A Quick Guide to Camping in Horton Plains

The idea behind this post is to offer a quick insight into the 3 campsites in Horton Plains. We had camped out on campsites 1 and 2 in the past several years, but this year when we wanted to camp out on site 3, we weren't able to find any detailed comparisons on all three sites. So as I have been able to camp out on all 3 sites thought of drafting this breif post on the 3 campsites in Horton Plains.

To put things in perspective this is the latest update from January 2014.

Booking the Campsites

You would have to visit the Wild Life Department Office in Battaramulla to make a reservation to any of these campsites. It would cost you LKR 2500 per day, and you could accommodate upto 10 people. If you are travelling by a vehicle they will charge you a vehicle fee at the park entrance which would be around LKR 280.

Wildlife Offce Contact Number - 0112888585

Getting There

If you are travelling through public transport, its advised to take the Fort-Badulla train and get off at Pattipola or Ohiya stations, from there its a ascending hike of around 9kms, but if you are taking a TukTuk it will cost around LKR 1500-2000, which is worth-it if you are carrying lot of camping gear.

A rough map of the 3 campsites in Horton Plains

Horton Plains Campsite 01

This is the closest campsite to the Wildlife Conservation Office. This is my favorite camping site out of all 3. If you are camping for the first time I would recommend to book this. It doesn't have much space to camp out, but has easy access to constantly running stream of water, which will make your life much easier. It is also completly sealed off from the public eye, giving you much privacy.

The campsite is located on a small island like strip of land with water on three sides.

Getting there - below is the campsite 1

Best thing about campsite 1, a great flowing stream just next to your site.

campsite 1, its covered by the stream from all other 3 sides.

Horton Plains Campsite 02

You could camp here if all other options are out. This campsite is located just across the hiking path to World's End, so you will have visitors passing by your campsite during the daytime. So you will not have much privacy unless you are inside the tent. However, this campsite is located closer to the Chimney Pool, which is a great place to have a wash and a bath.

But I would recommend to avoid this if possible as this doesn't have much privacy and on a weekend the path would get really busy with visitors.But if privacy is not a concern it is a great place to camp as it has easy access to running water.

campsite 2 - Water Bund at campsite 2 (other than privacy, its a great place to camp)

Horton Plains Campsite 03

This campsite is located between campsites 1 and 2, and has a lot of space to setup your tent. However, the only downfall here is that you would have to walk around 100 meters along the water stream to get to a decent place to have a wash, as water just in-front are stagnant and  harder to access.

Since its not covered by larger mountains like on campsite 1, it has a great view at night and in the morning.

Campsite 3 is seen ahead, this is from the path to campsite 1 which is to the right

Campsite 3 is seen ahead- the picture is taken from where you can get access to running water, so you would have to walk a bit to have a good wash

General Tips 

• All campsites are located within around 500ms from the Horton Plains Wildlife Centre and all sites consist of a permanent toilet (squatting) and garbage disposal facilities.

•  If you have a lot of equipment to carry its best to get there before afternoon so you can setup your camp and be prepared for any weather changes.

• No plastics or polythene is allowed within the park, the officers at the gate would check your bags occasionally but are not that strict, in any case if you bring any plastics please make sure to dispose them accordingly at the garbage pit at the site, don't leave them scattered in the campsite.

• Nights in Horton Plains will get really cold, so make sure that you take enough warm clothes including socks and warm gloves if possible.

• Make sure to take a raincoat, as it rains often, you would at least get caught in a small drizzle.

• You are not allowed to make campfires, but the officers would not come to check on it at night but it its advised to take a gas-cooker to cook food ( with smaller gas cyclinder) as it is harder to make fires with the constant mist and rain.

If you are further looking for some solid advise on camping, traveling and sightseeing across Sri Lanka the best place I would recommend the awesome travel community Lakdasun (lakdasun.org). It has a massive load of trip reports and a helpful forum where you can get loads of information. We managed to speak to one of its founding members, Mithila years ago, and you can check out that video on Idea Pettiya.

Special Thanks to Kelum, Varuna, Thinu & Thisara for the pics from our trips through the past few years.

Happy Camping Everyone!

One week in Nepal - things to do

Here's my quick guide to Nepal, where I was incidentally, last month.

1. Firstly, get to Nepal through Delhi because there aren't any direct flights from Colombo at all. CMB to DLH is about Rs. 50,000 +/- and DLH to Kathmandu would be about Rs. 15,000 on a budget flight like Indigo. (Indigo is the most AWESOME budget airline EVER). Get a data sim at the airport.

When you get to Nepal, you'll probably hang out somewhere in Kathmandu. It's actually a lot like Sri Lanka!

Heaven!

