“Learning never exhausts the mind” – Leonardo Da Vinci
The ESS class of 2021 engaged on our first science trip to Adam’s Peak/Sri Padha. This trip will always be memorable to me as we had so many memories to cherish. it was my first time climbing Adam’s peak with several others and to put it frankly, it was the most challenging hike I have ever participated in. We took a different route to Sri Padha compared to the traditional steps. We first hiked through the base of a different mountain and went up that path. It was long and very rigorous, even though being athletic, I found it extremely challenging. After 5 hours of hiking through the primary forest. We reached the junction, where we met with the steps that lead up to Sri Padha. These were the steps that people usually take and we couldn’t believe that people would carry goods up the steps all the way up.
After reaching the top, we found a place to sleep at the temple. Mr Lockwood and I left the group and started looking for frogs. We found many different species and it was challenging because it got dark really quick and it being cold made it more tedious. After that mini-adventure, we tried to rest up. It was hard to sleep there as the speakers were on all the time, playing prayers recited by a young child. After a sleepless night, we woke up at 5 to prepare for the sunrise at the peak. We were met by a huge crowd of people, mostly tourist. We didn’t expect the top to be that crowded and we had to squeeze in to find a really good spot to watch the sunrise. After all that work, we were unable to witness a clean sunrise as the mist and fog made it hard for all of us up there to see the usual yet mesmerizing sunrise.
This trip was important for us ESS students because we learnt how different ecosystems function in Sri Lanka and how ecosystems are affected by the altitude and how it changes as you go higher up. We found different species and we expected that to happen due to vertical zonation and that the ecosystems changed from one to another. We also learnt how fragile the environment/habitat is for different animals we encountered and that even a slight disturbance in their habitat could cause a change in their living. This the mad us think about how much of a problem climate change could affect the ecosystems of these beautiful faunae and flora around the world. what amazes me is how Sri Lanka, being such a small country has already affected some of these species habitats.
