← All articles · 2026-07-26

Ella

Ella in June 2014, before the crowds: village lanes and corner shops, Ella Gap from a guesthouse lawn, Ravana Falls, and tea bushes in every direction.

We rolled into Ella in June 2014, back when it was still more village than backpacker capital: one main street, tea slopes in every direction, and a guesthouse lawn staring straight down Ella Gap.

Around the village

Dileep standing on a dusty verge in Ella village with his camera, clothes shops and women chatting on the steps behind — The main street, June 2014 edition: a few shops, a bicycle, and everyone with time to chat.

Dileep walking down a quiet lane in Ella past flowering hedges and a green cross sign for the medical officer of health — Strolling out of the village past the health office and its flower beds.

Dileep with a backpack browsing at a small village shop with a Pepsi stand, bottled water and brooms out front — Water run at the corner shop, which also covers brooms, coir rope and most other village needs.

Cluster of green papayas growing tight against the trunk of a papaya tree — Papayas by the lane, still a few weeks short of breakfast.

Round thatched shelter on timber posts surrounded by red and yellow canna flowers — A thatched shelter in a riot of cannas. Ella does not do plain bus stops.

The view from the lawn

Our guesthouse sat right on the lip of Ella Gap, the great notch in the hills that lets you see all the way to the southern plains on a clear day.

Dileep walking up a driveway carrying his camera, a green roofed guesthouse behind him — Home for the night, camera never far away.

Inga in a sun hat standing among white garden chairs on a guesthouse lawn in Ella, the old bungalow behind — The lawn came with white chairs, rose beds and nowhere we needed to be.

Inga in a sun hat leaning on a wrought iron railing at the edge of a lawn, the Ella Gap valley dropping away behind her — The railing at the end of the garden, and Ella Gap falling away for miles behind it.

Inga and Dileep standing together at the garden railing at dusk, the ridges of Ella Gap silhouetted behind — Same railing, last light, the gap fading into haze.

Ravana Falls

Just down the road from the village, Ravana Falls drops straight onto the roadside rocks, close enough to soak the railings.

Ravana Falls cascading in white streams over dark rock ledges framed by green jungle — Ravana Falls in full June voice.

Inga standing in front of the tall cascades of Ravana Falls with a camera strap over one shoulder — Inga and the falls, named for King Ravana of the Ramayana legend.

Inga and Dileep standing at a white roadside railing with Ravana Falls tumbling behind them — The falls come with their own viewing spot, right on the main road.

Tea and road snacks

Inga smiling waist deep in bright green tea bushes on a hillside — Waist deep in the crop that built these hills.

Inga eating a snack beside the road with terraced tea bushes rising on the slope behind her — Roadside stop under the tea terraces.

Inga buying corn from a woman ladling cobs out of a huge steaming pot over a wood fire — Sweetcorn straight from the pot at a roadside stall. Strong contender for best snack of the trip.

Inga in a sun hat holding a durian beside a truck loaded with spiky durian fruit — Picking a durian straight off the back of a truck. Smell strong, opinions stronger.

We came down from Kandy and left the only proper way: hanging out of a window on the hill country train.