Rakawa is a seaside rural community engaged in fisheries and agriculture. Its long sandy beach and mangrove skirted lagoon gives it a rustic beauty.

There is high local biodiversity as, in addition to mangrove forest, the local vegetation consists of scrub jungle, medicinal plants, and fruit trees. Also a wide variety of wildlife, including mammals, reptiles, 150 resident and migratory bird species, and many arthropods and aquatic creatures can be seen here.

Millions of years before man colonized Sri Lanka, sea turtles were coming to the undisturbed beaches of this Island to lay their eggs.

The beach near Rakawa is one of Sri Lanka’s most important marine turtle nesting sites where five of the world's seven species of marine turtle come ashore to nest throughout the year