Horton plains - The Heaven's branch on earth!

Horton plains is one of the most enchanted places you can find in Sri lanka and is the only park in the country that visitors are allowed to walk.As mentioned in the post on Nuwaraeliya it is located in the Nuwaraeliya district and is one of the places someone should visit at the hill country.It is also one of the most popular places among the foreigners as it has a very comfortable,cold weather through out the year,thus most Europeans and Americans prefer to stay at Horton plains.

It is a well known fact that most of the rivers(main 3 rivers other than the Kalu river) in Sri lanka are started at the Horton plains as it is a very pure,cold and well preserved untouched part of the Hill country(to get an idea about Sri lankan rivers please read the post on Mahaweli river).The green untouched nature of the Horton plains plays a major role in attracting visitors towards it and it competes with all the other beautiful locations in the world for the most beautiful scenes.Watch a video

Though every where your eye catches at Horton plains make you feel like walking in the heaven,
there are few places you should not miss,like

• the worlds end(the most acute angle and the gap between two locations within Sri lanka that makes you to think you have come to the end of the world!)
• Bakers water fall (one of the most enchanted water falls you will find even you travel all around the world)watch a video on Bakers falls
  
• Kirigalpoththa and thotupola the 2nd and 3rd highest mountains in Sri lanka respectively.

The park is one of the places in Sri lanka with the most varied bio diversities and is consist of various beautiful species of animals and trees.While leopard,Sambhur and wild boar are the most common large mammals in the park,black napped hare,giant squirrel,endemic bear,monkey and otter are not uncommon.Due to the wetness within the Horton plains throughout the year by the northeast,southwest monsoons and the inter monsoonal rains,various types of ferns and orchids and reptiles and amphibians are remarkably high that leads to bring a lot of scientists to the park from various parts of the world.It is also a well known fact that Horton plains is filled with different varieties of beautiful and colourful flowers throughout the year.

Things which will bring joy to you at Horton plains would be

1. beautiful landscapes
2. camping
3. Hiking
4. birds and other flora

Kumana park - the bird's paradise

Kumana is also called the Yala East park(though is a separate national park) due to it's geographical location.Its a well known bird sanctuary in Sri lanka where millions of birds breed and roost.This more than 18,000 hectare landscape has a great deal of biodiversity and the most significant feature that attracts birds to Kumana is believed to be the 200 hectare "Kumana villu" which is a natural swamp(many waterbirds used to nest here).

Because Yala national park(there is a seperate post on Yala national park on this blog) and Kumana park are joined together at the West side, some animals found at Yala can also be found at Kumana as well.The regular ones you see at Kumana park would be Pelicans,painted storks,spoonbills,herons etc.It is said that the very rare black necked stork(you may have heard of it )has also been sited at Kumana.

The abundance of bird life has made Sri lanka an ornithologists paradise.The country has more than 400 species of birds within it where around 230 are resident and 23 species are considered as endemic.While Kumana park plays a major role in bird watching,there are several other bird sanctuaries in the country as well which are located at Wirawila,Bundala and Kalametiya.


Ways you can enjoy at Kuamana park includes bird watching,luxury camping,going safari,doing photography and filming and lot more.

A nature's beauty admiration -Yala National park

Yala National park is the 2nd largest national park in Sri lanka.The climate of the park is hot and dry as you know it is the best climate to go safari.It is located in the arid region of Sri lanka.Yala park is underlain by rocks formed over 600 million years of age in some of the areas.usual daily temperature is around 27 Celsius.The distance from Colombo to Yala park is around 300 kms.

Some of the animals that you are going to see during your safari would be Elephants(lots of them for sure),buffaloes,deers,various kinds of birds(great for a bird watcher),and if you are very lucky you might see a leopard(has the world's highest concentration of leopards even though they are rarely seen on day time) or a bear as well.
Though most of the land of the park is parkland at Yala, jungle,beaches,freshwater lakes,rivers and scrubland are not uncommon.The range of habitats in Yala park give rise to a very good range of wild life.
finally if you are an animal lover and if you want to see more animals during your safari,Yala national park will be your ultimate place of stop for sure....Watch a video

want to see some really good photos taken at Yala national park? please visit
some beautiful photos taken at Yala park