Srilankan architecture, history and travel

Horton Plains National Park

Horton Plains National Park of Sri Lanka with a Cloud Forest and Wet Patana Grassland

General description of Horton Plains National Park

Horton Plains National Park is situated in the Central Province of Sri Lanka of Nuwara Eliya District. It is positioned at the eastern boundaries of the Upper Montane Forest Range (1500 meters-2524 meters above sea level) of Central Highland of Sri Lanka. The plateau of Horton Plains which is at a nominal elevation of 2100 meters also bears the 2nd and the 3rd highest peaks of Sri Lanka, namely Kirigalpoththa (elevation 2389 meters) and Totupolakanda(elevation 2357 meters). The area of the Horton Plains is 3160 ha. or 31.6 sq. km. and is about 8% of the total upper montane forests and grasslands of Sri Lanka. The rainwater of Horton Plains plateau is drained through tributaries to Mahaveli river to the North (through Uma Oya), Walawe river to the South (through Belihul Oya and Kiriketi Oya) and Kelani river to the West (through Bogawantalawa Oya). Horton Plains has an average rainfall figure of around 5000mm though the surrounding areas have an average of 2540mm. Horton Plains gets more rain from North West monsoon and throughout the year even the minimum rain fall per month for the area had been 100mm. The mean annual temperature for the area is about 13C . One can expect temperatures as high as 27C during day and 5C during nights. The distance to Horton Plains from Nuwara Eliya is 32 km.

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Directions to Horton Plains National Park

One can reach Horton Plains by main road or rail. The most common approach is by road either from North via Pattipola or from South via Ohiya. If coming by rail one can get down either at Pattipola or Ohiya and walk all the way or arrange some means of transport locally. No public transport is available along the road which runs through the National Park.

An entrance fee is charged from visitors and also for the vehicles that enters the park.

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History of Horton Plains Sanctuary

Prior to the British rule in the country, this area was called Maha Eliya. Around 1820s the British came to know about this unique nature resource. It was later renamed as Horton Plains after the then British Governor Sir Robert Horton (Governor from 1832-1837). Sir Samuel Baker made this area popularised during his hunting encounters. Two other British planters, namely Tomas Farr and H.Anderson who had estates near to Horton Plains had lodges built to facilitate their hunting episodes .During the British era, this area was under protection from the Administration Order of 1873, which prohibited cutting of forests above the altitude of 5000 feet in the island. Horton Place received the status of a National Park on 16th March 1988. Prior to that from 5th Dec. 1969 it had been a Nature Reserve . The Central Highland of Sri Lanka, which Horton Plains National Park is a part of it, received the status of a " Mixed Cultural and Natural World Heritage Site" on 2nd August 2010.

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Flora of Horton Plains

The vegetation of Horton Plains National Park is partly of Upper Montane Rain Forests or a Cloud Forests and Wet Patana Grasslands. There are narrow transition zones called Ecotones in between the two, comprising of shrubs and herbs. The lower elevations of Horton Plains comprises with areas of Grasslands and hills of upper elevation with Cloud Forests.

Of the total area of Horton Plains, healthy Cloud Forests cover about 39% or 1236 ha. Cloud Forests that are identified as die -back covers about 30% of the area or about 956 ha. The transition area or the Ecotone comprises about 45 ha or 1.5% of total area. The Wet Grassland can mainly be divided into three categories that are Dwarf Bamboo, Tussock Grass and Carpet Grass. Dwarf Bamboo which is endemic to Sri Lanka grows only in the Horton Plains and covers an area of 168 ha or 5.4% of hp. 18.4% or 574 ha of area is under Tussock Grass, is native to the area. The 64 ha or 2% coverage of land is under Carpet grass which had encroached the abandoned Potato cultivated land, from the seedings came with manure for potato cultivation in between 1960-1977.

Around 188 varieties of Plant species had been identified at Horton Plains of which 63 are endemic to Sri Lanka. Though the lowland rain forests have much higher multifariousness of flora verities, Horton Plains is unique due to its scarcity ecosystem not to be found anywhere else in the island. The Forest area of Horton Plains has around 57 tree species belonging to 31 families. There are some 101 flowering plant species in these high altitudes out of which 14 are endemic .These flowering plants belongs to around 20 families of species. Overall there are about 188 Plant species,1 Fish specie,14 Amphibian species, 64 Bird species and 19 Mammal species at Horton Plains.

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Nelu(Sinhala) -Strobilanthes Sp. of Horton Plains

Nelu (Sinhala ) or Strobilanthes Sp. of Acanthaceae family were in abundance at the time the visit (2013 Oct) was taken place. Several verities of Nelu could be seen with different colored flowers of pink, blue, white and lemon yellow that bore in them. This is a very specific flowering plant in Horton Plains that bloom only once in its life cycle of 8-11 years and all Nelu plants flower, seeds and then die in one specific time period! Nelu species that has been noted in Sri Lanka are Strobilanthes calycina,Strobilanthes helicoides, Strobilanthes hookeri, Strobilanthes lupulina,Strobilanthes sexennis, Strobilanthes vestia, Strobilanthes viscosa and Strobilanthes walkeri.

