Travel to Sri Lanka: Talatu Oya

The valley of the Talatu Oya is one of those places that are both nearby yet invisible: it's literally on the other side of the hill that lies to Kandy's south, but because the road network is poor and circuitous the valley might as well be in a faraway district.   

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The drainage is east, away from Hantane and toward the Mahaweli.

This is one of the few steeply terraced valleys close to Kandy, where most paddy lands are in long, narrow, almost level strips, or deniyas.

One branch of the valley enters over a waterfall.

The lip of the fall.

Another branch enters through the slit.

Paddy nursery and fields awaiting transplanting.

Part of the irrigation system has been modernized.

Farmers complain that water is short, however, and some of the fields are now abandoned, like the one at the upper right here.

Many of the cultivators are sharecropping tenants.  Here, one takes a sledgehammer to bring up field rocks.

Too old to grow vegetables. That was his explanation for choosing paddy, whose weeding requirements are minimal.

A potential tourist attraction?  You could walk here from Kandy in an hour, yet nobody does.   

Kandy's just on the other side of the hill, and you can infer the location of the road from the top of the cultivated area and the line of buildings.