Lover's Leap Falls is a waterfall located in Hawa Eliya in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka. It is the main water source for Nuwara Eliya town. The fall is about 30 m in height and is formed by the waters of the streams and brooks of Sri Lanka's highest mountain Pidurutalagala (Abeyawardana, 2004; Kautzsch, 1983).
A local legend which links this waterfall to two escaping lovers explains how the present name of it was formed (Kautzsch, 1983). According to it, a boy who lived in the Nuwara Eliya area had met a girl in a nearby village and fell in love with her. However, the father of the boy didn't allow him to pursue his affair. The boy who was disappointed with this, on one full moon day, climbed up to the top of the rock with his fiancee and committed suicide by jumping into the fall. It is said that people hesitated to walk past the fall alone at night for fear of a ghost which haunts the spot where the lovers crashed.
Some say this boy in the legend was a Kandyan prince who lost his way while hunting in the forest (Kautzsch, 1983). It is said that the prince fell in love with the girl after she showed him the correct way to go (Kautzsch, 1983).
References
1) Abeyawardana, H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Kandurata: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. p.212.
2) Kautzsch, E., 1983. A guide to the waterfalls of Sri Lanka: Tisara Prakasakayo. p.45.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 23 July 2023