Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka)

A couple of years back, pictures of blue skies and vast plains appeared on my newsfeed. Upon some stalking, I found out that they were pictures of Horton Plains National Park. 

The views you get are weather dependent. If you want to catch the sunrise, I suggest that you get there before 6:30 a.m. 

We reached Horton Plains at around 7 a.m. After paying for our tickets, we entered the National Park where your bags would be searched. You would be asked to tear off the plastic labels on your water bottles and dispose of the same. 

You could either take the route from the left or the route from the right- in terms of distance, it does not make a difference because it is a circular route. The total distance is around 9 km. 

For the most part of the route, the walk was rather straightforward without requiring too much exertion. 

However, at some parts of the trail, you would have to navigate some steep steps or slippery rocks.

The vegetation of the National Park is rather distinct as well. It can be classified into two distinctive groups- grasslands and evergreen forests.

Our first destination was to Mini World's End, followed by World's End. We were pretty lucky because it was not misty on the day we visited. We heard from our driver that the previous day, another couple had to cancel their trip because it was too cloudy.

World's End is a cliff with a drop of about 4,000 feet. As usual, no matter how tempting it may be with your selfies, please exercise caution because you wouldn't want this to be the last picture you take.

According to Wikipedia, the largest and most commonly seen mammal is the sambar dear. We didn't see any animals during our trek, except this.

The final attraction is Baker's Falls. To reach here, there were some pretty steep slopes to overcome. Reaching here was probably the most difficult part of the trail. To be honest, the falls were a little underwhelming after all that effort to reach here.

After Baker's Fall, it was a stretch of plains again. As there is no shade, I highly advise that you start the trail as early as possible, so that it lowers the chances of clouds rolling in, and it wouldn't be super hot by the time you start the trail.

We took slightly under less than 3 hours to complete the trail. Remember to bring your water and sunblock!