Descending a Waterfall

It is entirely apt that Sri Lanka is becoming more and more recognised as an activity and adventure destination. Not surprisingly, the hill country plays a central role in such tourism. Trekking and mountain biking readily come to mind; but rappelling a waterfall? Our intrepid correspondent took the plunge, literally, and lived to tell the tale.

by jayanthi kuru-utumpala

it was a Saturday morning. Eleven o'clock. We were driving along the winding roads of Hatton and Nuwara Eliya on our way to St Clair's waterfall. Our plan for the day, believe it or not, was to rappel this 120m tall waterfall. As crazy as it sounds, that was exactly what we had planned to do!

A survey of the area had been carried out the previous week by some of the members of the team to select a feasible route down the waterfall and see if the task was actually manageable or not. They confirmed in the affirmative, having chosen a route along the right bank of the three-tiered falls. One week later, however, when we revisited the falls, ready to get wet and wild, the waterfall looked an absolute monster! The sudden rains the previous night had increased the water levels and the waterfall had now grown twice its size! There was absolutely no way that a group of 12 adventure-seeking people, some who could not swim, and most who had never rapelled before, could rappel through such a raging waterfall!

Despair and disappointment! We had all been looking forward to this adrenaline pumping challenge and now the freak weather patterns made it impossible for us to go ahead with our grand plan. We did not lose hope, however; after all Devon Falls, was just around the corner. We had passed it on our way to St Clair's. A couple of quick inquiries from the friendly locals and we were on our way to the top of Devon Falls. We headed back on the main road towards Colombo and came to a point where, we were informed, there was a small footpath leading to the top of the falls. A five-minute walk down a slippery, muddy footpath brought us to a rock pool, at the end of which the waterfall gushed down. It was also an ideal picnic spot, with a large flat rock where one could sit and have lunch, with one's legs dangling in ice cool, crystal clear water.

The picnic lunch and climbing gear were quickly unloaded from the van and carried down to the big flat rock. The climbing gear, which included harnesses, helmets, ropes and carabiners, was neatly laid out on one side, while the lunch was laid out on another side of the rock. Lunch, which consisted of crackers and cheese, salt beef, salami, pickled gherkins, and stuffed olives, was followed by fresh pineapple rings and juicy watermelon wedges for dessert.

While most of the group munched on lunch, two members of the team, Wade and Bill, chose a large rock as an anchor, secured the rope onto it and selected a route down which to rappel. The entire waterfall itself was in three parts: the top, middle and bottom. The top part was almost one tenth of the fall. From the very top, we were able to rapple down about 5m along the rocks on the left side of the waterfall.

In ten minutes the team was geared up in harness and helmet. A quick demonstration was given and those who had never rappelled before were given a chance of a trial run on the flat rock before they went off over the edge. The actual thrill came when one had to walk along a narrow rock, almost like a ridge. A slight slip of the foot and one would have been doing a Tarzan swing directly into the waterfall – feet first and most certainly face first! As a safety measure, however, a belay or support system was set up to control the climber's fall in the event of a slip.

The best part was reaching the end of the rope, from where one could lean back and look over the edge. In spite of the sound of the raging waterfall I could even hear my heart beat, thumping loudly, and for a split second I felt as if my heart was in my throat! From that point, while leaning over the edge, what we saw as the bottom of the fall was in fact only the top of the middle part of the fall. This we got to know much later on from Udaya, the man behind the camera, who had done a quick drive across the road from where he could get a view of the entire waterfall. According to him, from across the road, we looked like ants and could not even be spotted until we all waved our arms wildly to make sure we'd actually be seen in his photographs and not just be part of the foliage!

In about two hours everyone had had a go at moving beyond his/her comfort zones and leaning over the edge. At the end of the day, we felt as if we had achieved something. It was a greater challenge than we had expected, because we had to unexpectedly shift location from one waterfall to another, and set up a safe route to do some sort of adventure activity. The team included seven top level managers, directors and CEO's of Holcim Cement who were undergoing a three-day corporate training programme with Borderlands Sri Lanka. The waterfall descent was one of the three high-risk and high adrenaline activities that had been lined up for them – guiding their own raft through the white water rapids of the Kitulgala River (which is a two-hour drive from Colombo along the Avissawella-Hatton road), and mountain biking through the rolling green tea estates of the Kotagala plantations (a 45-minute drive from Hatton) being the other two activities.
So if you're the kind of person who's looking for some adventure this summer, Sri Lanka is the perfect place to be in. If you are on a tight schedule and don't have too much time to spend driving through nerve-racking traffic to reach a waterfall, hire a car and head towards Avissawella or Kitulgala (just about one to two hours drive along the Colombo-Avissawella-Hatton road), where you can either do some rock climbing, rappelling, mountain biking, white water rafting or even kayaking – it's all there just waiting to be explored.
Contact

Borderlands Sri Lanka (Tel: + 94 (011) 441 01 10 / 278 8800 / + 94 (077) 758 8370) conducts outward bound training programmes including rock climbing, rappelling, white water rafting, kayaking, mountain biking, camping and trekking.
