The Horton Plains

The Horton Plains is a beautiful, silent, strange world with some excellent hikes in the shadows of Sri Lanka’s second- and third-highest mountains, Kirigalpotta (2395m) and Totapola (2359m). The ‘plains’ themselves form an undulating plateau over 2000m high, covered by wild grasslands and interspersed with patches of thick forest, rocky outcrops, filigree waterfalls and misty lakes. The surprising diversity of the landscape is matched by the wide variety of wildlife. If you’re lucky enough to have the paths to yourself – get there for a 7am start – it’s a recharging escape from Sri Lanka’s energetic bustle.

Farr Inn, a local landmark, and the nearby national park office are reachable by road from Ohiya or Nuwara Eliya. It’s a three-hour walk uphill from Ohiya train station. The new national park office is around the 26km mark on the road from Ohiya to the start of the track. Farr Inn was a hunting lodge for high-ranking British colonial officials, but now incorporates a restaurant and visitors centre with displays on the flora, fauna and geology of the park. A small souvenir stand nearby has books on the park’s flora and fauna.

As an important watershed and catchment for several year-round rivers and streams, the Horton Plains hosts a wide range of wildlife. The last few elephants departed the area in the first half of the 20th century, but there are still a few leopards, and sambar deer and wild boar are seen feeding in meadows at dawn and dusk. The shaggy bear monkey (or purple-faced langur) is sometimes seen in the forest on the Ohiya road, and occasionally in the woods around World’s End (listen for a wheezy grunt). You may also come across the endemic toque macaque.

The area is very popular with birdwatchers. Endemic species include the yellow-eared bulbul, the fantailed warbler, the ashy-headed babbler, the Ceylon hill white-eye, the Ceylon blackbird, the Ceylon white-eyed arrenga, the dusky-blue flycatcher and the Ceylon blue magpie. Birds of prey include the mountain hawk eagle.

A tufty grass called Crosypogon covers the grasslands, while marshy areas are home to copious bog moss (sphagnum). The umbrella-shaped, white-blossomed keena (Calophyllum) stand as the main canopy over montane forest areas. The stunted trees and shrubs are draped in lichen and mosses. Another notable species is Rhododendron zelanicum, which has blood-red blossoms. The poignant purple-leafed Strobilanthes blossoms once after five years, and then dies.