Horton Plains National Park can be found sitting on a plateau more than 2000 metres high. Sri Lanka's second and third highest peaks, Kirigalpotta (2,395 m) and Thotupola Kanda (2,357 m) are found here as well as three important rivers, the Kelani Ganga, Mahaveli Ganga and the Walawe Ganga originate from Horton Plains. The Park consists of montane cloud forests embedded in wet montane grasslands.
This fragile ecosystem is under threat due to illegal gem mining, poaching, forest fires,...
more »Horton Plains National Park can be found sitting on a plateau more than 2000 metres high. Sri Lanka's second and third highest peaks, Kirigalpotta (2,395 m) and Thotupola Kanda (2,357 m) are found here as well as three important rivers, the Kelani Ganga, Mahaveli Ganga and the Walawe Ganga originate from Horton Plains. The Park consists of montane cloud forests embedded in wet montane grasslands.
This fragile ecosystem is under threat due to illegal gem mining, poaching, forest fires, increasing visitor numbers, droughts and Canopy dieback in the upper montane rain forest.
More information:
Horton Plains was designated a national park on 16 March 1988, having originally been established as a nature reserve on 5 December 1969 (Gazette Notification No. 14,883). Like other catchments in the hills, the area had received some protection under an Administrative Order issued in 1873, which
prohibited felling of forests above 5,000 ft (IUCN, 1990). The place is named after Sir Robert Horton, a former British Governor, who travelled to the area to meet the Ratamahatmaya of Sabaragamuwa Province in about 1836 (Anderson, 1982).
The national park occupies an area of 3,160 ha and is contiguous with Peak Wilderness Sanctuary to the west. It lies in Nuwara Eliya District at the eastern extremity of the Central Highlands, some 32 km south of Nuwara Eliya. Some 57% of plants, 93% of amphibians, 83% of reptiles, 20% of birds and five mammal species are endemic. (Protected Areas Management and
Wildlife Conservation Project
ADB Loan Number 1767-SRI (SF)
Consultancy Services Report
BIODIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY:
HORTON PLAINS NATIONAL PARK March 2007)
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