Water in all it's forms, icebergs, oceans, lakes, and rivers has a fascination of its own. But none can surpass the beauty of a waterfall.
Waterfalls are gifts of nature. Sri Lanka is fortunnnate enough to have such natural gifts. Sri Lanka is blessed with a lot of waterfalls.
In Sri Lanka there are about sixteen waterfalls. Of these waterfalls Babarakanda is the highest waterfall.It is about 240 meters high.When you travel on the roads of the countryside you can see hundreds of small waterfalls.
Dunhida was one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Sri Lanka.It is in the Badulla district.
Diyaluma, Rawana Ella, Bopath Ella are some other beautiful waterfalls.There ae interesting stories about how these waterfalls got their names. Waterfalls are not just beautiful things to look at. Waterfalls have became very useful to use Sri Lankans.
Waterfalls attract thousands of tourists to oue country. So waterfalls are a great contributor of earning foreign exchange.
Waterfalls have been used to produce electricity. Lakshapana hydro electricity project is such an electricity producing project.
Waterfalls can also heal the mental upsets of people.When you look at a wterfall, when you experience the beauty of it, when you feel the beauty of a waterfall, you get a big mental consolation.
However it is very sad that our people are not serious enough to protect this great gift of nature. People dirty the environment near the waterfalls by throwing empty bottles, polythene bags, plastic boxes etc here and there
Unscrupulous timber feelers cut the trees in the catchment areas. When the forest near the waterfallis cut down, the waterfall will dry up.
So it's high time thet we take steps to protect the environment around waterrfalls. For that the government should introduce severe laws against wrong doers.
Public awareness programers should be impplemented. When the people understand the value of such natural gifts,they won't destroy them. And it's our responsibilitythat weee pass these valuable natural gifts on to our future generations.
