Today I am going to tell you about an essential excursion in Sri Lanka, the Lipton's Seat, the point from which Sir Thomas Lipton controlled all his tea plantations and exported them to the rest of the world. Sri Lanka is one of the leading countries in the production and export of tea of all kinds.
As you have surely been able to deduce, these are the Lipton company plantations in Ceylon, one of the most important tea brands in the world. The other plantations are located in India, Indonesia and Kenya.
The courses are located in the mountains near the city of Haputale, in the center of the country, and it is a perfect natural window to contemplate the plains of southern, central and eastern Ceylon given its altitude close to 2000 meters.
How to get to the tea plantations and Lipton's Seat?
To get to Haputale I recommend go by train, either from the capital Colombo or from Kandy or Ella. Sri Lanka's rail networks are considered some of the most beautiful in the world. They are old trains inherited from the English colonization, and although they circulate at a fairly slow speed they reach the most important points of the country. The line that goes from Ella to Haputale and Kandy runs through unique landscapes. I insist, go to Haputale by train, it's worth it.
To get to the plantation area from Haputale the easiest is with tuk-tuk (about 10 km and negotiable price). With this type of vehicle you can travel all the points of Lipton without any problem. It will be a matter of negotiating the route and the price with the driver, he will be able to wait for you at each visit.
There is also the option of arriving with public transport to the factory and once there change to Tuk-Tuk to make the remaining journey.
The uphill road is quite narrow and not well maintained. I think that people who want to visit the tea plantations with their own or rental car will only be able to get to the factory.
Lipton's Seat is on top of a mountain but luckily it is asphalted up there. The most daring walk from the factory to the highest point of the mountain. I personally do not recommend it if it is very sunny, since it is quite a long journey.
What to do and what to see in Lipton?
The answer is easy the tea plantations. Everything we can see is related to tea and all the towns and cities in the central region live mainly on tea (and tourism).
I recommend you take a full day tour once there:
- Go with tuk-tuk from Haputale to the top of the mountain, the Lipton's Seat and take in the spectacular green scenery and the populations of the plant gatherers. Once at the top, weather and fog permitting, you can see much of the island of Sri Lanka. The views are comparable to another important Ceylon peak, Adam's Peak, one of the attractions of the Indian country. At this point there is also a small bar where you can obviously have a Lipton tea and enjoy the views.
- Then I would go down to the Lipton factory, halfway there. Hopefully you can see how heavy the tea leaves that the collectors have treated. And yes, I say it in feminine because they are all women. According to what they told us, it was because women have a better cure when it comes to collecting the leaves than men.
- Visit the lipton factory. Whatever company you go to, they will explain the process of creating the tea itself, from the harvest in the plantations, through the filter of the leaves, processing by each of the machines and finally export and sale. At all times they will insist that the workers have good working conditions and that everything is based on perfection and attention to workers and customers. I personally had to go up to the factory twice because on the first day there was a workers' strike. One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot take photos of the interior of the factory, I think it is due to professional secrecy.
- Get off the beaten path and try get closer to the neighboring towns, where the workers live of the tea plantations. It is interesting to see the totally rural lifestyle of its inhabitants. Tea companies build schools and even small hospitals in these towns.
- Visit Haputale. Although it is not very beautiful, I think you have to see this town, the most important in the area. A population with a lot of boiling, people, noise and cars; yes, tea shops everywhere.
I personally visited 3 tea plantations and companies: Lipton, Pedro Tea State and a local one. I wanted to have a more global vision with a medium-sized company and a small one. In the local company I was not able to visit the factory, there was also a strike, but their plantations were. Pedro Tea State, in Nuwara Eliya also exports worldwide but without being Lipton.
Every trip to Sri Lanka must include a train tour of the mountainous part of the island and a visit to a tea plantation. Lipton's Seat is a good example of plantation and landscape, in short, a 100% recommended excursion.