The road to Nuwara Eliya

Now onto the safari leg of my trip. First step is to cross the country from Colombo up into the hill country to Nuwara Eliya.

Now if you are doing this sort of trip you basically need a series of goodish standard hotels for "comfort breaks". Basically one for morning tea/coffee, another for lunch. Morning break had a hotel with a wonderful kitsch garden

 But lunch was at a wonderful spot once used to film Bridge over the River Kwai.

 Here is the actual restaurant, but very much all about the views.

 And bizarrely it also had a Rolls Royce Museum.

Afternoon break was at a tea factory. Again, wonderful views.

 A tea plantation. Beautifully manicured. If the tea wasn't constantly picked these little bushes could reach 70 feet high. Bet you didn't know that.

 View from the tea factory restaurant

 And finally to Nuwara Eliya. Great views. Again.

 And this is the St Andrews Hotel, one of the colonial residences. Lovely grounds. But sadly because I booked late, this is where the rest of my party stayed. I will recount my adventures from my own hotel later.

Top feature is this amazing topiary garden.

 Yes even an elephant hedge.

 And an anchor.