Before starting the trip report, I wish to share a nice experience with our members.

As most of our members are aware through my “Help Planning Request”, I intended to go with a large group to Jaffna and branch off to go to Delft. Factually it was our annual office trip which decorates by 7 families, (trigger, stock and barrel) and we are very concerned about accommodation as very fragile wives and kids are involved.

Knowing about the condition of Thal Sevana Rest at KKS managed by Sri Lanka Army, I took over the responsibility of arranging accommodations. I called Thal Sevana in November last year to make the booking as our intended dates were around 4th February which was a long long weekend. The booking officer was very friendly and praised me for wisdom of early booking. I reserved 5 AC rooms, each room has 6 beds, at the cost of Rs.1000 per day. When I insisted paying an advance, the booking officer assured me that we could pay at the time of departure together with the bill for meals. When I expressed the need for a firm booking, the booking officer asked me “Don’t you trust Army?”.

So happily we made other arrangements such as booking the bus, drawing up the route, meal arrangement etc.

During next three months, I got so many calls from army officers of various ranks, asking me whether I have any idea of canceling the booking. I told all of them that I have no such intention.

On the 25th of January 2012, around 10.30 at night, I suddenly got a call from Thal Sevana. A major, who introduced himself as the Manager of Thal Arana, told me that he just received an order from MOD canceling all bookings up to 8th of February!!!!!!!
I was shocked and felt like kicked by a beggar.
“Why?” I asked.
“A VIP Group is coming to occupy the rooms during week end”
“ What type of VIP would accommodate a 6 bedded room?” I asked.
“ You know sir, VIP won’t come alone. Some senior Army officers too are affected by this order. I am very sorry Sir, We are helpless”

As he was so embarrassed and really upset I did not want to remind “Don’t you trust Army?” statement.

So after that, it was a real struggle to find a suitable place to accommodate our group.

So please have your fall back plan, if you intend to book Thal Sevana.

Sorry. Its bit long but you should know the actual situation to avoid such pitfalls.

Day One

We started around 12 mid night and visited Iranaimadu Ares by late morning.

Iranaimadu Area

Irranaimadu Tank

Irranaimadu Tank

Irranaimadu Tank

Abandoned Hydro Power Station

Our next stop was the house and bunker of Thamil Chelvam which was later bombed by Air force. Thamil Chelvam survived to be killed somewhere else.

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Entrance to Bunker from House

Bunker now flooded

House

House

After Irranaimadu, we traveled to Jaffna and settled down.

In the evening, we visited Jaffna Fort.

FORT MAIN ENTRANCE

FORT MAIN ENTRANCE

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Bell Tower

After settling down at the place reserved for 2 nights, we went to Rio Ice Cream Parlor near Nallur Kovil, which is said to be a place not to miss on a Jaffna trip!!!

We found ourselves in a fierce battle with a brimming crowd of visitors who do not want a separate country, but variety of sizzling, colorful and tasty ice creams in all possible tastes and sizes. Prices were very reasonable. You should not miss that!!!

END OF THE DAY WITH BELLYFUL OF ICE CREAM

DAY TWO

TRIP TO DELFT

Delft was formerly named as Nadanthivu and it is believed that Dutch renamed it as Delft. It is the furthest habited island towards west from Jaffna peninsula. Historically Delft had been a transit island for India and Sri Lanka and there are families with Indian origin in some parts of the island. Ruins of 3 Stupas are evidencing for a Buddhist culture believed to be dated before the official introduction of Buddhism to the country. Archeological Department has lot to do on this subject, but unfortunately still they have failed to identify the ruins as a site of archeological value sufficient to mount at least their somewhat absurd common bill board !!!

Delft is situated 11 kilometers away from the Punkudutive Jetty (common jetty to Naagadeepa). This distance is 9 kilometers from Nagadeepa. Delft is a separate Divisional Secretary Area in extent of 48 sq. Kms (Big island). It contains 14 villages with 1346 families and the total population is 5042.

Five of us branched off from the main crowd and took 5.30 AM CTB bus to Naagadeepa/Delft ferry point at Punkudutive with the intention of catching 7.30 AM ferry to Delft.

Previous day, we contacted a Navy officer on duty at Delft and got the confirmation that there would be 2 ferries in the morning.

When we went to ferry point, it was so crowded and there was a long long queue for Naagadeepa ferry. No one believed that our destination was quite different and did not allow us the pass through. When we sought help from an army officer, we were informed that Delft ferry was not working on that day. According to him, it was broken down. We insisted to go and check ourselves and finally he allowed us to pass through despite of the huge protest of general mass who did not believe our Delft story.

