Sri Lanka - day 6

Viv, Toots and I woke up at 4.30 am. I think the only other time I had woken up that early was for my own wedding!

But we were very excited! We were going to the Horton's Plains hike. 10 km. World's End Lookout. Woohoo! You need to get there really early before the fog and mist roll in, obscuring the beautiful views.

I was also very kicked about inaugurating my smartwatch. Viv had bought it for me on a flight and I had decided that I will inaugurate it for this hike and see how many steps I took and how many km I covered, etc. etc. I had put it to charge the night before to make sure it wouldn't run out of juice during my hike (hey, I was very new to smart watches, ok?). While I was getting ready, Viv remembered to unplug the watch and pack it.

Our driver had already arrived, punctual as usual. We picked up our respective bags and set off. I hadn't realised how long the drive would be to get to the starting point of the hike. It was a long, winding, uphill ride that took almost an hour. It was really dark and if I wasn't familiar with our driver's fantastic driving skills, I'd freak out every time the van went around one of the turns.

We had also packed some food from the night before, but it was too early to eat so we thought we'd eat it after the hike. But we did take along bananas and plenty of water. Just as I was checking the stuff in the bags, I asked Viv where he put my smart watch.

"In your bag." He said.

Oh. Dear. Lord.

"Which bag?"

"The white bag. With the flowers."

Oh. Dear. Dear. Lord.

Just the night before, I had shown him Xena's small red backpack and told him that I was taking it along for the hike because my white bag with the flowers was a shoulder bag and not really suitable for a long hike. I have no idea whether he hadn't heard me or didn't register. But he had unplugged the watch and put it in the white bag, which at this moment was in my locked suitcase in my locked room about an hour's drive away.

I was livid. LIVID. Even though he apologised profusely, it didn't help.

I didn't yell or anything, but I just refused to talk to him. Not a great start to a long hike that we had all been looking forward to, but I just couldn't hide my disappointment and anger.

It was a beautiful day otherwise.

The sun was just about rising. 

Our driver spotted the first deer!

There it was, looking straight at us!

A close-up

Our van stopped by the roadside. Check out the low mist. 

Gorgeous shade of blue.

Our driver clicked this for us at the entrance. We had our jackets on as it was quite cold.

At the entry point where you buy your very expensive tickets, your bags are searched for any plastic that you can possibly toss during the walk, and it is removed. It's a great step in keeping the park litter-free. 

And here's where we started our hike. As you can see, it's a circular path spanning about 9.5 km, so you can choose to go clockwise...

... or anti-clockwise. We chose the clockwise route, which would take us to the Mini World's End -- a primer for the real thing. 

It was a very easy hike, though some parts were slightly tricky, like this.

We saw strange spider webs on the way.

Some trees had crazy roots growing everywhere and we had to watch our step. 

On and on we walked, me keeping a safe distance from Viv because I was still so very mad at him. There were other people on the hike too, but it wasn't too crowded. Then, somewhere along the way, I finally forgave him, and then we all started walking together like we were supposed to. 

Finally, we reached Little World's End, our first lookout point. The cliff is about 270 metres high. 

Gorgeous view at Little World's End

It was a stunning sight, which just had to be enjoyed...

....there was no way we could capture it in a selfie.

Next, we headed towards the main World's End, which was about half a kilometre away from Little World's End. 

What an ominous-looking sign!

Soon, we had reached World's End, a sheer cliff with a drop of 1200 metres! There were no railing and yes, it was very possible for someone to drop to his/her death while taking that selfie. 

Toots and me at World's End (check out how bundled up we were; that was soon to change)

Admiring the view

Yes, we stayed far away from the edge!

Next to the viewpoint was this hilly structure and Viv wanted to climb up and see what was on the other side. He asked us to wait while he went up to check it out. 

Toots and I whiled away time by taking videos of the surroundings, and that's when we realised that the sign actually prohibited people from going up the hill that Viv had gone up. 

He had been gone a long time and I was starting to get worried. So I decided to climb up the hill myself, while Toots went around it to check.

   

That's me climbing the hill to look for the hubby.

There was no sign of him anywhere. After a long, long time, he casually came down the hill, telling us that we should be going around it. 

On and on we walked on that glorious day...

...past meadows and streams...

...until we had reached the 20-metre-high Baker's Falls, named after English explorer Samuel Baker. 

Selfie with the Falls

There were many signs near Baker's Falls describing the flora and the fauna of the surroundings.

Apparently, 20 of the 27 endemic birds in Sri Lanka are found in Horton's Park! 

Getting warm, but still foggy

All our layers started coming off one by one. 

Chit-chatting sisters-in-law

Viv, for once, was walking behind us and not sprinting away like he does, so he managed to get some good shots. 

Ok, so we returned the favour too. 

Hiking siblings

A stream!

   

This stretch was my favourite part of the hike. Glad Toots managed to get a video of it!

I loved the colour of these flowers.

What a strange plant!

This giant trash bin appeared towards the end of our route. Crows were having a party in/around it!

When we reached the starting point of our hike, we saw many, many MANY people STARTING the hike! Oh goodness. It was so hot that I was really wondering how they were planning to walk close to 10 km. We were really glad to have read enough reviews and taken our driver's advice about a super early start.

After we were done with the hike, we popped into the tiny museum near the exit, which is sponsored by HSBC. They had some preserved animals on display and some information about the poaching problems in the national park.

An elephant skull! 

Apparently, there were lots of elephants roaming free, but they were all hunted down during the colonial era. There was also an eerie story about Major Thomas Rogers, a colonial officer infamous for killing more than 1400 elephants in Sri Lanka. He was struck down by lightning, and here's the crazy part — his tombstone was also struck by lightning... TWICE. Some locals consider it heaven's wrath upon him. 

A unidentified animal head and a giant flying squirrel

A preserved barn owl that looked eerily 2D... 

When our guide told us that Hortons Plains is also home to leopards, I thought he was just being cheeky since we were just about to fling ourselves into a hike through those very plains. It turns out he was right. This photograph was taken in 2016. Brrr... 

Soon, we were back in the van, heading towards the hotel. The hike itself had taken about 3.5 hours, so we had done our big adventure and were already back at the hotel before noon. The rest of the junta had been chilling and didn't seem to be in the mood for any kind of sightseeing that day. So we decided to really take it easy and just focus on the important basics, i.e. where to EAT. 

We had all loved the food at Glace so we asked our driver to take us back there for lunch. 

We all ate a hearty lunch, except for this one who was wishing she was anywhere but inside an eating place. 

And that was that for day 6 really. We just chilled for the rest of the day. The next day was going to be a long day with many places to go to and many places to see!

Click here for Sri Lanka road trip - day 7.