Why Knuckles Mountain Range will steal your heart
North-east of Kandy, a range of jagged peaks rises from the forests. From certain angles, the summits look like the knuckles of a clenched fist, which is how the Knuckles Range got its name. Its Sinhala name, Dumbara Kanduvetiya, means 'mist-laden mountain range', and it's equally fitting.
The Knuckles Range is part of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka UNESCO World Heritage Site, protected for its extraordinary biodiversity. It's home to cloud forests, grasslands, waterfalls and many species found nowhere else on Earth, including rare lizards, frogs and birds.
This is Sri Lanka's best trekking country, and it's still wonderfully unspoilt. With a local guide, you can walk for a morning or trek for several days along paths that wind through cardamom plantations, rice terraces and forest to remote villages. Meemure, one of the most isolated villages in Sri Lanka, is surrounded by paddy fields and mountains and reached only by a winding road.
Along the way, cool off in natural pools and streams, stop at viewpoints with mountains rolling away into the mist, and share a home-cooked rice and curry with a village family. The rhythms of life here, farming, fetching water from the river, walking to the temple, have changed little over generations, and the welcome is warm.
If you love hiking, nature and authentic experiences away from the crowds, the Knuckles will be a highlight of your trip. Even a half-day walk from the Kandy side gives you a taste of this wild, beautiful world.
