As Soon as we hear and see the name of "Rathnapura" remind us and bring us to the gem city. Rathnapura is Not confined to jem. It is flurished with lot of cascading water falls, streems , Rivers, Tea Plantations, Mountains. We visit the gem mines to see the mining being carried out, visit some workshops to see the cutting and polishing being carried out
Sri Lanka has the greatest concentration of gems on earth and is ranked among the top five gem-bearing nations. One can find all types of gems in Ratnapura-from familiar to exotic. These include: white, yellow, pink, orange, purple and blue star sapphires, ruby and star ruby, cat's eye, topaz, amethyst, moonstone, aquamarine, tourmaline, garnet, zircon, spinel, alexandrite, citrine, etc., and the exotic ones such as patite, sinhalite, ekanite, enstatite, andalusite, kornerupine, etc., sought by the connoisseur.
Next step is to see the enchanting & cascating waterfall name bopath ella.
Bopath Ella is 30 metres high. It is formed from the Kuru River, which is a tributary of the Kalu river .Its mean rate of flow is 6 square metres (65 sq ft) per second, and its catchment area receives an average rainfall of 5,080 millimetres. Annually. Water from the falls is used for paddy cultivation. Bopath Ella is also the most comprehensively studied waterfall in the country. Bopath Ella is a major tourist attraction in Sri Lanka, since it is not far from the capital, Colombo |