The exploring type may decide to investigate the first segment of Belihul Oya. Sometimes rushing in frothy turbulence, sometimes dark and silent, and sometimes soft and tinkling, the river flows through a number of pools, cascades and waterfalls. You can encounter pools named Black Leopard, Atherton, Chimney, Figure of Eight, and Tiger; cross over Black Bridge and Red Bridge; and bypass Slab Rock, Baker's and Galagama Falls. If you venture far enough, you may discover an uncharted pool or waterfall, like a friend of mine recently did.

ACCOMPANIED BY THE STAFF of the Wild Life Department, he walked beyond the normal limits to the end of the cliff and came to a mystifying waterfall. It was not marked on the one-inch maps. No-one could enlighten him as to its name. He decided to locate it from below, and so together we went to Belihul Oya and Galagama villages. We spotted it high up in the hills dripping from the Hortons' range. We asked many villagers about it and they shrugged their shoulders. Yes, some of them had been there, but none knew its name, until we met this wizened old man. The name, he said, was Kathigana Ella.

There are many more excursions for the physically able. They can scale the second- and third-highest mountains in Sri Lanka, both of which rise from the Horton Plains.  Continued...

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