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Farr Inn - The present Visitor Information Center

For the Visitor to Horton Plains, there is a fine Nature Trail , the most significant is the main circuit Nature Trail involving Small World's End, Big World's End, Baker's Falls and Chimney Falls views. There are also Nature Trails to Thotupolakanda and Kirigalpoththa. The Main Trail starts at Farr Inn (lodge built by Thomas Farr) which is the Horton Plains Information Center now. It covers a distance of about 9 km and takes about 3 1/2 hours to complete in good weather at a leisurely pace with photographing and sight seeing. The trail is of easy level except the portion of trail leading to Baker's Falls and back through the Cloud forest. Only eco friendly material is allowed to take in from the Park Entrance Watch Post in to the Park except plastic water bottles which needs to be brought back. Polythene covers or bags, cigarettes and lighting material such as box of matches or lighters are not allowed to be taken in.

The Farr Inn which is now the Visitor Center provides the visitor with much interesting Information and also publications relevant to Horton Plains.

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Main Trail at Horton Plains National Park

The entrance to the Main Trail starts from this Park Entrance Watch Post and a single pathway leads up passing Red Bridge upto the brick Sign post at the "Y" turnoff junction.

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The Red Bridge

This is the uppermost section of the famous Belihul Oya running under the Red Bridge.This is one of the major tributaries of River Walawe which flows into the sea at Ambalantota. The trail proceeds over the Red Bridge upto the point the path diverts into two at a "Y" junction..

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To the Left or Right at "Y" Turnoff point?

Passing over the Red Bridge, one comes upto this point where the trail leads towards left and right at a Y turn off junction as you face this brick sign post. It is a looped trail and one can proceed towards left and come back hiking about 7km or vice versa. If the weather is good and if it is the morning, one might be interested to have a clear glimpse through the World's End escarpments. Since mist begins to accumulate towards afternoon, it is the best of interests to visit these view points the earliest possible. So proceeding clockwise or towards left takes the visitor first to Small Worlds End and then to Big world's End saving more time towards trail of Baker's Falls and Chimney Pool.

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The Small World's End at Horton Plains

The time taken to reach Small worlds End was about 25 minutes from the brick sign post at trail division and 37 minutes from the Park Entrance Watch Post. The nature had been exceptionally kind for this fascinating tour and the Small World's End view was fabulous as can be seen above.The escarpment at Small Worlds End drops 274 m at this point.

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The Big World's End at Horton Plains

It takes about another 25 minutes to reach the Big World's End from the Small World's End. It had taken 1 hour 10 minutes to reach here from Park Entrance Watch Post with observations of surroundings and photographing the landscape.The unobstructive view from Big World's End made it possible to photograph Uda Walawe reservoir and beyond with a shear drop of 2000m from the point of observation and the plains of Dry Zone.The escarpment at Big Worlds End drops 884 m at this point.Though the three dimensional effect one see in real life by standing at an edge of these escarpments cannot be reproduced in these photographs ,it still gives a fair idea on the thrilling and awesome surrounding landscaping in these two places.

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"Baker's Falls" Waterfall at Horton Plains

To access this fabulous waterfall , one needs to travel through the cloud forest through a path from the trail. There are two access points to the waterfall. One may easily get this trail bypassed but if one leads through it, the path takes you to the bottom of the waterfall that will show many vivid landscapes of the waterfall and surroundings.

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Chimney Pool

The Chimney Pool is situated between Baker's Fall and the brick sign post at Y junction which had been mentioned earlier. This man made bund using granite has created a water mass in an elevation above the pool below and flows into the pool as a kind of a waterfall. The pool is in abundance with Kekatiya plants ( Aponogeton jacobsenii) which also can be seen in the stream running along side of the trail at some places.

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Leopard (Panthera pardus) in the Horton Plains

The Leopard in the Horton Plains is shy and avoids daytime appearances. There is a stuffed Leopard in the Visitor Center exhibition room.

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Thotupolakanda and Kirigalpotta Trails at Horton Plains

There are two unfrequented Trails at Horton Plains. They are the Trails leading upto the Peaks of Totupolakanda and Kirigalpoththa. The level of difficulty of the Trails are Medium as given by Visitor Center information displays.

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Horton Plains National Park Detailed Contour Map

A section of detailed map of Horton Plains surroundings that shows Worlds End Escarpments, Nature Trail, Mountain Peaks and many interesting locations.

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Touring the Horton Plains Nature Trail - with images

Click on Thumbnail Images below to view 800x600 px Larger Images

Way to Horton Plains from Nuwara Eliya via Main Road

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