Kandy Trip Overview
Horton Plains in Sri Lanka is the coldest and windiest location in the country 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. The world’s end is a sheer cliff, with a drop of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m). It is one of the most-visited parts of Horton Plains National Park, and a key tourist attraction place in Sri Lanka. Large mammals could seldom be seen at Horton Plains. Samber is a common sight at dusk and in the early morning hours. Mammals that still occur in reasonable numbers include Kelaart’s long-clawed shrew Feroculus flocculus slender loris tardigrades endemic to the montane toque macaque Macaca Sinica , purple-faced langur Presbutis entellus, rusty-spotted cat Felis rubigimosus and etc. Horton Plains National park harbors 12 species of endemic birds are recorded only for Horton Plains.
Additional Info
Duration: 12 hours
Starts: Kandy, Sri Lanka
Trip Category: Day Trips & Excursions >> Day Trips
Explore Kandy Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka
Horton Plains in Sri Lanka is the coldest and windiest location in the country 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. The world’s end is a sheer cliff, with a drop of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m). It is one of the most-visited parts of Horton Plains National Park, and a key tourist attraction place in Sri Lanka. Large mammals could seldom be seen at Horton Plains. Samber is a common sight at dusk and in the early morning hours. Mammals that still occur in reasonable numbers include Kelaart’s long-clawed shrew Feroculus flocculus slender loris tardigrades endemic to the montane toque macaque Macaca Sinica , purple-faced langur Presbutis entellus, rusty-spotted cat Felis rubigimosus and etc. Horton Plains National park harbors 12 species of endemic birds are recorded only for Horton Plains.
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Horton Plains National Park, Ohiya 22200 Sri Lanka
Horton Plains in Sri Lanka is the coldest and windiest location in the country. It consists of ecosystems such as Montane evergreen forests, grasslands, marshy lands, and aquatic ecosystems. At an altitude of 2,100 meters above sea level, Horton Plains spreads across over 3,169 hectares of the highest tableland of the island. In view of a large number of endemic flora and fauna species, Horton Plains has declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 30th July 2010.
Horton Plains, its surroundings, forests and the adjoining Peak Wilderness constitute Sri Lanka’s most important catchment area of almost all major rivers. The plains are also of outstanding scenic beauty and conservation importance, containing most of the habitats and endemic plants and animals representative of the country’s wet and Montane zones. The western slopes support the most extensive area of Montane cloud forest surviving in the island. Horton Plains is not merely a destination for nature tourists. Since the rich biodiversity of Horton Plains is still grossly underexplored, it affords invaluable opportunities to those engaged on educational and research activities. Protecting Horton Plains is a call of duty for all Sri Lankans.
Duration: 7 minutes
Pass By: Nuwara Eliya, Nuwara Eliya, Central Province
Often referred to as ‘Little England’, this genteel highland community does have a rose-tinted, vaguely British-country-village feel to it, with its colonial-era bungalows, Tudor-style hotels, well-tended hedgerows and pretty gardens. Indeed, Nuwara Eliya was once was the favoured cool-climate escape for the hard-working and hard-drinking English and Scottish pioneers of Sri Lanka’s tea industry.
A recent construction boom has blighted the scene to a degree, and the dusty and bustling centre is a thoroughly Sri Lankan urban tangle, but Nuwara Eliya still makes a fine base for a few days’ relaxation. The verdant surrounding countryside of tea plantations, carefully tended vegetable plots and craggy hills is highly scenic. Treat yourself to a night in one of Nuwara Eliya’s colonial hotels, play a round of golf or a few frames of billiards, and soak up the town’s unique bygone heritage.