When we walked about a kilometer to the ferry, Delft ferry was there at the point of leaving !!!!. After another heated battle, we were able to get in to the ferry as last passengers.

Bit of advice – Don’t believe any statement about Delft ferry service. All sources we met, official and other, had only vague ideas about the ferry service. Just go and take the chance.

Once settled down for the unknown trip of 10 kilometers, we were bit nervous. However there was another group belonging to a bird watching society from Colombo who had visited Delft previously. They assured us that life jacket can float a person for 24 hours in the open sea!!!! Fat assurance when you are in the belly of a boat with limited escape route!!!

However, the morning ride was peaceful and we really enjoyed sight seeing.

Started

Passing Navy Boats

First Glimpse of Delft

Coming Near

Coming Near

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Landing Point

Our friendly Navy Officer has already booked two three wheelers for us and they were waiting at landing point.

Delft has a limited internal transport facility consisting of one CTB bus (which we never saw), one Canter lorry, one or two land masters and few three wheelers. The bird watching group had advanced booked the Canter and we witnessed a big confusion among other people who expected some form of transport to hire.

Advice – Please arrange your transport before hand if you intend to visit Delft. The young boy who drove our three wheeler is Bimalan and he can be contacted via his mobile No.0773945146. He can speak passable English but for a detailed dialogue, you have to use Tamil.

Our first visiting point was ruins of Portuguese or Dutch Fort.

To reach the Fort complex, you have to go through the Government Hospital and we were bit reluctant to do that as it was not visiting time. Realizing our difficulty, a lady with a charming smile invited us to pass through. She must be the only doctor in the hospital. We wanted to have a chat with her on our way back, but she was nowhere to be seen. At that time 2 patients were in the hospital.

According to our three wheeler driver, the hospital has very limited resources and any seriously ill is immediately transferred to main land by ambulance!!!. I can’t imagine a heart patient going through that 11 kilometer ride in rough sea at night.!!!

Hospital

Ever ready ambulance – 24 hour service

Reaching Fort

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In Need of Restoration

Inside the Fort

Inside the Fort

Lime Stone Wall Formation

Cemetery behind the Fort

Fresh water supply is limited in the Island. We saw one place with several wells used by islanders.

Fresh Water Wells

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.	One Well Abandoned

While on our way, we came across a pooja in a kovil. They were very happy when we mixed with them. Unfortunately the language barrier was glaring. Shame and late to realize our ignorance of the language used by a mass community in the country.

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A tamed horse behind the Kovil

The Giant Foot Print was our next destination.

The entire island seems to be formed on a lime stone layer. It is like a “ Pop Out” from the sea bed some years ago.

The Giant Foot Print is a natural impression on the layer of lime stone. However better to stick to the Belief rather than going to scientific analysis as Belief keeps you with general mass where you belongs to.

On our way back, a drunk visitor was openly blaming the islanders for carving the Big Foot to attract visitors. I was so furious and had to silent him with a flow of arguments.

Giant Foot Print

Giant Foot Print in comparison

In Delft, there are visible remains of 3 Sthupas. No archeological investigations were done so far, but evidencing remains say a big story to reveal.

visible remains of 3 Sthupas

visible remains of 3 Sthupas

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Showing the direction of India you can see at night

Remains of Second Sthupa protected by Army doing the job of Archeological Department (Silent as ever)

According to Mr. Victor Lanerole (Author), there were two places in the country where wild horses were living. One place was Nawagamuwa near Hanwella in the Kelani Valley Basin which is Mr. Lanerole’s village. Other place is Delft. In Nawagamuwa, there are no more wild horses at present. In Delft, you can still see this beautiful creature, proud as ever.

Nawagamuwa and Delft have one thing in common. Both places had a Portuguese Fort and a horses training center. So the wild horses can be accounted for.

We had to make a run to capture wild horses, but it was worth to see them. They allowed us to approach them to a certain distance before a graceful departure, not a run like other bulls and cows did.

First Glimpse

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.	Allowed Distance

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Graceful Departure

After that pleasing episode with wild horses, we came back to old administrative complex adjoining Dutch (Portuguese?) Fort. It seems the British too had added some buildings to this area. Near the carrier pigeon dwelling tower, there are remains of a British court house and a prison. New administrative buildings too are in the same vicinity.

British Sign on the court house building

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.	Carrier Pigeon House

Wish Archeological Department would take some positive steps to preserve these historical evidences.

