Horton Plains National Park (හෝටන් තැන්න), "Maha-Eliya" in Sinhala, is a national park in the highlands of Sri Lanka. It lies at a height of more than 2000 m in the central highlands, and its altitude means that it has a much cooler and more windy climate than the lowlands of Sri Lanka, with a mean annual temperature of 16 °C rather than the 26 °C of the coastsIf someone asked you the question where can be considered as the heart of Sri Lanka your answer must be Horton plains. Because it is the most important piece of land in Sri Lanka as it nourishes most of Sri Lanka’s main streams. And it also nourishes Bakers falls, Chimini falls which beautifies Horton plains.
When considering the history of Horton Plains it expands to the era of Rama Rawana. Horton plains are called Maha Eliya also. It is called thus because it is said that there had been a great fire in this area set by Hanumantha. It is also said king Rawana’s Dandu Monaraya (a kind of an air ship) had been halted on mountain Thotupala which situated in Horton plains.
It is considered that the pre historic man of Balangoda also has lived in this area. Through excavations fossils of wheat and rice seeds have been discovered, which proves the fact. The area has been named as Horton plains after the visit of Governor Robert Horton during British governed era.
At the entrance to the Horton plains there is an information centre which provides all necessary details about the place to the tourists. According to the information centre 50% of the things that can be seen in Horton plain are endemic to the area. (Kudarathmala, maharathmala and several spices of lizards and birds are examples)
Pigmy forest, disturbed grassland, grassland, bamboo thicket are the main Eco systems that can be seen in Horton plains. Due to this fact and the higher rate of bio diversity Horton plains has been named as a biological hot spot.
Despite the fact that there are many things to be seen in this beautiful forest in Sri Lanka, most of the visitors only go to see the Worlds End.
You can have a chance to stay a night at any of the 2 bungalows built inside Horton plains. (To reserve these bungalows it is needed to contact the main office in Colombo.)
Nancy a foreign lady who came to Horton plains to produce a TV documentary, once told whenever she felt like ending her life she will come to Horton plains. That was due to its beauty and the endemic nature.
. හෝටන් තැන්න වනාහී දෙස් විදෙස් කාගේත් නෙත් සිත් ආකර්ශනය කළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පිහිටි අති සුන්දර භූමියකි.ඉමක් දැකිය නොහැකි ගෝලිය වස්තුවක් වූ මෙය ජෛව විවිධත්වයෙන් මෙන්ම පුරා විද්‍යාත්මක වටිනා කම අතින් ද ඉතා විශේෂ අසිරිමත් වූ ජාතික වනෝද්‍යානයකි.ලෝකාන්තය සොයා යන කෙනෙකුට අප රටෙ වෙනත් කිසිම පරිසර පද්ධතියක හමු නොවන අපූර්වතම හුදෙකලාවකින් යුත් සුන්දර තැනි තලාවක් හමු වෙයි.මෙම අති සුන්දර ජෛව විවිධත්වයෙන් යුතු වූ සීතල නුවර එළියේ පිහිටි වනෝද්‍යානය වනාහි හෝටන් තැන්නයි.
a.com/images/icon.gif" width="88" border="0" /> >Horton Plaina google map
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