Hortons plain National park.

The worlds end look out.

It was an early 0500 hours start from  the hotel in Nuwara Eliya, a chilly town in the highlands, towards the Hortons plain Nationalpark. An even chillier plateauarea higher up.  We drove trough pretty farmlands with tea and vegetables for quite some time before starting the steep climb towards the Hortons Plain.

Stopping having a look at the pyramide shaped Adams peak in the background.  I was glad i was not going to climb it that morning!

Almost at the plain-looking back. The farmland give way to dense forest.

I shared the jeep with a lovely South african couple.

The locals didn't really care.

There are established and mandatory trails in the park-forming one big and one smaller circuit. We all went for the grand tour taking a few hours. To begin with we set up a little speed-the time factor is critical, one have to beat the clouds starting to roll up from the lowland quite early, obstructing the view. Easpecially in the rainy season this is an issue-and one might not get any view at all during that time.

Trailside flowerbeauty.

Finally we get the worlds end cliff in sight. We are going to beat the clouds and mist and will get a great view.

The cliff is the end of the road-from here the landscape fall down to the lowlands.

The junglefowl. A chicken basically. Nevertheless-it is Sri lankas nationalbird.

This cutie rest just outside the visitor center.

Jokulsarlon. The beauty of ice and frost.

Another Icelandic natural wonder. A never ending list. Jokulsarlon is a glacial lake formed when a glacier hugging the ocean retreated. The lake itself is around 1,5 kilometers away from the sea-but is connected to it via a freezing cold river. It is right beside the ring road going around the whole coast of the country and thus easy to get to. I arrived here in early spring. The weather was good-but not surprisingly cold. The Breidamerkurjokul glacier-itself part of the huge Vatnajokul is in the background pumping ice into the lake.

For a Norwegian, this place is like some sort of a time travel capsule. It shows Norway as it was when man arrived there at the end of the iceage. And its black beach of volcanic sand-highlighting why the country is nicked The Land of Ice and Fire-is totally clean-and away from the parking lot without footsteps. Giving it a form of untouched cleanness not found too many places in 2014.

A polarbear? A greyhound dog? A horse? I see them all in this floating ice sculpture slowly heading towards the sea and destruction.

It has finished its work-but it has done some serious scrubbing of the volcanic rock below the glacier. 

Some blue ice. The surface has not yet been pounded by the sun-once it does and cracks open, it turns white.

White ice, black rock. Like a piece of candy.

Not far away from the ice, life slowly takes over. a process taking generation upon generation in a climate as unforgiving as what is found here.

And even further out-established vegetation, even though it is not tall.

Not at the lake, but in the area. Warming my butt on a waterpipe leading hot water from a spring to a farming community. The land of ice and fire...

The Sinharaja rainforest.

The Sinharaja rainforest reserve is a hotspot for biodiversity, and it made it to the UNESCO list in 1988. It is not a big area. 21 kilometers long and 7 kilometers at its widest, but still a true gem as far as wildlife concerns. Inaccessibility was what saved it from loggers and poachers long enough to survive.

I took a series of local buses, starting down at Galle on the coast and eventually landed in Deniyaya, a small inland town close to the Sinharaja reserve. My accommodation of choice was the homestay of the Palita brothers just outside thẻ centre of town-yet far away in a tranquil location. Palita himself-a funny guy, has years of guiding experience and knows what he is doing. The wildlife watching actually started as soon as i arrived. His garden is actually teeming with life.....treefrogs, spiders. Small reptiles. And there were many scorpion burrows in the soil. They started to come out in the evening and i got to see them strolling around.

A green pitviper. Venomous but non lethal. A bite is not something to ask for though. This snake ís endemic to Sri Lanka. On this hike i actually saw at least two endemic species-highlighting the importance of this forest-endmism among several animal groups including the reptiles is as high as 50%. A staggering number. It is a peacefull snake, and if irritated it will vibrate its tail before mounting an attack.

My hike to the forest started with a tuktuk trip on twisting dirtroads going up and down trough the countryside. There were villages and lot of farmland-fruit, rice and coffee. Eventually i was met by a guide in the outskirt of the last village. We started walking. We entered a moist, shady green world of trees and plants, crisscrossed by small, shining streams. There were the sounds of countless insects playing and some birds. The air was filled with the smells of wet soil, and that of vegetation-living and dead. To begin with we saw no traces of animals, and i started loosing hope in my wished for creature fiesta. But then it loosened and my guide started to find a lot of interesting stuff. My guides eyes were sharp.  Reptiles was what we saw the most of. Fine with me-that's why i had come. Reptiles are often hard to find so i was happy.

The kangaroo lizard. A true runner and jumper. It is lightening fast, and run on two legs when threatened. My second endemic reptile encountered that morning.

The kangaroo lizard is able to change colour. Right now it is a bit intimidated by us.

A treeclimbing frog. They live most of their life up in the trees, only coming to the ground to spawn. They are lightweight to be able to walk on thin branches, and have large discs on their toes to improve their grip.

Showing off,trying to scare us off. An hump nosed lizard, endemic to Sri Lanka.

The hump nose lizard, a charmer.

Green vinesnake. Mildly venomous venomous but gentle in its ways.

A funny face.

Humpnose pitviper. Lethal if not treated. Its venom is necrotic, meaning the tissue dies.

A doctor snail, filled with healing substances. Or at least so they say.

Fungus on a dead branch.

There are some massive vines in this forest-with a mass outweighing most trees from where I come from.

a snail with egmass.

Resting in a pool below a waterfall. Small fishes come in starting to nibble on my feet.

Then freshwater crayfish joined in, they were tickling seriously and no problem, only when a crab arrived i retreated. Its claws were a bit too powerfull!

Colourfull sap oozing from a treetrunk.

Many legs, imagine this one wanting sandals!