2. A touristy place to stay in would be Thamel or Patan (I hear). Its like Negombo times 100. Lots of bars, restaurants, bakeries, jazz bands in corners - you name it. It can be as cheap or as expensive as you like. Mostly cheap though, say you'd pay about Rs. 600 for a cocktail. Something like that. A great place to meet fellow travelers, buy little trinkets to take home and just breath in the coolness of it all.

3. Next, go to a Himalayan viewpoint. It's best to view the sunrise of sunset. Nargarkot takes about 1 hour from Kathmandu and is really beautiful (and bloody cold). There are about 5 such viewpoints to visit if you like.

4. People watch. Nepalese people are sweet and a lot like Sri Lankans. The cities are very commercial though, even the temples. I didn't really get the peaceful feeling when I visited a lot of them...they even have restaurants and trinket shops inside the temples sometimes. Apart from that, there's a LOT of beautiful wood and metal work and art to go ape over. (If that's your thing)

5. Get to Pokhara. It's like the Kandy/ Nuwara Eliya of Nepal. Its about 300KM but takes about 5-6 hours in a rented car and Rs. 15,000 for about 4-5 passengers. I'm told you can fly there for about Rs. 5000pp...not sure about that though.

In Pohkara? Great. Try Paragliding. You literally run and jump off the face of a mountain. The parachute drags you back but you have to keep going, hoping for the best. The initial flight is terrifying but you get your air legs back and it's quite rad. A must try. One trip would cost about $90 +/-

 
6. Visit Davis Falls in Pohkara, visit the adjoining cave of Davis Falls. It's quite magical. Davis? A Swiss lady who died there. :(

Nepal is most water-rich country in the world after Brazil. You can see a lot of gorges, lakes and rivers which are super click-worthy. (BUT WHY do people litter so?!) Also, have authentic Tibetian food in Pohkara. They also have a lot of Tibetian art and handicrafts close to the Tibetian Refugee Settlement. Close to the SOS Children's Village.

7. Back in Kathmandu? Visit Bhakthapur/ Durbar Square, a 17th century royal square where ancestors of those who built it still live today. Get a guide for about Rs. 500-1000 and get him to take you around. The Karma Sutra carvings are ahem!... (All these sights are quite close by, so take a cab from the street and haggle for a acceptable price! DO NOT take hotel cars... Rs. 3000 IS a rip off)

 8. Buy a Thanka and a Singing Bowl. Thankas are traditional Tibetian/ Nepali/ Buddhist art. No, I didn't buy the one below.

9. Visit Swayambhunath and Boudhanath temples - ancient sites sacred to Newar Buddhists and Hindus alike. Remember to read up on the history of the temples, you don't get guides there. They are also close together and a street cab is the best bet.

Well, those are my tips for a short trip to Nepal. Of course there's a million other things you CAN do, like trekking, volunteering, travelling to other cities, bungee jumping, going native or smoking up (yes, it's everywhere and very pungent). I really think we only scratched the surface of Nepal and did a lot of touristy things and there's a lot more to discover.

Oh and the food? Looks a lot like Sri Lankan/ Indian cuisine but about 5 shades blander. Not something to crave after :) 

Happy traveling!

Crossing Beyonds - My timelapse project from India

Just finished off uploading my first proper timelapse short, with footage from Manali, Ladakh and Kashmir. These are truly amazing places, Ladakh in particular is simply breathtaking. Called the Moonland, the feature thumbnail of the video is also from Ladakh overlooking the Indus Valley.

Planing to write more on the travels to India and also on time-lapse videos on some later posts. Hope you will enjoy the video, feel free to let me know your feedback.

 
Crossing Beyonds (Timelapse Short) from Mathawaada on Vimeo.

Royalty free Music for Filmmakers and Other Projects

Recently I have been involved in editing one of our short documentaries and was trying to get some good music to compliment the visuals. Obviously the best option is to work with a composer to get the right music done for your requirement, but for many of us independent filmmakers this can be tough and costly. But luckily there are many like-minded musicians who would like to collaborate and who would like to allow their music to be used for free, its just that you need to locate the right site.

I did some research and these are some good places you could try and find some good royalty free music for both commercial and non commercial purposes.

YouTube Audio Library
www.youtube.com/audiolibrary

Launched in September 2013, this place features some great music that can be used for both commercial and non-commercial projects. Its a great initiative by Youtube, where even musicians and artists can submit their work to be featured.

mobygratis

www.mobygratis.com

Moby started to give out some of his awesome music to filmmakers for free several years back. Now the site has been updated and relaunched to offer a large number of tracks from his album. You could apply for a track and it will take only 24hrs to get approved most of the time. 