As in Mannar, Delft too has a huge Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) to attract visitors. The Baobab tree is said to be brought to the country by Portuguese or Dutch from Africa as a tree of medical value to treat horses.

The Baobab tree in Delft is more than 50 feet in diameter with a height of 45 feet. The cavity inside the tree can shelter more than 10 people in case or a need!!!

Baobab tree in Delft

Few can seek shelter inside the tree

inside the tree

Growing Stone is a place of worship of islanders. The rock formation reminds a growing corral.

Growing Stone

Growing Stone

Church near the Jetty

Scenic beach with lime stone wall

Point of Departure – Sad

Getting ready for a rough ride

The sea was so rough on return trip and all passengers wore stern faces till they see Naagadeepa island.

Thinking about good deeds done

Relieving sight of Naagadeepa

We expected to get a hitch hike from ferry point to Jaffna as so many busses were around. Unfortunately no one was willing to give us a transport back so finally we had to settle down with common transport which was so crowded. It was not a pleasant trip back as we were so tired and hungry. Throughout the trip we were wondering why those people who were just after a pilgrim did not give 6 decent looking individuals (including 3 ladies) a transport back to Jaffna.

Next day, while we were on tour in Mullaittivu, we saw one of the busses that refused us was in real trouble. Near the beach where the ship Fara is shored, this bus had gone off road and bogged in sand. So many busses and people were around but no one was giving a serious help to rescue them. Our crowd led by our bus driver struggled for one hour and were able pulled back the bus to the road.

After their heart felt and non stopping thanks were over, I reminded their Nadee Gura that, on the previous evening, they refused to provide 6 of our group a transport on the lame excuse that they may not go back to Jaffna. Hope they would be more civilized in future!!!

While we were in Delft, the remaining members of our group had visited all places around Jaffna. So after a half hearted singing session, we wound up for the day.

DAY THREE

We started around 4 am to cover Mullaittivu area. An army soldier joined us just afte Paranthan by pre arrangement. As it was a long week end, so many vehicles were on the road and penetrating dust was like a pink mist. All places of interests were crowded and long queues were seen.

Our army escort is the youngest of a family of three boys. Eldest was an army officer killed in action. Second brother has lost him arm while in battle. Youngest has miraculously escaped any major injury and had lot of experience to share with us. His mother was decorated by Army for giving 3 boys to save the country.

Our war hero, who was aware of the fact that we were backed by a senior army officer took extra care to take us to all places worth visiting and used some influence too to bi-pass long queues!!!

Following are some photos taken while on the tour through the last battle field.

Suicide Boat

This is prison for LTTE carder

Crowd to see prison

Prison Cells

Not bad when compared to our cells.

First Bunker of Prabhakaran.

It looks like a normal brick walled building but walls are 4.5 feet thick. The underground was well equipped.

In the adjoining plot of land, a toy car used by Prabakaran’s younger son was mounted as an exhibit.

Long Queue to see the bunker

Toy car of Praba’s younger son.

Camouflaged as a brick wall

Inside the bunker

Vessel where Prabha kept his injections

The farm developed by Prabha is an extensive project launched with a mission. Presently the Army is maintaining it with same enthusiasm.

Click Image to Enlarge

Arecanut Plantation – We are importing it now.

Coconut – Rarity in Jaffna

Mango

King Coconut

Jack

Farm Products Sales Point

From this point onwards, we were passing an area where lot of abandoned vehicles and cycles could be seen.

abandoned vehicles

abandoned vehicles

abandoned vehicles

There was a huge crowd to see Prabhakaran’s main bunker. Even army found it difficult to control the mob. We were compelled to seek assistance of a senior army to visit the bunker through back door!!!!

That bunker has 4 levels down from ground level. It is constructed to withhold any attack and the entire bunker has been air conditioned. There is a separate emergency exit too. With the crowd, the place was suffocating.

Towards the bunker

Inside Level 1

Level 2

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Level 3

.	Emergency Exit

Our next stop was the swimming pool located in a different area. All places frequented by Prabha are strategically located in different areas.

Reaching Swimming Pool

Click Image to Enlarge

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The War Museum at Puthukkudiyiruppu is attractively arranged exhibition of warfare used by LTTE. The War Memorial constructed to mark the end of 30 years war too is located nearby. Army personnel took extra care to explain the exhibits in the museum.

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Boats and submarines

This huge torpedo was never used. It is believed that the incomplete structure of a bigger submarine found elsewhere was intended to launch this torpedo to destroy army personnel transport ship

Mounted Guns

“Muhudu Keelama” - Remote controlled submarine used for spy work

Prison cells used for our boys – Who talk about their human rights!!

