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.

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.

I have always felt very sentimental about Great Western coz it was the turning point in my hiking life. When I went to GW last time, I told Morgan that we must camp on the summit one day and get the ultimate feeling of this beautiful lady. Oh, please check out the note I’ve put in the box at the top regarding GW coming down the list of Highest Mountains of Sri Lanka to the 7th place. It’s a mystery what this Kudahagala is and the Wikipedia gives no information as to its location, even the district. I wonder if this is the Agra-Bopath at HP coz there’s another mountain further down the list named Mahakudahagala at the 11th place with a height of 2096m. Casual search on Google didn’t yield anything fruitful either. Hopefully, one of you might be able to shed some light into this subject.

Let’s move on and start our journey, shall we? Anyway, she coming down the list was not a very happy thought for me. I wanted to take my hiking partner in the first journey, Hari with me but he wasn’t that sentimental about GW like me and decided to focus on something he’s not done before as the list of our to-do-things keep growing longer every passing day. So I was down to Uncle Tony, Atha and Prasa. Unfortunately, Tony had to pull out at the last minute leaving the three of us and we were in no mood to back off. Oh Atha too bought a tent with me so we wanted to try our tents at 2000+m.

I woke up and lowered the blanket covering me and a rain of needles hit my exposed skin. Oh dear, I’m in HP, it suddenly dawned on me. There was a light moving out of the room and it made me feel jittery. Getting out of the bed and landing my feet on the ground sent another dose of needles up my body. It was so cold (probably around 10-degrees) and I followed the light out of the room to find Ana already up and getting ready to make some coffee. The time had just gone 4.30am and I was shivering when I entered the kitchen. There wasn’t any sign of the bungalow keepers (they can’t have ever had their guests waking up at 4.30am) and I waited with my feet up for a steaming cup of coffee.

Atha and Prasa were still sound asleep and I went back to wake them up. It was very cold and we sipped at our scalding coffee hugging ourselves so tight. The caretakers got a shock when they appeared around 5.30am to see us up and about. I guess this was a great shock for them and they got very busy making our breakfast while we washed in the freezing water and got ready to leave while the sun was beginning his painting class towards the east.

This was the first trip of New Year. We reached Pattipola railway station around 4.30am and Ashan came to accompany us to Karunadasa guest house which is situated in walking distance from the railway station. Following our bed tea we started the journey to Hortain plains National Park by a three-wheeler. Weather was excellent and Piduruthalagala mountain range, Ambewela area, Namunukula, Hakgala mountain were visible one our way.

After a long journey we were finally almost on top. We reached an opening about 100ft below the summit where it gave a 180-degree panoramic view. This is where you can get the best view more than even the summit coz the summit point is covered to a certain extent by trees. We rested our tortured legs and had our energy bars and drinks giving us a boost for the rest of the day. I took hundreds of pics and managed to get Tony to do a short documentary too.

I have been closely following the topic “Nelu” since it first started appearing in the forum late October and with every report and every photograph the desire to see Nelu was becoming too irresistible. Moreover, the fact that the next sighting of Nelu will be in 2025 made this trip a “must do now”. Do not know where we would be in 2025 – grave yard/ hospital bed etc…etc??

“Apparently there are 30 different kinds of Nelu and 24 of which are endemic to Sri Lanka”

We jumped out and headed towards the summit of Thotupola with an elevation about 200ft over 2km stretch. It was a sight to treasure for the rest of our lives. We were simply speechless and kept walking through dense forest patches till we reached a bit open area and the sight was simply outstanding. So many mountains were visible and Adam’s Peak was standing tall and majestic in the horizon with her distinct shape. Kirigalpoththa and the undocumented Agra-Bopath were standing next to each other.

Horton Plains is one of my favorite places in Srilanka. So I spoke with some of my friends to go on a trip there and Pasindu, who has prior experience in camping, was the first to jump in and suggest the idea of camping at HP. I put in that we walk the whole journey from Pattipola to HP and back. We gathered all information from “Lakdasun” and www.travelogueslanka.com

Ohiya is a rural village and one of the most scenic and coolest places in Sri Lanka. Normal temperature is less than 12 Celsius. It’s a lonely and sleepy town. The entire town consists of two boutiques and the railway station only. Nearest town by road is Boralanda (10 KM). Nearest Petrol shed is Welimada (22 KM).

This time we went on camping at Maha Eliya and climb Thotupola Kanda. Originally we planned a hike to Kirigalpoththa but due to time constraints and weather conditions we climbed Thotupola