Free Music Archive

freemusicarchive.org

Personally this is the best place for me. Free Music Archive is a great initiative, where you would find a wide variety of music for your projects. It also arranges music under "curator" categories where the admins does a great job in bringing music from creative commons licenses as well as other reputed organisations into one place. Its also a great place to discover free music!

There are two more places that I would recommend,

Jamendo

www.jamendo.com/en

This is a great place to discover great free music! Since almost of of the music here are licensed under creative commons you can find tracks for non-commercial projects for free. You could also contact the artists directly and see if they are willing to give their music to your projects. 

Vimeo Music Store

vimeo.com/musicstore

Vimeo started off a music store for filmmakers as well. This site features both paid and free music that you can use for your projects. I haven't really used this directly but since its vimeo it should have some great tunes in thier library.

What do you think of the above sites? Are there any other sites which you have had an experience with?

Good luck with your productions!

Black July - Only in knowledge can it be prevented.

This month marks the 30^th anniversary of Black July, I’m not 30 yet, and I wasn't born during that time, though like most youth I grew up with 20+ years of war and destruction. The anti-tamil riots during the month of July in 1983 should never be forgotten.

As kids I remember my parents telling us about how they saw innocent tamils stopped from cars and taken out or how houses were set on fire. My parents who went for their daily jobs in Colombo couldn't do anything but to watch in despair as angry mobs ransacked shops and harassed innocent people.  These killing and violence made a permanent scar in the Sri Lankan society, and any Sri Lankan would clearly know the implications it had on the war and the divide it brought forth.

Any young adult of my age in their 20s or early 30s who grew up in the 90s should clearly know the implications of racial extremism and what destruction a communal riot would bring to this small country. Partly for political mileage or otherwise state media used to shower the public with news and articles about Black July every year for its anniversary. So any kid growing up those days knew of the harm such a riot could bring to a country.

Ironically, it’s sad to see how few extremists seem to ignore this lesson learned and act with no responsibility whatsoever. Particularly the Muslim phobia that some elements try to create is pathetic. Public hate speech, attacking places of worship or businesses are carried out occasionally by a small minority who just want to instigate a clash or a riot. This could spark a communal clash at any moment.

I just finished watching the amazing WWII documentary series  “The Nazis – A Warning from History”, which takes an in-depth look into how Nazi ideology flourished in Germany through propaganda and manipulation and how an entire nation became obsessed with racial purity and domination. Though Sri Lanka can be hardly compared to the Nazi Germany its important to remember the ending notes narrated in its closing episode. It echoes words from Karls Jaspers a prominent German philosopher about World War II and the atrocities that were committed, which I think are pretty much relevant to Black July as well...

"That which has happened is a warning. To forget it is guilt. It must be continually remembered. It was possible for this to happen, and it remains possible for it to happen again at any minute. Only in knowledge can it be prevented."

Kalumaali - The triumphant feat in Sri Lankan English Theater

In my opinion, Kalumaali was the best thing that ever happened to Sri Lankan English language theater. I based this opinion on few factors. One of such factors is that how Ruwanthie D’Chickera shrewdly brought the theme to the reality by the innovative stage usage and brilliantly crafted script. Even she had the luxury of going through the manuscript they prepared with the help of 13 female dramatists in different social strata in her disposal, the language and the content which was inspired by the myriad of present day sociopolitical “dramas” going in Sri Lankan society  surely kept the audience intact and enlightened throughout the drama. Another aspect of Kalumaali which I liked is that it lacked the pretentious melodramatic elements which was amply visible in most of other contemporary English language theater productions in Colombo. It intentionally went away from common roots of fantasy, fables or comedy yet kept the aspects of all those to stress the protagonist’s dilemma of keeping her dreams and family-life alive and intact.

The performance of Lakmini Seneviratne who portrayed the protagonist mother (Dil) of the drama was highly commendable. She was prolific in her delivery, emotions and managed to keep the audience engaged in the plot. The character of the daughter as well as husband’s mother which was portrayed by seasoned Kaushalya Fernando came really well and completed the drama with their subtle satire and few thought-provoking instances. The husband’s role  which was portrayed by a different actor (because of the possible unavailability of the originally cast Peter D’ Almeida) became the only disappointment of the night due to the awkward pauses in his dialogue delivery on several occasions and slight rigidness in his acting. Lack of preparation and rehearsal time might have been the case. Apart from that all the other cast including the character of Dil’s mother; Film Achchi and even backstage crew managed to do the justice for the script in their level best. The background score also added the extra color to the drama on stage but it was downplayed a bit because of the spectators minds were glued to the amazing performance and the story.

