Funday Times

Gaveshaka takes you on a fascinating trip in association with Lanka Council on Waterfalls
Waterfalls - a thing of beauty
Waterfalls are a rich natural asset in any country. They are beautiful to look at and admired. Some, like the Niagara Falls are world famous and offer breathtaking views. Tourists from all over the world flock to see it at numerous spots. Hundreds of photographers are seen almost daily at vantage spots capturing the sun rise.

The Niagara is made up of two waterfalls in West New York, USA on one side and South Ontario in Canada on the other, lying between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, on the international border. American Falls are 55.5metres/182 feet high and 328m/1076 ft wide. Canadian Falls, known as Horseshoe Falls are 54m/177 ft high, 640 m/2100 ft wide. It has been a popular tourist attraction since the early 19th century.

Angel (upper fall) in Venezuela is considered the highest waterfall in the world. Its height is recorded as 975m/3212 ft. Among the ten highest waterfalls in the world, five are in Norway, two in South Africa, and one each in Zimbabwe and USA.

For a small country, Sri Lanka boasts of a record near 400 waterfalls. Where there are hills and rivers, there are waterfalls. Most of them are popular destinations for tourists - both local and foreign. Beautiful waterfalls cascading down the mountain slopes enhance the beauty of the hill country. The geographical formation of the Island with the central highland sloping down to the coastal plains has resulted in several rivers and streams starting from the central region flowing down the hilly slopes in a radial pattern, creating beautiful waterfalls in several places in the hill country.

You will be amazed at the number of waterfalls we have in our beautiful little country. Though the total area of the Island is 65,610 sq km, we have near 400 waterfalls spread in different parts of the country. A recent study undertaken by the Lanka Council on Waterfalls (LCWF) - an organization set up to improve public awareness and understanding of water issues to promote the conservation and wise use of nature and natural resources - has recorded 382 waterfalls in Sri Lanka. LCWF is willing to share this information for your benefit and it is bound to be of educational value to you.

In your travels to the hill country you are bound to have seen the Ramboda Falls, the Devon and St Clair’s and enjoyed their view. The two most popular waterfalls are Dunhinda and Diyaluma which rarely anybody misses while traveling to see interesting spots in the country. We also have several examples of waterfalls being tapped for the generation of hydropower to produce electricity. The Laxapana Falls was used for the first hydropower project in Sri Lanka when the Canyon Dam was constructed across the Maskeli Oya.

The waterfalls in Sri Lanka are well distributed and are not confined to the hill country. You may be surprised to hear that even Colombo District has four waterfalls. Of course they are not very tall - two are just four metres each, another 10m and the fourth is 15m. Kurunegala District has just one - six metres tall. Gampaha and Hambantota districts have two each.

The largest number of waterfalls are in the Ratnapura district (109) followed by Nuwara Eliya (75) and Kegalle (40). Some of the waterfalls have very interesting stories attached to them, mainly folk tales and legends. The most beautiful waterfalls have been selected for stamps and there have been a number of issues featuring waterfalls.

In the next few weeks you will learn all about waterfalls in Sri Lanka and you are bound to found the series interesting and stimulating.

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