War Memorial – He is looking at the direction where Prabha’s body was found

Red flag marking the place where Prabha’s body was found

Remains of soil walls

Incomplete Submarine

Incomplete Submarine

Dock made to test the submarine – This was built by using steel plates stripped out from the captured ship “Fara-3”

Our final destination was to the sea shore where the captured ship “Fara-3” is landed. The Army maintains a beer parlor and a canteen with other basic facilities at this point. We had our very late lunch there.

.	Fara -3 at a distance

Closer look – Stripped

Army Canteen

We left the place around 7 PM after helping to rescue a bus bogged in sand. We crossed Wadduwakal Causeway to reach Mullaittivu in growing darkness. It was pleasing to see local fishermen fishing under traditional torches in Nanthi Kadal Lagoon. For them, life has become normal.

Our army boy stopped at Mullattivu camp but a friend of him who wanted to go on leave to Galle joined us. He was the one who kept our driver awaken till the drive trough out the night. We came to Colombo in the morning of the Fourth day.

Every trip has a bad thing in common. IT ENDS!!!!!

On a small hillock overlooking the picturesque Hiyare Reservoir, surrounded by a beautiful low country tropical forest, lies a little haven for wildlife – The Hiyare Conservation Centre of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Galle.

Founded in 1993 in collaboration with the Maritime Museum of Galle, the society’s mission is “Conservation of nature through environmental education & research”. That mission has not been limited to just words, mind you. You can see some SERIOUS ACTION being taken from teaching the importance of conservation to school children, carrying workshops around the country on topics such as identification of snakes and what to do in case of snake-bites, to preserving and enlarging wildlife habitats of the Purple-Faced Leaf Lagurs, treatment, rehabilitation and responsible release of rescued wildlife at their animal hospital, and dedicated research such as the first in situ breeding program for frog Ramanella nagoi in Sri Lanka, and the Primate Research conducted at Sinharaja.. AND all this is all done by young volunteer staff with limited funds from the private sector, moved purely by their love for wildlife! This true volunteer spirit, dedication, determination and hard work have led to many important research discoveries, the most significant so far being the discovery of a new species of white monkeys from the Sinharaja Rain Forest. This white monkey is a color morph of the Southern Purple-faced Leaf Langur (Semnopithecus vetulus vetulus) and details of the research work can be found here

So what better place to visit if you are serious about conservation and want to instill the seed of conservation in kids?! With the completion of the Southern Highway and an entrance just minutes away from home, there was no excuse to put it off any longer. So off we went, one fine January morning.

The first thing that captivates you when you reach the top of the hillock where the center is located, is the tranquility and beauty of the place. The Hiyare Reservoir, a manmade reservoir once built to supply water to the city of Galle, is now a calm blue oasis surrounded by the green green Hiyare Rainforest – which is an extension of the Kottawa Khombala Forest Reserve.

The Galle Municipal Council should be truly commended for permitting the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle (WCSG) to establish their conservation center on this land, and their continuing support of the society and its work. This initiative by the Galle Municipal Council is a benchmark for other local authorities to work with the public and support conservation and education towards a greener society. Hopefully more municipals would follow.

The Conservation Center consists of the Animal hospital, and the Hiyare Biodiversity and Education Center which has a dormitory and library.

We had heard that it is good place to see snakes, but unluckily, the snakes had just been taken away for release on the day we arrived. However, the animal hospital alone was well worth the visit, as it had several “patients” we had never seen up close.

Rusty spotted Cat – Adult …who didn’t like being photographed much

This is the Cat family’s smallest member and found only in India and Sri Lanka. Listed as ” Vulnerable”by IUCN.

Wikipedia says “In Sri Lanka, the rusty-spotted cat is known as “Handun Diviya” or “Kola Diviya”. The terms ‘Handun Diviya’ and ‘Kola Diviya’ are also used by the local community to refer to the Fishing Cat. Both animals are nocturnal and elusive, and therefore it is difficult to determine, which cat is specifically referred to as ‘Handun Diviya’”

Asian Palm Civet (Uguduwa?) – Babies

There were five cuddled together – was very cute until one opened it’s mouth

sorry the right picture is blurry..he snarled at us and then quickly hid his face refusing to give me another chance

A baby hog deer (Gona muwa) who had a wound near the tail. The mom had been killed

I didn’t know hog-deer babies have spots like spotted-deer when they are small.

