Adam’s Peak is a 2,243 m (7,359 ft) tall conical mountain located in Central Sri Lanka. In Sinhala it is called the Sri Pada, meaning “sacred footprint”. Its size is believed to be a 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) rock formation at the summit. The Christian and Islamic faith believe it is the footprint of Lord Adam, when he first set foot on Earth after been cast out of Paradise, for which the name denotes, while the Buddhist claims to be the footprint of the Buddha, and according to the Hindu faith it is that of Shiva.Thousands of pilgrims of all religious ethnicities pay homage to this historic site every year from December to May. Sri Pada is first described in the Deepawamsa, and also in the 5th century chronicle Mahawamsa, where there is reference that the Buddha also visited the mountain peak. The Arab traveler Ibn Battuta climbed to the summit of the mountain which he called Sarandīb in 1344 CE. The Italian merchant Marco Polo in his Travels of 1298 CE noted that Adam’s Peak was a place of pilgrimage. John Davy brother of the noted chemist Sir Humphry Davy visited the peak in 1817. He recorded observing an oversized foot print carved in stone and ornamented with a single margin of brass and studded with gems.The commonest route taken by most pilgrims is ascent via Hatton and descent via Ratnapura. Although the Hatton trail is the steepest, it is also shorter than any of the other trails by approximately five kilometers.