WORLD'S END

World's End is a fantastic location in Sri Lanka on the Horton Plains near Nuwara Eliya.  It is at an altitude of 6000 ft above sea level.  The only way to see the World's End is by trekking and for me and my wife it was the toughest walk in our lives so far.  We walked 9 kms stretch along the tough terrain and it took us a good six hours to complete the trekking.

We started walking at 8 a.m. and completed the entire stretch of walking by 2 p.m. in the afternoon.  We first reached the Mini World's End which is a fantastic view point.  As we were there before mid day there was no mist and the view was very clear.  We were told that the view is clear only in the mornings as there is too much of mist after mid day.

From there we walked further 2 kms to reach the World's End which is at a different mountain and gives the same view of the longest river in Sri Lanka the River Mahaweli.  There are no roads, no pavements, no interlock blocks to comfortably walk.  The entire stretch is walk into the jungle through the rocks, sand, slopes and steep terrain.  It was quite an exercise for the mind and body.  We were very careful in placing every step as the ground was completely uneven and hence it was extremely uncomfortable.

We thought that we have covered a great distance and reached more than half of the way but our guide told us that we had another 2 kms to walk to reach the Baker's Falls.  Reaching the Water Falls was really very tough as the path was very steep, slippery and very tricky with lot of rocks and stones.

We were extremely happy and delighted that we have seen the Mini World's End, World's End and also the Baker Falls.  That happiness and delight was short lived as the Guide told us that we have a 3.5 km walk back to the starting point.

The final stretch of 3.5 kms was through the mountains and valley.  It was very picturesque.  There are 20 Leopards and 3000 Samba Deers in the Horton Plains.  While walking back to the starting point we saw the corpse of a Samba Deer which was killed by a Leopard the previous day.

The guide told us that the Leopard will stay in the close vicinity as he takes about 10 - 15 days to completely eat the Samba Deer.  I was very scared as I kept thinking what I will do if the leopard suddenly appeared.  The guide told me not to worry as the Samba meat is far superior and tastier compared to mine and hence he said the Leopard will not do any harm to me.  I then realised that there is hardly any meat in my body as compared to the healthy and huge Samba Deer.

Finally reaching the starting point was really difficult particularly the last one kilometer walk.  Very strenuous and tiring indeed as we have never ever walked for 6 hours in our life in one day, that too on very tough and rugged terrain.

On the whole it was a very satisfying, unique and pleasurable experience.

It was a lovely experience of a lifetime.  Anybody visiting Sri Lanka should not miss visiting the Horton Plains.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
29th August 2013.