Horton Plains

Horton Plains sits above 2,000 metres, a plateau of montane grassland and stunted cloud forest hung with moss and lichen, cold enough for frost on winter mornings. The circular walking route of around nine kilometres takes in Baker's Falls and two escarpment viewpoints: Little World's End and, further on, World's End itself, where the plateau simply stops and the land falls away hundreds of metres to the plains far below. On a clear morning the view runs to the south coast. The park protects many species found only in Sri Lanka, among them the purple-faced langur, and large herds of sambar deer graze the grassland at dawn. The one rule that governs every visit is timing: cloud fills the escarpment by mid-morning and the view disappears.

History

The plateau was known as Maha Eliya Thenna, the great open plain, and stone tools of the Balangoda culture have been found on it; people from the lowlands came up to mine gems and iron ore and to fell timber. Under the British it was renamed after Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, governor of Ceylon from 1831 to 1837, and an order of 1873, following Joseph Dalton Hooker's advice to leave the montane forests undisturbed, stopped clearing here. It became a wildlife sanctuary on 5 December 1969 and a national park on 18 March 1988, and in July 2010 it was inscribed as part of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Horton Plains National Park).

What you'll find

• World's End - the sheer escarpment drop, clear only in the early morning.
• Baker's Falls - a broad waterfall on the circuit, reached by a side path.
• Cloud forest - moss-draped stunted trees along the plateau edges.
• Sambar deer - grazing the open grassland at first light.

When to go

January to March gives the best chance of a clear World's End. Arrive at the gate for opening, around six, and walk the circuit anticlockwise to reach the viewpoint before the cloud. By nine or ten it is usually white.

Before you go

Getting there means leaving Nuwara Eliya around four in the morning, and if the cloud is in, the drive delivers nothing but a grey wall. It is genuinely cold at dawn, which visitors from the coast rarely pack for. Plastic bottles are checked at the gate, and the park fee is high by Sri Lankan standards.

Nearby

Nuwara Eliya's tea estates lie below; Ella and its hill country are further east.

Key facts