A high-altitude plateau of montane grassland and cloud forest, home to the sheer cliff viewpoint known as World's End.

Overview

Horton Plains is a windswept plateau above 2,000 m, cloaked in tussock grassland and misty cloud forest. The classic 9 km loop trail leads to World's End, where the land drops away almost 900 m in a dizzying escarpment, then on to the tumbling Baker's Falls before returning. Sambar deer, endemic birds and the occasional purple-faced langur are seen along the way.

History

The plateau was named after Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, a 19th-century British Governor of Ceylon. Long used as colonial hunting grounds, it was declared a national park in 1988 and, together with the surrounding highlands, inscribed as part of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.