Tea Plantations, Horton Plain and World's End

Sri Lanka is famous for its tea, exports of which still contribute massively to the island's economy. While we were up in the hills we took the chance to see the tea-making process. The plantations stretch across the mountains, which are ideal for the altitude and sunshine-loving tea plant. The youngest leaves are picked and brought to the tea factories, where the tea making process hasn't changed for decades.

This image shows the first stage, the drying of the leaves. There are many further stages including crushing, fermentation and grading. The whole process from picking to packing should take only one day.














We were given a free cuppa at the Labokellie factory.
















An early start took us up towards Horton Plain, near which we saw a group of Bear Monkeys feeding.























Mum was cheerful despite the early hour!























On Horton Plain itself we saw several groups of Sambar Deer, though we didn't manage to spot any of the National Park's reclusive leopards.























The blue-tailed bee-eater made another appearance.





















And here is the view from World's End. This precipice forms the end of Horton Plain, dropping over 1000m to the lowland plains below.