A whole new world at World's End

Nilma DOLE

World's End at Horton Plains is more famously known as a place where 'lovers' have leapt to their deaths in typical Romeo and Juliet fashion. Today, it has a permanent landscape which exudes with clean and tidy lush green moor fields and a cool climate that is pollution free.

Nature lovers to Horton Plains previously would have noticed how much rubbish was strewn all along the beautiful plains. Even the path leading to World's End was littered with plastic bottles and after-party rubbish by travelling parties. The landscape has changed from that putrid era and a new beginning with a breath of clean fresh air makes Horton Plains (Maha Eliya in Sinhala) now a place to discover but not to disfigure.

Comfortably nestled in the highest plateau in Sri Lanka in the Central Province, Horton Plains was declared as a national park in 1988 covering an area of a colossal 3160 hectares. Dazzling butterflies welcome you on the cleared track from the Visitor's Centre. Brilliantly-coloured birds like the Yellow-eared Bulbul, Dull-blue Flycatcher, Sri Lanka White-eye, and Bush Warbler make you stare in awe and wonder as they fish and fly near the 'Chimmi Pool'. It is no secret that Horton Plains is home to more than 70 percent of endemic birds in Sri Lanka. Graceful leopards, sambar deer, the purple-face leaf monkey and various endemic flora and fauna call Horton Plains their home.

The park is also famous for beautiful flowers of endemic Nellu, Bovitiya, Binara and many other wonderful orchid species. Endemic dwarf species of flora dominate the borders of the streams and rivulets located at Horton Plains while Chrysopogon zeylanicum and Garnotia mutica dominate the grasslands. Endemic Bear Monkey, Rusty-Spotted Fishing Cats, Otter, Black-napped Hare and Giant Squirrel are other mammals that can be seen mostly at night. Many species of rats and shrews as well as stunning reptiles, lizards and amphibians are also found in abundance here.

One will never see elephants because many of these majestic animals were reportedly massacred by Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, from 1831 to 1837 and it is christened 'Horton Plains' after him. Legend has it that every year, lightning strikes at the place where Sir Horton was buried showing the wrath of Mother Nature for his sins. An extensive research done in 2007 named some 25 primates that are threatened with extinction. One of them was the 'Slender Loris', native to the National Park, which has been seen just four times since 1937.

Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Mahinda Chinthanaya vision, an island-wide greening campaign called the Nilla Pirinu Ratak ensures that Horton Plains is kept a clean and green National Park. In a bid to go the extra mile to protect the Plains, the Environment Ministry's campaign, Pirithura Parisarayak has been implemented to ensure action is taken against those who breach the regulations. Throwing polythene bags, plastic bottles and other non-biodegradable products are met with spot fines and severe penalties to prevent visitors from defacing the Plains. With education and awareness and by steering campaigns on proper rubbish disposing procedures, our country can definitely be a beautiful place. Sri Lankans have to realise how lucky we are to have such a biologically and ecologically diverse environment that is unmatched
 

anywhere else in the world.

Director General of the Wildlife Conservation Department W.A.D.A. Wijesooriya said that HSBC has been very supportive in sponsoring a campaign by paying sanitation workers to clean up Horton Plains. He said "We have enforced strict measures and disciplinary standards on keeping Horton Plains a clean and green national park so visitors have to follow the rules or else action will be taken".

What the DG says is true for there are signboards in all three languages specifying how important it is to preserve Mother Nature's bounty. As we saw, it is not the foreign tourists who litter but the 'party animals' who have a good time at the expense of Mother Nature. Furthermore, Wijesooriya stated "I hope more corporations help us champion environmental causes and support the need to regain the true beauty of Sri Lanka with sponsorships".

Whilst interviewing the visitors, we saw how happy they were about the environmental measures taken to prevent littering at Horton Plains. Says Mr. Rodrigo, who travelled all the way from Matara, "I am happy because we can see a good change in the authorised personnel ensuring that disciplined is maintained. When I came here years ago, I had to pick up rubbish left by careless visitors to dispose them in an environmentally friendly manner".

Yet another visitor commented, "We should set a good example for our children to protect and preserve our environment instead of using it as an entertainment area".

The trek to Horton Plains National Park covers about 10 kilometres on a cleared track where you pass the 'Mini World's End' taking you to the trail of the 'World's End'.

World's End is seen at its precipice with a 1,050m drop offering a stunning view where the rising of early-morning mist produces a spectacular sight. Before returning to the Visitor's Centre, make sure you pass through Baker's Falls which is resplendent in its own way. Also, no trip is complete without a short trip to the highest falls in Sri

Lanka - the Bambarakanda Falls which is nearly 900 feet in height.

Offering a breathtaking nature experience, The Horton Plains National Park and the wonders it offers is stunning so this is a plea for would-be and former adventurers to maintain its beauty minus the rubbish.