The Pekoe Trail, The Pekoe Trail Sri Lanka, ultimate guide to the pekoe trail, Sri Lanka's Pekoe Trail, The new Pekoe Trail

When you are embarking on the Pekoe Trail is a good thing to know about each and every stage of the trek. There are fair number of trails that travel through the area and you can easily arrange a one day hike, two day hike or even more.

There are a wide range of accommodation options available with its variety of styles and caliber. With these you can accommodate for a wide range of tourists with different budgets. When the Pekoe trail hike become more popular with time there will be more small guest houses and homestays that will become available. This will bring travel trade dollars to the places that there were none before.

There are few favorite places that are based around the Pekoe Trail

W15 Hanthana

• A good pair of shoes that is built for trekking
• Cap or a hat is essential because in the higher altitudes you can get direct sunrays even you are in the cool climates of the Hills.
• Sunglasses and Sun cream is advised because you have to avoid direct sunrays that can harm your eyes and skin.
• Raincoat is also advised because there will be sudden downpours when you are in the hill country even in the dry season.
• Pack some water bottles because an average adult will need 2liters of water per trail.
• Insect repellent will come in handy.
• You will be supplied with leech socks by your host related to the situation.

• Pekoe Trail has 22 Trails and they are scheduled from Hanthana to Pedro
• The Shortest Trail is 8.75Km/5.44 mi
• The Longest Trail is 17.19km/10.68mi
• Average Trail is about: 13.39km/8.32mi
• Combined Trails is about: 294.59/183.005mi

Below mentioned are some of the scenic highlights that you will meet during the Pekoe Trail

• Uragala Mountain range
Dumbara Valley
Loolecondera Estate
Taylor’s Seat
Chariot path
Adam’s Peak
Idalgashinna
Horton Plains
St. Catherine’s Seat
Ella Gap
Nine Arched Bridge
Pedro Tea Estate

The Pekoe Trail allows you to interact with the local communities and understand them and their traditions. This is apart from the Pekoe Trail being one of the most scenic beautiful trails. Most of the local communities are from the South India where their ancestors brought from India to work in the plantations in the British Era.

These migrant people are Tamil by the ethnicity and they are interspersed with Sinhala communities in different regions. While you are trekking along the Pekoe Trail what you will notice is the sense of spirituality. Sometimes you will walk for several hours with seeing anyone. Once in a while you will come across a Hindu Shrine with silk scarves and gold trimmings tied to an old tress with a trident secured to the ground. There you will find fresh flowers that has been offered to the deity and oil lamp with the flames that dances in the cool wind. While you travel closer to the towns you will find Hindu Kovils and Buddhist Temples and time to time a mosque or two. There is a small shrine little above the Pekoe trail stage 01 with a Cross, Buddha statue and a Trident all standing under one small shelter. While trekking in the Pekoe Trail you may find it’s new as a concept many of these paths are well over a century old. They were laid out by British to transport tea from various plantation to the factories. Most of the landmarks from the Pekoe Trail dates back to the colonial period and from the tea industry.

As you travel through the stages of the Pekoe Trail you can discover the history of the tea. You will visit the legendary home of the first tea planter James Taylor and the first tea plantation field No.07 Looleconders estate. You can visit old tea factories, British tea bungalows muster sheds, carriage roads, the remnants of old pulley systems, plus the bridges and railroads that transported the tea so laboriously plucked and processed.

Every time when you sip a cup of tea you will remember the emerald tea gardens you must know there are people who sweat in the plantations that are just taken as the decorative elements in the tea covered slopes. Hiking the Pekoe trail means going past the veneer and helping travelers to understand the daily amount of work that a tea plucker have to do. This allows you to meaningfully interact with them. This allows you to walkthrough their villages that are often hidden within the estates. The paths in the Pekoe trail are two way street that gives trekkers an opportunity to experience a more holistic tea experience. This also allows tourist dollars to seep into communities that will benefit from this infusion. This will allow local communities to see something beyond that they wouldn’t haven’t seen before introducing the Pekoe Trail.

Trekking in the Pekoe trail means that you are going to spend long hours in the nature. Most of these treks of the Pekoe Trail vary from 21/2 hours to 6 hours. This depends of the trail and your level of fitness. You will have to get thorough understanding of the stage of the trek and this will make sure that you are ready for the challenges of trail that you are going to face for the day. For the Pekoe trail you will need a good and durable pair of shoes that is suitable for trekking. This shoes must withstand the rugged terrains on the other hand the slippery grounds.

Apart from these you should bring a hat and sunglasses to avoid the sunrays and you must remember to bring a sunscreen. The next absolute thing to remember is the water you must drink plenty of water during the trek to avoid your self-getting dehydrated. Expert advice is to carry 2 liters of water bottles with you for the every trek. We advise you to be on the safe side pack a raincoat with you because the weather sometimes can be unpredictable. If you have any medical condition you should inform your host in advance and you must bring any medications that you use with you. We advise you to pack some cereal bars or chocolate bars if you have low blood glucose level.

You will be provide with light snacks and refreshments by your host along the way where you can enjoy them in a scenic spot. Your host will provide dry bags to keep your phones safe and leech socks to keep away the leeches. Keep in mind to carry only the essentials like a small amount of money, your camera to take pictures and a power bank. Avoid carrying jewelry or any other valuables.

Your host will advise you to not to proceed with the trek if it is raining heavily and same applies if it has been a heavy downpour for consecutive days. This is due to the fact of some of the dirt tracks on the trails can be washed away or being slippery to stand on. Another advice is not to tackle the trails alone because there are long stretches where you may not meet anyone for several hours. And there not might be signal for your mobiles. In these circumstances if you accidentally fall and sprains your ankle or knee and if you cannot move there should be someone to aid you or backtrack. Therefor we have taken care to send every client with well-trained guides whom are capable of taking care and taking necessary actions for the client in an emergency. These guides speak local language and know local first aid when it come necessary.