The hill climate weather is ideal for hiking almost all year round – a fresh breeze but a warming sun. Here money is in short supply and yet happiness is bountiful. The remoteness of Lovers Leap is brought home to me with young children turning coke tins into homemade cars and all imaginable types of toys from left behind rubbish. To reach this National Geographic spot I headed off with my two kids from the Pedro tea estate, walking through staircases of green tea that vanished into the sky and then higher up along steep pathways that vanished at times with women collecting firewood on their heads and water bowls balanced perfectly at whatever angle they were forced to climb. It carries the name and the sorrows of the deadly romance and every drop of water seems to be an endless cascading tear cried by the young couple who would for all eternity could only be together in death.
LOVERS LEAP FULL
So on one full moon day, they climbed up to the top of the waterfall and jumped from the edge to make an end to their suffering sacrificing their young lives for true love. The king was strictly against their planned marriage as their origin and the customs of those days could not allow an alliance between partners from such extremely different castes. The living of the falls is the story of two lovers – one Prince and a beautiful girl from a close-by village – who had no chance of being together due to the huge class difference. Whether the story is true, the ‘Lovers Leap’ walk is famous in the area not only for its cascading waterfall, but also for its spectacular viewpoint of the Nuwara Eliya Mountaina, the hill capital of Sri Lanka. A few minutes watching them haul sacks of crops with huge smiles across their faces up and down these terraces is a humbling experience. The women who toil the fields are just as much a part of the local economy and breadwinners as the men, who carry huge loads up and down the mountains with not a care in the world. The waterfall is set in the tea country, a colonial legacy of English vegetables that thrive even in the terrible rainy environment, which are served up daily with classic English Sunday roasts. The whole experience of watching it is hypnotic and one is left in awe how Mother Nature can create such a startling beautiful and yet a deadly spot that has mesmerised generations of travellers. Hard to imagine two young lovers ending it all here in one last leap, a place where torrents of water smash down at hurtling speeds over a 30 metre craggy drop, passing a whole array of jagged rocks making the sound like a final drum-roll. The falls name interestingly came from two star struck lovers, who like Romeo and Juliet took their own lives for the sake of love. To miss this slippery deadly waterfall would be a mistake, but be careful as you stand on top of it looking down that you don’t tumble into its evil clutches. Lovers Leap the waterfall is a fascinating trail through the Nuwera Eliya village life and with spectacular views of the surrounding area. Luckily as I reached the top platform the sun came out ripping an amazing rainbow of colours across the sky.
I was slipping and sliding in all directions long before I reached the top however, the mesmerising views and sound of the hypnotic water hitting the rocks was enough to keep me going. “Lovers Leap is a slippery deadly death defying waterfall and one wrong step at the top of it looking down and you might find yourself tumbling into its evil clutches.” Being in Nuwera Eliya it started to rain and that of course does not help any walker even on a well mapped out walking trail. ‘Be careful’ warns my usually cheerful hotelier.
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