DEVIL STAIRCASE CAMPING

DEVIL STAIRCASE CAMPING

The Devil’s Staircase is an almost 14 km route from the Horton Plains road in Ohiya going down through tea estates to Kalupahana on the main A4 road. This route is famous for being a 4WD route with its craggy twists and turns earning its rather frightening name. It is a wonderful hike with breathtaking views of the Southern plains of Sri Lanka and its main attraction, the Bambarakanda falls, the highest waterfall in Sri Lanka.

The Devil’s Staircase takes the traveller up the northern side of the Kuda Oya Valley in a steep climb through a mix of tea plantations and highland forest, with the towering heights of the Horton Plains plateau on one side, through and into the Ohiya Gap, and then up the southern face of the Haputale Mountain Range to Ohiya.

The scenery is spectacular, with stunning views to the southwest over the lowland plains of Sri Lanka. The Haputale Range is on the southern edge of the Central Highlands, and the slopes drop thousands of metres down to the vast Udawalawe Basin, stretching away to the southern coast. On clear days, you can catch the glint of the sea, and if you’re lucky enough to be camping up here on a clear night, watch for the flash of the lighthouse at Dondra Head, the southernmost point of Sri Lanka.