stretch of the hike. The last part towards the peak was sadly back into the spiky branches. After what it felt like a lifetime of walking, we had finally made it to the top of the peak, where the view was absolutely amazing. With the best view, we had a nice relaxing lunch which gave us the motivation to return to the bus to finally call it a day.

Lunch (Credit: Pep)

Amazing view (Credit: Josh)

Hungry Lucca (Credit: Josh)

Hike (Credit: Ms. Kamila)

To put an end to the long and tiring day, we walked back to the vans, which made the walk seem a lot quicker and more pleasant. When we made it to the hotel, we had our last dinner at the Olympus Plaza Hotel. Trying to stay up till 9 pm, the majority of us were already asleep the moment we laid on our beds.

Day 4:

Considering that we had a long tiring day, the teachers were nice to let us sleep in and to wake up at 7:15 as we had a very relaxed day on day 4. Once we were done eating breakfast, we all packed our bags and got on the bus ready for an hour’s drive to Jagro farm. As we arrived at the farm, the majority of us were excited to buy some strawberries, snacks, and milkshakes. It was really nice to sit down and enjoy some nice desserts while talking and having fun. Since the farm was closed due to COVID-19, we tried going to the Ambewela farm, which unfortunately closed as well. With not much else to do, we decided to drive to our last and final hotel (St. Andrews) and check-in.

Farm (Credit: Josh)

Having fun! (Credit: Josh)

As we arrived at the hotel, we dropped our bags in our rooms, explored around the hotel a bit, and went for some late lunch provided by the hotel. Once we were all done eating, we had about 30-40 minutes to relax and get ready for a small walk around Victoria Park. At around 3 pm, we were all on the bus on the way to the park. When we arrived there, we were given an hour to walk around and explore by ourselves. At the park, we saw tones of different flowers, trees, insects, and even some birds.

Victoria Park (Credit: Pep)

Exploring (Credit: Pep)

The moment we were done exploring the park, we all met back at the buses and went back to the hotel. There we had about an hour and a half to relax before we had to go on the late-night frog walk. During that time, we were all in our rooms resting, talking, and watching some TV. At about 7 pm, we all met at the front of the hotel in our jumpers, trying not to freeze ourselves. For almost two hours, we searched around the hotel and a small forest area near the hotel. Throughout the entire walk, we saw different species of frogs, such as the most common one, the hourglass frog. At the end of the walk, it was 8 pm, which kind of forced us to eat dinner fast as we had to go to bed as early as possible as we had to wake up at 6 am the next morning.

Rhino-horned lizard (Credit: Pep)

Hourglass frog (Credit: Pep)

Day 5:

At 6 am, every room received a call from the reception telling us to wake up and get ready to venture to the highest peak of Sri Lanka. Barely being able to open my ways, I made my way down to the vans, trying not to fall asleep on the stairs of the hotel. When we arrived at the entrance of the army camp, which was located at the peak, we had to wait almost 30 minutes before being able to enter. After 10-15 minutes, we made it to the final destination of the trip, the highest peak of Sri Lanka!

Above the clouds (Credit: Josh)

(Credit: Josh)

Beautiful! (Credit: Josh)

Both gassed and satisfied, we were all ready to ride back to Colombo and to our homes. Unfortunately, one of our classmates had a small fever, which fast-forwarded our departure due to the protocols. When we got back to the hotel, we went into sprint mode,  as we had to pack and eat in 45 minutes. Once we were all ready and in the vans, we were on the road for almost 6 hours and made it back to OSC concluding our trip.

Learning Objectives:

LO4: Throughout the entire trip, the most challenging day for me, both physically and mentally, was the third day when hiking Horton Plains to the second-highest peak of Sri Lanka. Since it was a very long and difficult walk, especially when walking through the forest, there were multiple times when I would become frustrated and ask myself what the point of all of this is. Then, when making it to the top of the peak, I realized that this was to gain a new experience. I noticed that it was a very beautiful and important experience in my journey across Sri Lanka.

LO6: On the last night at St. Andrews while going through the frog walk, there were a lot of times when the instructor would notice a frog that was very rare as it was endangered. This made me realize a very critical global issue that I had not focused on for a long period of time; deforestation. Because of our greediness, a lot of frog species and other animals are becoming endangered and extinct as we are destroying their habitats. The importance of this frog walk made more disturbing and unfortunate issues come to light.