Central Sri Lanka: Tea Plantation Treks and Local Cooking

Central Sri Lanka holds the heart of the country with its acres of tea plantations, namely producing its famous Ceylon tea. If you have the opportunity, head to the tea factories and tea plantations and learn from the locals about their history and culture.

Tea Plantation Trek

When in Central Sri Lanka, you must walk through the tea plantations. The lush, green fields are where you will learn about the year-round picking process. If you are lucky, you can watch the elder ladies picking over 30 kilos of tea leaves each day.

Our local guide leading the way. Madulkelle Tea and Eco Lodge arranged for a local to take us on a trek through the tea plantations and up to the Mini World’s End, up over 3,500 feet above sea level
The ladies of the tea plantations. Every work day, the elder women start picking the tea leaves before 7am until around 4pm. They can pick as much as 33 kilos of tea leaves in a day which they carry on their backs

 

Local Cooking

When in a new culture, learning the cuisine is travel requisite. Learn through eating the local specialties, and even better, through cooking classes. Sri Lanka’s flavors and dishes have similarities to Indian cuisine while using its tropical ingredients and influence from its colonial past.

Madulkelle Tea and Eco Lodge offers cooking classes. When the hotel chef is unavailable, they arrange for a local to take guests to his home and cook a native meal. In this case, a Kandyan tuk tuk driver picked us up from the lodge and drove us on a half hour drive to his home
He and his lovely wife prepared a classic meal of jackfruit curry using a freshly cut jackfruit from his yard. His wife patiently taught us the individual steps, including homemade roti, and generously fed us after the lesson

 

Excursion Activities from Madulkelle Tea and Eco Lodge

Madulkelle Tea and Eco Lodge offers guests an extensive list of excursion activities, including various hikes, local village visits, learning about the tea process, cooking, and spa treatments. If your desired activity is unavailable during your stay, the front desk takes extra effort to arrange for alternative options, such as hiking with a local and cooking at a tuk tuk driver’s home.

 

Travel Vlog Series

Watch my Sri Lankan Travel Vlog Series which features the tea plantation trek and the cooking lesson

 

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Disclaimer: Madulkelle Tea & Eco Lodge graciously hosted this stay. All opinions, as always, are my own. This article contains affiliate links to hotel booking sites. With no additional cost to you, your bookings earn me a commission if you click on the links via my website – Thank you!

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