April 30,

This morning, for whatever reason Jeff and I both awoke at 0400, and could not go back to sleep. (The family above us – they are five – were up and about until 2430.)  Finally at 0530 we got up and around. Since we are both up this early, we decided to take advantage of it! We hopped on the scooter and headed out. Today we went to the World's End – that is to Horton Plains National Park. It is a brisk morning and we are bundled up!

We left Nuwara Eliya and drive just over an hour to arrive, passing some more tea plantations and such great, green scenery. We knew we were close as the road becomes steep. We saw a monkey on the way. Then the signage and the road is even more steep – I had to get off once, due to our poor “Wuk-Wuk” could not do it with both of us. (I came up with this name because the scooter is wimpy and sounds like a tuk-tuk, hence “Wuk-Wuk!) We arrived at the entrance to the park around 0730. We paid the foreigner ticket prices, a special value added tax and a service charge – total damages just over 70 bucks!!! Ouch, that is getting into Angkor Wat pricing! We loaded up and commenced our venture.

Immediately, we passed a little pond that is beautiful with water lilies and melodic – frogs galore are croaking/calling out. I took a small video, as  it was amazing to hear them all in mass! We arrived to the parking area and the Canteen. The few people here, are getting breakfast items – busy. We just went to the loo and then head out, letting poor Wuk- Wuk have a siesta. There is a trekking path that goes to the Mini – or Little World's End (they had signage with both names), then to The World's End, and finally, to Baker's Waterfall (or around the other way). It's a big loop with the total trek being 9.2 km (almost six miles). We arrived so early due to daily clouds that roll in by 1100. We had another check point – ticket check and bag search, which they took any plastic bags we had. The park personnel put items emptied out of plastic into paper sacks they had there. I know this is for litter control, but really!

The trek is not bad. There were some more difficult, steeper steps/stairs up/down parts, but in general it is a mildly, rolling path with a stream of water that finds and joins the path sometimes. We are in the mountains, 2,140 meters (7,021 feet), but mostly we are hiking along a plains area (maybe that is why it is named Horton Plains🤔🤭. We pass along these plains and spotted some Sambur Deer, from a distance, out grazing in the morning light. We see all kinds of small birds, but they are not close enough to identify. Also see many lovely Rhododendron trees some with bright red blooms. They can get pretty tall. And also saw primrose-like plant that maybe what they call Nelu (not too sure on this). But on these plains that give way to forests, there is quite a diversity of plants: grasses, obviously; the Rhododendron trees, non-native ferns; and forest trees. Along the path we can see some beautiful colored rock that helps make the path. It is red, orange, and yellow hues. When the water wets it – it just pops! Brilliant!! 

We arrived at out first stop – Mini World's End. It opens to a lookout from which you can see over the gorgeous, distant vistas of south-east Sri Lanka. But the name comes from standing on a cliff. The ground literally drops off, plunging down 270meters (885 feet). This is also very apparent! But I'm not having too much of a problem as the platform we are on is not right on the edge. We did our photo-op and moved on, because the next stop is World's End.

As we hiked to this second stop, we do pass through cloud forest area. We made it, and the views are even more,… breath-taking! It seems we are at the world's end -that drop… Oh my! I did experience some height-issue-fears here. This cliff is an 870 meter (2,854 feet) drop, and it is even more stunning. On clear days, the placard says you can see all the way to the sea from here!! That would be amazing! Unfortunately, the clouds have obscured this chance for us. But we feel blessed to behold the glory that we have! We saw some distant lakes and tea plantations, in addition to more mountains and forests… and, well, just the land that is Sri Lanka! We picnicked here. Eating some of the left over snack thing we were given yesterday by Dilhan (when he and his crew were setting up the family above us); and some cookies, all washed down with hot chocolate and water. As we were finishing, I noticed an area at the platform edge. I thought it was a little water drainage area, but no it was a hole that went straight down – that nearly 3,000 feet. Well, needless to say that backed me up quite a bit, actually off of the platform. Thankfully, we had already done our photo-op. There was also a sign here with distances to cities – Beijing, New Delhi, London, and France. Anyway, we loaded up our picnic stuff and headed on.

We leave the cloud forest area now and traverse back on the plains of the park, on our way to the Baker's Waterfalls. We did see a Black Cheek Lizard. It scurried right in front of Jeff and climbed a Rhododendron tree! He posed so I got a couple of pics. We also heard the Sri Lanka Purple-Faced Langur… never saw them, but you can't mistake the howler-type noisy calls. Now we descended down to the platform view of the waterfalls. They were very full of water, spilling over some huge boulders. It was great to see the water in such force since we did not see much yesterday. This made us question where the water source is for Baker's Waterfalls (?Questions?) Anyway, someone took our picture for us with the waterfalls as a backdrop. That was nice, he volunteered to do it! 

Now we head back. We did see one more lizard – a Common Green Forest Lizard. It danced straight up an embankment to get away! We make it and went into the little “Visitor's Center” they had, but pretty much walked through it without stopping. Once back outside, and one look at the sky – well, we need to head back. There was national park person there and Jeff asked him his thoughts of the weather as he was looking at the cloud build up too. He said it will probably start at one. It was almost noon and we had one hour's drive back to Nuwara Eliya. So we found our Wuk-Wuk (someone had moved it); loaded up; and started the descent back. We were following a van out when he pulled over and was pointing in the distance. Finally, we saw what he was seeing. It was a bear!! It was hard to see as the bear was a distance away, and was ambling through the grasslands that make up the plains!  WOWZA!!!  What a major sight! Amazing that the man in the van saw it! 

As we exited the park, we saw a small troop of monkeys. They are not the purple-cheeked ones, but they were just hanging out on the side of the road, seeming to say take my picture, which I did. We hurried back and did manage to get back before any real rain. We had a very brief spitting, just long enough to recognize it was rain drops and then it stopped. When we arrived in Nuwara Eliya, we opted for pizza – Pizza Hut! We did stick with getting the Sri Lankan Spicy Chicken pizza. It was a medium pan pizza, like 8 inches. It was very tasty and we were hungry!! Amazing what a six mile hike does for your appetite! Finished, Jeff popped into the Keel's store, practically next door, as I stood sentry over our bike and stuff.

Then we puttered to our place. (Poor Wuk-Wuk needed rest). We unloaded and I started blogging right away. Jeff took a little siesta (can't blame him, driving some of that road is stressful). It was a good, but long day. As I'm wrapping this up, it is starting to thunder and cloud up here – “tut tut, looks like rain.” Plan for light supper. Tata for now!!