NATURE

This is up-country Ceylon - an enticing land of mountainous peaks and verdant valleys, of tea plantations traversing steep hillsides, of game parks, a profusion of bird life, remnants of rain forests, rushing waterfalls, and sweeping plains.

The Lonely Planet guidebook talks of the hill country's "perpetual spring.'' In Sri Lankan terms, that may well be so. But, to visitors from Northern Europe, the feeling is more in tune with a perfect summer's day.

Among these sleepy hill towns, nestling in stunning scenery, can be found classic walking country. In the fresh hillside air, here is a chance to feel the sun on your back and a freedom in your soul.

There are so many places to visit off the beaten track that you could arrange a month's walking holiday and still feel that Sri Lanka still had many delights unrevealed. You may wish to test your fitness to the limit, walking at a brisk pace for most of the day before arriving, exhausted and satisfied, at your overnight halt.

Or you may want nothing more than an excuse for a gentle stroll in the sunshine. You may demand the comforts of a good hotel at the day's end. Or you may hanker for a simple, basic accommodation - perhaps even a few nights' camping - to get a true feel of the great outdoors.

The carefully-devised itinerary we propose below lies somewhere in between. It begins with a few cultural sites, and ends with a couple of days on the beach, with plenty of serious walking sandwiched in between. The distance walked each day is logged, as is the difficulty of the terrain, to allow you to propose what changes ou may wish to make.

For instance, you may also wish to climb the stepped-slopes to the summit of Adam's Peak, a mountain of great religious significance, and perhaps the most fascinating challenge of all.

Knuckles The Misty Mountains

In sinhalese we called "Dumbara" or "Batadandu" mountains, because every time they have covered with clouds. These knuckles mountains are very highly valuable in biodiversity and also high historical value. These mountains are ranged to the districts of Kandy and Matale. The main part is in Matale district and its called "Laggala" and about 1/3 of whole.

From "Laggala", knuckles are lined about 12 miles to "Urugala" and Middle Kandy area. And also covered square miles of 62 (18,290 hectares) with primary cloudy rain forest.

Knuckles combined 5 mountain ranges. The highest among those is "Gonbanagala Kanda" mountain, and it is upto 6248 feet height from the sea level. The second highest is 6112 called "Knuckles" and the next is "Kirigalpotta". Others are "Dothalugala", "Koboneelagala" in the sequence.

Height from sea level in feets

Ganbanagala - 6248

Knuckles - 6112

Kirigalpotta - 5403

Dotalugala - 5164

Koboneelagala - 5098

Knuckles are also with highly diversified weather and geographical characteristics. Therefore we can find all weather conditions like dry, mid, and wet. The highest rainfall to knuckles is from the North East Monsoon. Therefore the average annual rainfall is 2000-4000 millimeters.

The forest of "Dumbara" are also variable due to variable weather conditions. All types of forests that can be found throughout the Island, also can be seen in this small area.

1. Wet evergreen forests

2. Dry evergreen forests

3. Middle mountain forests

4. Bushy lands and planes

5. Cloudy forests

6. Secondary artificial forests

There are large number of endemic species of plants and trees are there. And very rare medicinal plants also can be seen endemically in Knuckles.

Not only the plants but also zoological characteristics are highly grown in this hot-spot. There are about 28, endemic fresh water fish species are living there. Four of them are endemic and limit only to Knuckles. Dumbara also a home to 20 endemic amphibians. There are 22 endemic reptiles also fenced to Knuckles