Pidurutalagala

Where is Pidurutalagala?

Pidurutalagala is part of the Central Highlands.

You will find it in: Sri Lanka.

Summit: 7.001° N, 80.774° E

The story behind it

The name of the mountain is usually explained as the hill of the straw plain, and from below it really does look like a soft dome rather than a peak. Its upper slopes carry cloud forest: small trees bent by the wind, their branches wrapped in moss and lichen so thickly that they look padded, with tree ferns and wild rhododendron between them. Because the mountain stands high and catches the monsoon from two directions, mist is normal and the nights are cold enough for frost in the coolest months, which is why the British planted tea and vegetables around Nuwara Eliya. Leopards, sambar deer and monkeys live in the forests on the flanks, and dozens of streams start here. A road climbs to the summit, but a radar and radio station stands there, so the top itself is guarded and closed to visitors.

Find it on the globe

Pidurutalagala is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.