Week Without Walls (Highlands)

For our Week Without Walls trip we were given 4 options for the types of trips we can choose to go on. Those were:

• Highlands (Hiking) 
• Cultural Triangle 
• Jaffna (War Affects on Sri Lanka) 
• Coast to Coast (Bicycle Distance Riding) 

I chose to go with the first one which was (Highlands) and that was all about hiking up and through the mountains which is something that i am not only interested in but also capable of doing. Being an athlete i do like do endure various types of challenges and experience new things. Having already done a lot of cycling around the country and in other parts of the world, i personally felt the need to challenge myself once again with something new. This being the best option out of the other 3 i knew that it was accomplishable. The idea of Week Without Walls is for students to become more practical and learn through the outdoors, they are granted 1 week away from school to go to a chosen locations by teachers and begin observing the natural beauty that the country has to offer. 

Our trip was all about the environment and how things have changed over periods of time. Living in the outdoors, where its cold, wet, windy and sometimes even very hot (during the day). It is important for us to be able to learn something as well as have fun. Being apart of this country for 17 years i have never experienced something as interesting as this. The ride to our location took us a long time but before getting there we had a stop at some camp site where we would settle for the first day, take a tour and enjoy what it has to offer. 

For the first day, we went and took a look at a natural made waterfall where we were also able to swim in and go under. There was only one problem.. the water was freezing cold! Most of the students while going in warned everyone that it was extremely cold, so that took me a little bit longer to get in. 

The second day was where we head out towards the highlands, which was roughly a 4 hour drive or even longer. With a few snack stops along the way i thing we managed to get there in one piece. The location itself was within the wild, as we drove closer to our destination site we were able to see large groups of Sambar Dear walking. 

The location itself was a natural habitat for the animals living there. The terrain was more wet and contained larger fields of grass and eventually lead to a forest/jungle. With this being our home for the next 3 days we looked to making the most out of it, which we ended up doing. 

After settling in we all took a walk around the area to see what we are surrounded by and where things are for ourselves. We discovered a random telephone booth that was one of those old red ones that were all around England. It was placed right in the middle of a hill near a settlement. 

Given the prior information about the location we all came well prepared for the cold nights and the wet days. It was going to be hard to adjust but eventually we managed to do it. Our first hike was towards a 2000 meter high mountain and our goal was to be able to reach the top within 3 hours, sit down and look at the view from its peak. 

The other days that we were there we decided to and have more hikes except they were at different locations, we were expected to walk towards the mountain itself. 

These mountains that we visited were called "Mini Worlds End" & "Greater Worlds End" both being of the same kind, slightly separated from each other but within the same location. Climbing to the top and looking at the view before myself was one of the most amazing experiences in life. When we look at the beauty that our planet has inhabited, everything that we did that day was something to remember. The walk, the view, the breeze, the information told to us about each site. It gave me a sense of how nice things can be no matter how much bad there is around us. Having chosen this trip got me to realise a lot of things and that is what i value the most, it was an adventure time well spent for one week outdoors.