Horowpathana National Park

Lore & Background

In 2005, the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, A. H. M. Fowzie, instructed the Director-General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation to initiate the creation of a new national park, recognizing the area's rich biodiversity. The forest was noted for its relatively high rainfall within the Anuradhapura District and was the natural habitat of leopards, elephants, samba deer, sloth bears, black-naped hare, and mouse-deer. The Minister believed declaring the forest a national park would help minimize human-elephant conflict, protect villagers' cultivations, and eliminate poaching and unauthorized timber logging.

The park was formally ratified by gazette notification No 1735/21 on 6 December 2011. It comprises 2,570 ha and is situated on the left bank of Tawalamham Hammillewa and 100 m south of Kapugollewa Ihala Divul Wewa. Its borders are defined by roads and a reservoir. In 2015, the country's first Elephant Holding Ground (EHG) was established within the park, covering 930 ha with capacity for 40 elephants, where problem elephants from around the country are translocated. The translocation process and management of the EHG have been criticized by a number of sources. On 12 September 2019, the park was increased to include the land area adjacent to the Elephant Retention Centre in Horowpothana.

Reader's Guide

Horowpathana National Park holds significance as Sri Lanka's 23rd national park, created specifically to address human-elephant conflict and protect biodiversity in a high-rainfall forest area. Its establishment in 2011 formalized protections for a habitat supporting approximately 400 wild elephants, leopards, sloth bears, and other species. The park's most notable feature is the country's first Elephant Holding Ground, established in 2015, which serves as a translocation site for problem elephants from across Sri Lanka. This initiative, while criticized by some sources, represents a major policy effort to manage human-elephant conflict. The park's name, derived from Sinhalese words for 'sluice' and 'seven', reflects the area's ancient irrigation system. The park's expansion in 2019 to include land adjacent to the Elephant Retention Centre underscores ongoing efforts to manage elephant populations. Its legacy lies in its dual role as a biodiversity sanctuary and a experimental site for elephant management strategies in Sri Lanka.

Did You Know?

• The park was formally ratified by gazette notification on 6 December 2011.
• The name Horowpathana comes from Sinhalese words for 'sluice' and 'seven', referring to the area's ancient irrigation system.

Geography & Physical Landscape

Horton Plains National Park sits atop the southern plateau of Sri Lanka's central highlands, stretching across 3,160 hectares at elevations between 1,200 and 2,300 metres. The terrain is flanked by two of the island's tallest summits: Kirigalpoththa at 2,389 metres to the west and Thotupola Kanda at 2,357 metres to the north, ranking second and third in the country. Beneath the surface lie ancient Archean rocks—Khondalites, Charnockites, and granitic gneisses—dating to the Precambrian era, while the topsoil belongs to the red-yellow podsolic group, its upper layer enriched with decomposed organic matter. The climate is cool and wet, with mean annual rainfall exceeding 2,000 mm and an average temperature of just 13 °C, though daily swings can push readings from a frosty 5 °C at night to a warm 27 °C by midday. Ground frost is a regular February occurrence, and during the southwest monsoon, gusts can reach gale force. The park's dramatic edges include World's End, a sheer 870-metre precipice, and Baker's Falls, a 20-metre cascade named for Sir Samuel Baker.

Flora & Vegetation Communities

The park's plant life divides into two strikingly different communities: roughly 2,000 hectares of wet patna—open montane grasslands and shrublands—and about 1,160 hectares of subtropical montane evergreen forest. Together they harbour close to 750 recorded plant species spread across twenty families. The forest canopy climbs to around 20 metres, anchored by Calophyllum walkeri and woven through with Myrtaceae members like Syzygium rotundifolium and S. sclerophyllum, alongside Lauraceae such as Litsea, Cinnamomum, and Actinodaphne speciosa. Beneath the canopy, dense thickets of Strobilanthes and dwarf bamboos (Indocalamus, Ochlandra) suppress a true herb layer, while Rhodomyrtus tomentosa colonises forest margins and peak zones. Of the 54 woody species catalogued, half are found nowhere else on Earth. The grasslands are dominated by Arundinella villosa and Chrysopogon zeylanicus, shaped by recurrent fire and grazing. In low-lying, waterlogged pockets, macrophytes including Aponogeton jacobsenii, floating sedges, and bladderworts thrive beside the stream-loving bamboo Chimonobambusa densifolia. Horton Plains holds the largest surviving expanse of cloud forest in all of Sri Lanka.

History & the Road to Protection

Before colonial contact, the plateau was known locally as Maha Eliya Thenna, meaning 'great open plain,' and its slopes had long been used by lowland communities for gem mining, iron extraction, canal construction, and timber harvesting. Stone tools linked to the Balangoda culture attest to even earlier human presence. In 1834, officers of the 78th and 58th Regiments, Lt. William Fisher and Lt. Albert Watson, formally noted the plateau, and in 1836 Governor Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton visited the area to meet the Ratemahatmaya of Sabaragamuwa; the plains subsequently carried his name. A six-metre pollen core later revealed that during the late Quaternary the region endured a semi-arid climate with a restricted plant community. Botanical protection began in earnest when Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker urged the British government to leave all montane forests above 5,000 feet untouched, an instruction formalised by an 1873 administrative order. The area was declared a wildlife sanctuary in December 1969 and elevated to national-park status on 18 March 1988. In July 2010, the broader Central Highlands—encompassing Horton Plains, Peak Wilderness Sanctuary, and the Knuckles range—received UNESCO World Heritage inscription.

Hydrological Heart & Wildlife

Few landscapes in Sri Lanka carry as much hydrological weight as Horton Plains. The plateau serves as the headwater source for three of the island's principal rivers—the Mahaweli, the Kelani, and the Walawe—and additionally feeds five smaller streams: Belihul Oya, Agra Oya, Kiriketi Oya, Uma Oya, and Bogawantalawa Oya. This makes the park the most critical drainage basin on the island, a network of pools, seeps, and cascades that sustains millions downstream. Baker's Falls, a 20-metre drop on the Belihul Oya (itself a tributary of the Walawe), and Slab Rock Falls are among the most visible expressions of this water system. Ecologically, the park supports large herds of Sri Lankan sambar deer and has been designated an Important Bird Area, hosting species endemic to the island as well as others restricted entirely to the Horton Plains itself. The park borders the Thotupalakanda Nature Reserve to one side and the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary to the west. Despite its protected status, forest dieback remains a significant threat; some researchers attribute the phenomenon to natural climatic drivers rather than human activity.