Waulpone, the 'legendary Rock Cave' with the unexpected
archaeological evidence of a civilisation, tens of thousand years old, running
back to the time of the "Balangoda Man" is again, in the grips of a
new menace, the illegal gemming activities.
The ancient rock-caves with vast stretches of wilderness,
set in a panoramic view, is fast losing its tourist - potentials and historical
value, with the pleasing prospects of the environment, under the axe of the
wood-cutter, the tools of gemmers and the dynamites of the treasure-hunters,
according to reports. The stream that flows through the front entrance to the
cave with the cool, silvery water providing a pleasant surprise to the
way-weary visitors, has lost its charm through the indiscriminate mass gemming
operations affecting the immediate environment and the bed of the stream, dug
and overturned.
The 'pencil-columns' of 'stalactite' and 'stalagmite' formed
by the age-old lime stones, over the years, an inch of which according to
scientific calculations, would take hundred years to grow, are indeed a rare
gift of nature peculiar to the cave to be saved from wanton destruction.
The glistening boulders of marble-rocks lying scattered
around the back of the caves, gave it an added value which enhanced both the
local and foreign tourist interest in Waulpone. 'Balangoda Man', unearthed, at
the 'Batadomba Lena, at Kuruwita, in 1986 by Dr. Shiran Deraniyagala, estimated
30,000 years old, could, indeed, be traced to Waulpone, as well, a possible
abode of the 'early settler' who derived his historical apalation from
'Balangoda' (or vice-versa), if excavations were undertaken according to
archaeological sources.
The findings of the Batadomba Lena had conclusively proved
that 'Micro-thic' stone implements had existed at Batadomba Lena, where
Balangoda Man had lived, thousands of years ago, debunking the archaeological
view that such implements existed only in European countries. But such evidence
might also be found in Waulpone as well, if excavations were undertaken the
sources held.
Netherlands, in 1986 financed a roadway to facilitate
communication in the neglected village realizing the value of the ancient cave,
through representations of the lovers of nature, from that country visiting the
place. But the local authorities, has failed to follow up the international
support due to the negligence of the forest conservation authorities in charge
of the area, leaving the access road, in bad disrepair.
But now it has become imperative that the authorities call
an 'immediate halt' to the mining menace and put the historical cave in good
repair, to reclaim, the hitherto lost grounds in developing the place, as a tourist
attraction, for saving from complete ruin, a rich heritage for the country, a
fine and rare handiwork of nature, for the connoisseur of 'natural beauty' and
a perennial source of income and foreign exchange for the State.
The services of both archaeologists, geologists, ecologists
and environmentalists back by a research program of development under
provincial authorities with the assistance of the Central Government, alone can
save Waulpone for the posterity. Considering the apparent and real significance
of the cave and its surroundings, 'it is remarkable', that the authorities had
not even put up a decent identification board for the information of the
public.
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