THE COMPLETE DESTINATION GUIDE
Discover Horton Plains
Horton Plains sits at over 2,000 metres above sea level, and its combination of open grassland, stunted cloud forest and cool, often misty air gives it a character quite unlike the lowland parks most visitors associate with Sri Lankan wildlife. The park's best-known feature is a looping walking trail that leads out across the plains to World's End, a sudden, sheer drop of several hundred metres where the plateau falls away to the lowlands below — on a clear morning, the view extends a considerable distance across the southern hill country.
The walk continues on to Baker's Falls, a broad waterfall set among rocks and forest, before looping back to the entrance. The full circuit takes a few hours at an unhurried pace and passes through noticeably different terrain along the way, from open plains grazed by sambar deer to denser, moss-draped forest sections. Because cloud and mist tend to roll in as the morning progresses, the plateau is at its clearest and most photogenic in the earliest hours after sunrise, and this is why almost all visitors plan for a very early start.
The cool, damp climate here supports plant and animal life found in few other parts of the island, and the park is of real ecological significance as one of the last substantial areas of this particular montane habitat. Wildlife sightings are a genuine possibility rather than a guarantee, as in any protected natural area, and sambar deer are the animal most commonly encountered along the main trail.
Given the altitude and exposed terrain, warm clothing and a very early start are both essential to a comfortable visit here, more so than at almost any other destination on the island.