If I dig deeper in to the core theme of the drama, as the writers of the drama saw it (which I think), it’s simply the loss of control and ambition among women due to the pressures of current masculine dominated sociopolitical structure of this country. But as a male member of this society, as a guilty party on this phenomenon (without a doubt consciously or subconsciously) I never seen a drama which stresses on the male point of view on this topic on Sri Lankan stage. All the dramas regarding this topic which I have seen in both English as well as Sinhala language (which are directed by mostly males) also depicted the story only from the women’s point of view. But in my theory most of us in these Asian region are raised by women, loved by women and our lives are entirely spent with some form of strong connection with women. So this phenomenon or this issue of feminism should be brought up within women themselves because they play a major part in reforming the entire society to the current state. Kalumaali achieved this for some extent with the help of characters such as Film Achchi, Gedara Achchi and Saki. But I would love to see a different approach or dialogue between male characters; Kalana and the stranger to see the male point of view on this topic rather than portrayal the stereotypical male behavior in the current society. Because of this reason I personally think that engagement of the male audiences with the core theme is somewhat weakened because they were more connected with satiric representation of their everyday role which is recurrent on Sri Lankan Theater

Anyway on an ending note, I would recommend Kalumaali as a thought-provoking novel theater experience specially for the English theater and if you are not seen it already, please grab a ticket when the next show is on because it’s much, much more than worth of the money and time you spend.

New Era in Sri Lankan Cinema - A Dream or Reality?

Yesterday I was able to attend a lecture presented by veteran Sri Lankan filmmaker Ashoka Handagama titled “A New Era of Sri Lankan Cinema - More than a Dream”.  Handagama, not only a well known and controversial director but also a top figure at Central Bank of Sri Lanka working as Director of Communications. Although as a filmmaker, he’s known to focus on controversial issues and had attracted both praises and criticism from different ends, his lecture seem to distance him self from the rebellious character and focused on a detailed and a structured plan on revitalizing the Sri Lankan Cinema Industry.

Kadaunu Poronduwa (1947) considered to be the first Sri Lankan film to be produced 

Sri Lankan Cinema Industry, which flourished and reached its peak in the late 70s, came crashing down during the 80s and was lagging on its knees during the 90s and even now. The number of cinema halls and even the total cinema admissions have reduced drastically compared to the golden age of the 70s. Miscalculated government policies, television and also the communal and social unrest that prevailed during the early and late 80s crippled the once flourished Sri Lankan Film industry with little  hope for a revitalization. Mr.Handagama pointed out some attempts made during the 90s to revitalize the Sri Lankan Film industry, with appointment of a commission to look into the crisis headed by Professor Senaka Bandaranayake. Though the commission report published in 1996 identified several factors that needs to be improved in order to revitalize the industry, these were not properly implemented or practiced. After one and half decades later, Sri Lankan Film industry is at almost non-existent with only a handful of quality films being produced. Local film industry has lost its mass market appeal and few quality halls remaining are invaded withHollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, without much success to the local filmmakers.

An International Film Festival?

Proposal made by Handagama was to revitalize the whole industry by exposing the Sri Lankan Cinema to the International Markets, and vice versa through an extravagant mass scale film festival that would in turn entice enthusiasm about film, promote local productions and also benefit Sri Lankan tourism industry through entertainment tourism. The idea here was to make this film festival, termed “Colombo International Film Festival” which will bring in International films, directors and the film community to Colombo while also promoting selected locally made films during the festival. The event will provide opportunities to promote local productions and networking whilst promoting Sri Lanka as a destination for film locations.

International Film Festivals as a means of promoting and uplifting an industry has worked out well for many countries.  Apart from some of the major film festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, Los Angels there are other festivals such as Dubai, Busan, and Tokyo that have made a great impact in the region where it has helped the film industry of the host country immensely. One main example Handagama presented was the success story of the Busan Film Festival, in South Korea. In 1996 when it was first launched the Korean film industry was virtually unknown in the International arena, however, within few years, Korean films reached its golden era where many Korean film directors were able to make a name for themselves globally. It also helped the country to revitalize its industry and helped grow enthusiasm amongst the general public, where by now Korean Film Industry has become one of the top globally. This model has now become a favored strategic implmentation that has been picked up by many other countries as well, some of the examples are film festivals such as Hanoi, Indian.

The practical application of this model is yet to be taken up by relevant parties as this is just a proposed plan and suggestions. In the Sri Lankan context it may not be as easy as the Korean scenario and in terms of sustainability and profitability there may be questions. However, it’s great to see a new bold way of thinking has gone into this, where Mr.Handagama with his experience in the film industry and also as in his role as a banker had devised a fresh plan to uplift the film industry in the country. Of course this is just a first step in a long journey, however if this can be implemented correctly, this might very well be the spark that can reignite the Sri Lankan Film Industry back to its former glory.