It was a shame to leave Nuwara Eliya, but time is short and I must move on. I had booked a taxi to take me to the station the previous day but when it did not arrive, I could only find a tuk tuk available. Tuk tuks are not speedy, especially over bone-rattling potholed roads and this journey back to the station was excruciating. To cap it all, the train was pulling out of the station as we arrived. I managed to thumb a lift back the seven kilometers to Nuwara Eliya and find a departing bus, so all was not lost.


The bus was cramped but enjoyable, the scenery spectacular and I arrived in Kandy and went to the Queen’s Hotel to be met by Nuwshad, the driver from Halgolla Plantation house .


I decided to stay at Halgolla Plantation after trawling through the internet one night at Fern King Bungalows. Halgolla was a former rubber and coco plantation established by the Van der Poorten family some three generations ago. This real plantation house promised a true Sri Lankan experience high on the hills of Galagederia that fall away to the dry lands to the north. It was certainly much warmer than Nuwara Eliya.


Emil Van der Poorten had returned from thirty years in Canada after the Tsunami and with his wife Arlene set about transforming their plantation house into a European concept bed and breakfast, where you lived with the family.


The 45 acre estate is only reachable with transport that has a high clearance, and is now planted with a huge variety of trees and plants, many used in the estate kitchen. The kitchen was in an open plan, traditional style (no walls) with fire powered stoves and water boiler. Padma the resident chef, cooked the most exquisitely varied curries (all traditional) under the gaze of Arlene, who also produced the most amazing jams and chutneys from the surrounding fruit trees (including Nellie and Nutmeg). The stay turned into a true gastronomic experience, with everything explained and Emil pointing out the original fruit trees on walks in the estate .


Being far removed from the hectic Sri Lankan life in the valleys below, the atmosphere was serene, clam and conducive to relaxation and banter. As you were staying in someone’s house, everything happened around you and the Van der Poortens would either involve you in everything or not involve you - the choice was mine.


Both Emil and Arlene are two very kind and interesting people. Arlene has a history of famous artists in her family, in fact her daughter is one of Sri Lanka most celebrated modern artists. She herself makes huge multicolored bedspreads. Emil is a retired journalist and was a political activist in Canada, during his stay there. He could trace his family back to the Belgium colony in the Congo and has a great knowledge of the estate, the country, the flora & fauna and the history.


Each afternoon we would take his dog for a walk, through the estate, looking at the old rubber and coco production facilities, the new vanilla and nutmeg plantations, watching the monkeys and giant squirrels and talking about the plants. He showed me the old terracing on the property, the waterhole and water spring plus some beautiful books on local birds. There was even had a little bird (I called it the “headbanger”) who used to spend his day fighting his reflection in car wing mirrors and house mirrors.


Everything was left to me to decide at my own pace. I could have organized trips with Nuwshad to the surrounding areas, but this seemed rather superfluous compared to the enjoyment I was getting at Halgolla. My three days flew past and on the third day, Arlene suggested we paid a visit to Emil’s cousin about an hour or so north in the Dry Zone. He is the leading expert on Sri Lanka’s butterflies and his Canadian wife is a world authority on dragonflies. They had built a fantastic house on their land, which had a large verandah backing onto a man made tank (dam or pond). This was a magnate for all manor of birdlife but especially, King Fishers (3 types ranging from one of the smallest in the world to one of the largest), one Cormorant, Miners, Parrots, Serpent Eagles, Woodpeckers etc. This was amazing, and George & Nancy were very kind to let me see this.


It was a real shame to leave Halgolla. It really felt like a second home and Arlene and Emil became friends, rather than hosts. I feel I gained a real insight into Sri Lankan life, culture and nature and as I left to travel north, some how felt I would be back at some point.