About Horton Plains National Park
Protected UNESCO World Heritage high-altitude plateau featuring sheer cliffs and cloud forests.
Horton Plains National Park is a breathtaking, high-altitude protected plateau situated in the central highlands of Sri Lanka at an elevation ranging between 2,100 and 2,300 meters. Covered by a unique mosaic of montane evergreen cloud forests, windswept grasslands, and crystal-clear aquatic streams, Horton Plains serves as the primary catchment source for three major rivers in Sri Lanka: the Mahaweli, Kelani, and Walawe.
The park is most famous for its dramatic escarpment known as 'World's End', where the plateau plunges sheerly by 900 meters down to the southern valley plains below, offering surreal, panoramic vistas across the island on clear mornings. Another major natural wonder within the park is Baker's Falls, a picturesque cascading waterfall framed by giant tree ferns and blooming rhododendrons.
Horton Plains is an ecological paradise rich in endemic flora and fauna, sheltering sambar deer, barking deer, stripe-necked mongooses, the endemic purple-faced langur, and numerous highland bird species like the yellow-eared bulbul and Sri Lanka whistling thrush. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, Horton Plains offers an ethereal, soul-stirring trekking experience.
- World's End
- Baker's Falls
- Montane Cloud Forest
- endemic flora & fauna
