Horton Plains (Ohiya)

Horton plains is a national park at an altitude of 2100 to 2300 meters above sealevel and home to a variet of animals. We got up early to see the sun rise while being driven from Ohiya up to the park entry and because the early morning is the best time to see the wildlife - we were not disappointed and already spotted some beautiful deer on the way to the park office :) After getting searched by the park office members which make sure you don’t bring any PE plastic into the park, we took off for the short trek through Horton Plains. The trek is very simple, well-maintained and easily manageable (my trekking shoes were not really necessary) but still very beautiful as it allows you to see all the different vegetation zones of the park. The highlights on the 3 hour round trek are the mini worlds end and the worlds end, which are view points overlooking steep cliffs and giving you a divine view, and a waterfall of which we forgot the name (too many waterfalls around asia 🤷🏻‍♀️). A very relaxing but still very rewarding trek, not really justifying the 25$ entry fee (yes, per person) but nevertheless an experience we would not want to have missed! Furthermore, we were actually more glad than sad not to encounter one of the leopards living within the park and very content with sighting its dead pray next to the road on our way out 🙃 but we did see a giant squirrel, which is - very true to its name - a squirrel the size of a big cat!
So, if you have some spare dollars while in Sri Lanka, go to Horton Plains for an easy but rewarding walk! Oh, and if you do, bring some warm clothes - the morning was even coulder than in Nuwara Eliya 🧤🧣Read more