A Walk Through the Maduwa Bridge

It is me, enjoying the freshness of the wind coming over the blue water of Madu River. It was about 2.30 p.m and even the sun didn't disturb us to have this walk. The decrepit, but attractive bridge that you see behind me is Madhuwa Bridge which is located in Balapitiya, Sri Lanka. We had to go on a byway for about 1km from Galle-Colombo road to reach this bridge.

It is not a place to enjoy, but this bridge connects a large island to the main city. The island that you see on the below map is Madhuwa Island. As you can see, the only connection it has with the mainland is this bridge.

_{///virulently.rationed.cartridges}

Maybe you have realized it now, this narrow bridge only facilitates walkers, foot bicycles, and motor bicycles. I heard that in the past, tuk-tuks also crossed the bridge but the condition of the bridge is not good to hold tuk-tuks now .

Let's Walk Through the Bridge

The bridge is built to cross the Madu River, which you can see above. If you are willing to visit Sri Lanka, you MUST visit Madu Ganga Ramsar Wetland. There is a boat service that takes you through the whole wetland.

This location is so quiet and calm. There is no crowd unless villagers and boys who come to play inside the island. Sometimes villagers come for fishing using fishing rods. There were two men fishing when we were there.

_{After few steps from the beginning of the bridge. You can see two men are fishing}

This bridge is about 338 m, which is considerably long. The frame is made of iron and the ground is made of concrete sleeper. In the time we were on the bridge, many motorbikes crossed the bridge. When a bike comes, we had to move to the border of the bridge, which is very dangerous. When a bike comes, the bridge vibrates.

There are villagers still remain in the island. They happen to park their vehicles (mostly tuk-tuks) somewhere and go by foot. The bridge is almost disabled and can not hold high weight.

_{You can see how disabled it}

Even school children walk through the bridge. From the left side of the bridge, there is Kothduwa Temple on another island where you can visit using a boat. On the right-hand side, it is Madu River.

There you can see some prawn farms too.

_{Prawn farms}

We crossed the bridge and visited Maduwa Island too. On the two edges of the bridge, there we saw the signs of Ramsar. There were plants like screwpine, apple mangrove, and mangrove. I will talk about them in another article.

_{Few steps before the end of the bridge}

The overall experience was very good. The atmosphere cleaned up my lungs. The beauty of the surrounding refreshed my eyes. The vibration on the bridge is a little scary. But I was safe with the correct partner of life!

I will tell you about the river and biodiversity soon with another article.

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