Bandarawela

Bandarawela is one of the largest cities in Badulla District and it is also a very important town in the Uva Province, Sri Lanka. It is located on the western part of the Uva Province and 30 km away from the Badulla town. Badulu oya is started from Bandarawela urban area and it flow through the Dhowa, Demodara, Hali Ela areas. Mean elevation of the Bandarawela town is about 1,280 metres (4,200 ft) above sea level and is surrounded by the mountains such as Haputale, Namunukula, Nayabadda and mountains located in Nuwara Eliya district. It has very cool climate than the other areas in the Uva Province except Haputale. Bandarawela is 210 km away from Colombo and about 150 km away from Kandy. Bandarawela is one of the major tea producing cities in Sri Lanka.

There are multiple routes to Bandarawela from Colombo, Matara, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and Badulla areas. Most close city to the Bandarawela is Haputale which is located on Colombo Badulla main road (A 16). All routes are scenic and one can get splendid views of geography changes while travelling. Bandarawela can be indentified as a main eco-tourisms city in Sri Lanka. Because it has very beautiful environment, cool climate, very close to other beautiful cities in the country and has better facilities for the tourists.

Heritage

The main heritage sites in and around Bandarawela are ancient Dhowa (Buddhist) temple, Bandarawela Roman Catholic Church, and St. Anthony's Church, Bandarawela. Bogoda ancient wooden bridge and Muthiyangana Buddhist temple is located in very close to the Bandarawela city. Dhowa ancient temple is located by Bandarawela - Badulla road. Both Christian churches are located in and around Bandarawela urban area.

Geography and climate

Geographically, the Bandarawela area is hilly. It is surrounded by the large number of mountains in Uva and Central Province. This area rich with large number of streams and few water falls, which give clean fresh water for the living population . According to the climatic zones, Bandarawela is classified under Up Country Intermediate Zone (UCIZ) which is spread over the Badulla and Moneragala Districts. The elevation above sea level at Bandarawela is 1300 m, the annual average rainfall is between 1100 and 1400 mm and the monthly average temperature are between 15 ºC (in February) and 27 ºC (in May and June). The Bandarawela area consists mainly at Red Yellow Podzolic soils which are strongly acidic.

Education

Bandarawela area has good education background to generate intelligent people for the country's development. This area has a lot of popular schools in the Badulla district. Bandarawela Central college is the most popular and best school in the Uva province. It is annually generate hundreds of university students for different fields . Earlier this was combined with Royal College , Colombo. But it was separate from it after few years. It is one of the oldest colleges in Badulla district. Some of the other popular schools are Little Flower Convent, Vishaka girls school, and St. Joseph college Bandarawela. These schools are governed by the central government of Sri Lanka. There are also two private schools which are popular in island wide. They are St. Thomes college Bandarawela and St. Thomes college Guruthalawa.