Horton Plains is my favourite destination in Sri Lanka. I have visited here in 2002 with my family and after that, I came here with Akila in 2011 and had unforgettable experiences as I have fallen from the bike at the top of the area which about 2100m above. After that I have visited here to climb several mountains with Sobasiri crew and another visit with my wife as she has not visited here at that time.

Totapolakanda (also Thotupolakanda or Thotupola Kanda), is the third highest mountain in Sri Lanka situated in Nuwara Eliya district 2,359.46 m (7,733 ft) above mean sea level. The mountain is located within the Horton Plains National Park. A trail to the top of the mountain, about two kilometers long, starts a few metres away from the Pattipola entrance to the Horton Plains National Park. Most parts of the mountain surface are covered with shrubs adapted to the cool and windy climate of Horton Plains National Park. Strobilanthes, Osbeckia and Rhodomyrtus species grown as shrubs are common among them.

Horton Plains National Park is a protected area in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and is covered by montane grassland and cloud forest. This plateau at an altitude of 2,100–2,300 metres (6,900–7,500 ft) is rich in biodiversity and many species found here are endemic to the region. This region was designated a national park in 1988. It is also a popular tourist destination and is situated 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Ohiya, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the world-famous Ohiya Gap/Dondra Watch and 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Nuwara Eliya.

වර්ෂ 1988 මාර්තු මස 16 වැනි දින ජාතික උද්‍යානයක් ලෙස නම්කරන ලද හෝර්ටන් තැන්න යනු මීටර 2100ක පමණ උසින් පිහිටි විශාල පතනකි. එම පතනේ ලංකාවේ දෙවැනි හා තෙවැනි  උසම කඳු පිහිටා තිබෙන තෝතැන්නකි. විශාල ජෛව විවිධත්වයකට හා අපූර්වතම කාලගුණික හා වනාන්තර රටාවකට උරුමකම් කියන හෝර්ටන් තැන්න 2010දී ලෝක උරුමයක් බවට පත්විය. අද අපගේ ක‍්‍රියාදාමය වනුයේ මීටර 2389ක් උසැති ලංකාවේ දෙවැනි උසම කන්ද වන කිරිගල්පොත්ත තරණය කිරීමයි. එලෙසම අවසර සහිතව එම භූමියේ කඳවුරු ලා රැුය පහන් කිරීම හා එහි වෙසෙන ප‍්‍රබලම මාංශ භක්ෂක සත්වයා වන දිවියන් පිළිබඳව සෙවීමයි.

කැලණි නදියේ උපත ​ෙසායා යන සෞන්දර්යාත්මක ගවේෂණ චාරිකාවේ පසුගිය සතියේ අප පොල්පිටියේ සිට හඟරාපිටිය පාර ඔස්සේ සප්ත කන්‍යාවියන් අසලින් මස්කෙළිය ඔය දිගේ ලක්ෂපාන බලාගාර සහ කැනියොන් බලාගාර හරහා මාඋස්සාවට ගියෙමු. අද අපි නැවතත් පොල්පිටියේ සිට ගමන් අරඹන්නෙමු. ඒ කෙසෙල්ගමු ඔය දිගේ ලංකාවේ පැරණිම විදුලි බලාගාරය තිබූ විදුලියේ පියාගේ සිහිවටන අතරින් කාසල්රි ජලාශය වෙතය. 

ලංකා සිතියමේ මැද පිහිටා ඇති ලෙස දැවැන්ත වනාන්තර ප්‍රදේශයක් සලකුණු කොට ඇත. එය ඔබ අප දන්නා සමනල රක්ෂිතයයි. එලෙසම නැගෙනහිර කොටස හෝටර් නැත්ත වන පියසයි. බැලූ බැල්මට එකම වනරොදක් ලෙස පිහිටා ඇති මෙම ප්‍රදේශ දෙක තුළ පවතින්නේ එකිනෙකට වෙනස් තත්ත්වයන් වේ. සමනල රක්ෂිතය දැවැන්ත ශාක හා ජෛව විවිධත්ව​ෙයන් පිරි ප්‍රදේශයක් වන අතර හෝර්ටන්තැන්න ඊට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් ශාක සම්භවයක් හා කාලගුණික රටාවක් පිරි ප්‍රදේශයකි.

Camping at Hortain plains is a unique experience as temperature is very low at night. This our camping experience at Hortain Plains.

In 2013 we camped at Hortain plains for the first time , since the day we left that place we were missing that place this is the second night we stayed up there .

Just a brief word on HP, especially its buildings inside as most of you might not be aware of her past. Apart from the Farr Inn and the Anderson Lodge which were built by the English Planters during colonial era, all the other structures are results of the mega potato farm that saw HP lose most of her forest making it this grassy plain. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, well I’ll leave your capable thinking to decide. So these buildings had been used as storage for potatoes and fertilizers, staff quarters and other purposes. If you visit the Moon Plains where they still have a government-owned seed potato farm, you can get an idea what it must’ve been at HP before being named as a wildlife park.

So we planned alternative options to visit on the way and I was long overdue for a visit to Moon Plains and so was Hasi. We then planned to be there by 6.30am in order to get the best out of the morning rays. Hasi then came up with the idea of visiting Single Tree Hill aka One Tree Hill, the 10th highest mountain in SL with a height of 2100m. So that sealed the first day and we decided to reach HP afterwards. On the 25th Jun, we left home around 3am and having made excellent ground arrived at Nuwara Eliya by 6.10am.

The constant rains made it pretty awkward for us but it wasn’t going to hold us back. So finally as usual we set off on our journey in the dawn of 16 Oct. The topic of the day was based on the wildlife in Borneo such as Bearded Pigs, Orang-Utans, etc. We stopped at our usual place at the Devon Viewing Point. As usual she was in full flow making my heart leap in joy. She also made my hopes soar high in anticipation of seeing my beloved St. Claire in full flow. “Dear god, please let her be in full flow even if you have to blast the darn sluice gates of the wretched Upper Kotmale”, I prayed while we took our breakfast baskets of Seeni Sambol and Egg Sandwiches. I’m sure you would wanna see some pictures of the surrounding and it is my pleasure to oblige.

We reached Belihul Oya and I called Premadasa and got the directions to his place along the Belihul Oya-Landuyaya road. Yeah, you guessed right coz another beautiful waterfall known as Pahanthudawa Ella is also located on this road. Premadasa’s house is in Galpoththenna, Ibbanwala about 3km from Belihul Oya. However we missed him and drove all the way to Ihala Galagama School. It was a good thing coz we could see the Galagama Ella in the far distance and so far higher in the mountains bordering the Horton Plains. The elevation difference was around 1000m (yeah 1km) or probably more. Nagrak Bungalow is located well over 7200ft (almost as high as Sri Pada). Therefore Galagama Ella must be one of the falls located at the highest altitudes in Sri Lanka, of course in closer competition with Baker’s Falls aka Gonagala Ella.

Riding bicycles on those hilly roads were somewhat difficult, but it was a life time experience for us. Climatic condition in Nuwara Eliya during December and January is cold and dry. Therefore, it is better to arrange your journey during December.