Exploring the beauty of one of the remote villages in Ratnapura – Panahatagala

As part of my work as Medical officer of health of Nivithigala I am bound to conduct medical inspection in every school in my area. Most intriguing out schools is Panahatagala primary school in Panahatagala area & Liyanekakanda School in Liyanekakanda.

Unfortunately Liyanekakanda School was shut down due to lack of students. Though Panahatagala area belongs to Nivithigala DS division it is not connect by any means of transport to Nivithigala. To get there we have to travel to Kalawana and from there to Wathurawa and rest by foot. There was a bridge connected to Wathurawa which was destroyed by floods 3 years beck. Since then politicians failed to build the bridge due to the debate for whether it belongs to Kalawana or Nivithigala. Furthermore it has voting population of only 300 to make matters worse for this poor villagers. There is a separate road connected from Kalawana town to Panahatagala but it can be done by only a very very experienced driver with 4wd vehicle with good ground clearance. At present only very few 4wd Lorries with extra ground clearance comes on that way to collect tea leaves.

Otherwise one have to walk 3 kms to reach the main area of the village. Recently villages have constructed a road leading to Panahatagala from Wathurawa but without the bridge only motorbikes can cross the river.

Now villagers have built a small wooden bridge to across main river from Waturawa..

This was the status one month back…….

There are few streams to cross on the way….

Crossing another stream…

Crossing another stream…

Following pics show the beautiful surrounding and an unnamed waterfall (3-4 meters of height)

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Thanks for reading…..