“Nuwara Eliya” is one of the typical travel destinations for anyone who’s looking for a vacation, in fact, it is probably safe to say most of the people have visited there one time or another. I was no different, I have been their many occasions and maybe that’s why when I said that “I’m in” I didn’t think anything special of it but little did I know that it’s going to be one of the best weekends I’ve ever spent and I’m here to let you experience at least a fraction of it.

The day before we decided that we might have enough time to visit maybe two waterfalls and the ones that made the cut are “Aberdeen Falls” and “Laxapana falls” and the reason why is that by following a certain route we can visit both of these falls on the way. The route in question is going to Hatton via Avissawella road if you are coming from Colombo and then going to Nuwara Eliya.

What greeted us once we reached the top was a hut and the image of an old man showing us signals to help us park. It didn’t take us much longer to realize that he is also the old rundown shop by the side. Both of these were made of wood gave a very vintage look, along with the never-ending green in the background it was a sight to behold. The shop had “PolRotti” and tea which would be considered a staple Sri Lankan breakfast(spoiler alert, it was good), eating it in the hut while enjoying the view below would have been “the” highlight of the day instead of “a” highlight but such was the day we had, and such was the things to come but believe me when I say it “it was good”. This is undoubtedly one of the best experiences you can have and as a bonus, you would get the help of the old man to point you in the right direction which is exactly what happened.

Photo credit: Achala Kavinda 

The mindset of everyone who came was that the walkthrough or the passage to our destination is going to be a cakewalk but it turns out that it is anything but, although compared to literally any hike in Sri Lanka it would be easy, getting there still requires effort. The waterfall resides after going downhill for about 300 to 400m. There is a small passage through the bushes and the slope is slanted but it is a destination for anyone with an average physique could reach.

Photo Credit: Lahiru 

After maybe about 20 to 30 minutes of traveling we reached our destination. There, the place was surrounded by rocks which by itself was impressive, their formation was truly a work of art however that was not all. The water splashing on these beautifully formed sets of rocks in high velocity etched an image that cannot be unseen. When we reached Aberdeen it hasn’t rained for a couple of days there maybe that is part of the reason why the water wasn’t too violent, even with a bit of rain it is still one of the most gentle waterfalls you are going to encounter in Sri Lanka. This made this place one of the most soothing places while also making it one of the safest to take a dip in at least it was the best place during our journey. It is about 100m and flows relatively gingerly. 

 Photo Credit: Lahiru 

There was no place that could provide us some shape so after a few minutes, we left there made our way to the top the same way we came in. Then we said our farewells to this beautiful and head to our next destination, “Laxapana” falls.