Mouse Deer (Meeminna) -the smallest of hoofed mammals. Quite a shy fellow

Southern Purple-faced Leaf monkey – Baby, awaiting release

An injured eagle (Juvenile Crested Serpent Eagle?)

Outside the hospital, a Ceylon Giant Squirrel (Dandu Lena) was busy savoring some coconuts. Talk about sharp teeth!

And they were “baby-sitting” this very curious mongoose for someone

In the grounds, an adult hog deer was roaming about in it’s cage – feeling a bit lonely it seems as a pair of “friends” had been taken away by the Dept just the other day for a breeding program..Apparently for the second time. It seems the first one wasn’t a success and the pair had died…. so let’s hope this one would be a success…

Finally it was time to explore the breathtaking and peaceful Hiyare reservoir. The boat ride was so calm and peaceful- A fitting finish to a wonderful morning.

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We were guided by Research Assitant Sampath Udugampola and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for showing us around, despite being understaffed that day. Special thanks to Nadika Hapuarachchi an Administrator of the Center and Lakdasun member for the kind quick arrangement! Do hope you will develop a way for people who visit the place and any others who want to help can contribute towards your conservation efforts, maintenance of the centre etc.

Continue the wonderful work guys!!
Please visit their facebook page also to see the great work.

The first day of our trip was spent for traveling From Colombo to Jaffna. We had no opportunity to visit any place on that day. We had reserved the second for the Delft visit. We arrived the KKD jetty at about 9.30 am. It was a long drive and it took about 1 and half hours on the bumpy roads.

There is a boat from KKD to Delft at 10 am. But we were not going to be on that boat. Since we were on kind of an official visit we were privileged to have a special Navy boat waiting for us. It was a high speed ‘Water Jet’. Normally it takes around 1 hour for the boat ride to Delft. But the Water Jet flew over the sea completing the journey in less than 20 minutes.

Delft is also known as “Nedunthivu” which means ‘The wide island’ in Tamil. Later it was named after an island in Netherlands as “Delft” by the Dutch rulers.

As soon as we got down from the boat at Delft, we noticed something unique all over the place. It was the walls (fences) made out of coral rocks. They were everywhere. They had not used any mixture to bind the rocks together, just placed the rocks on top of another. There was a plenty of these rock on the island. But it is illegal to sell or transport those. So the villagers have used them to build those unique rock fences

Rock fences made using corals

Pigeon Holes
Our first destination was the Pigeon Holes. It is situated near the DS office. It is a tower made out of the coral rocks. It has been used to rest and keep the pigeons which were used to send messages during the Dutch era. Once the message was tied to a leg of a pigeon, it had flied to Jaffna and returned after delivering the message. There might have been more pigeon holes but now this is the only one remaining.

Pigeon Holes

Pigeon Holes

Still in good shape…

Dutch Fortress
The fortress and the government hospital in Delft are situated in the same premises. So the visitors should get down from the vehicles near the hospital and walk through the hospital corridors to its backyard to see the Fortress.

This Fortress is not a bigger one. It is a smaller one mainly used as a watch tower and a prison. Now only two levels of it visible, but some say there had been 3 levels. The ground level has had no windows or ventilation and it had been used to store the gun powder and keep the prisoners. The upper level has large windows and had been used as watch tower. The entire Fortress is made out of the coral rocks. The walls are massive; width is about a good 4 feet to make sure it can survive an enemy attack. As I got to know these walls are called “The Pakeer walls”.

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Dutch Fortress

Dutch Fortress

A mixture of Aloe Vera, Palmyra juggery (තල් හකුරු) and some other things (which I cannot remember ) is used to bind the corals rocks together…

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Ruined Pagoda
There are ruins of a pagoda at Delft. It is on a bit of a higher ground, said to be the highest place in the whole island. The height of that place is just about 10-15 feet. It is believed that “Sanghamiththa thero” had rested at this place on her way to Dambakolapatuna while bringing the Sacred Bo tree. This is situated close to sea and has a nice panoramic view. From there the TV tower at Rameshwarama, India could be visible. Unfortunately my camera lens has not zooming capabilities to catch such distant thing.

The ruined pagoda. A proof that Buddhism was there on the island…

The ruined pagoda

Stunning view from the pagoda…

The view towards Rameshwaram, India

A television tower in Rameshwaram was barely visible on the horizon. But my lens had no enough zoom to capture it ….

Horse Stables
These stables are also the remains of the Dutch era. It is said that the Dutch rulers used Delft as a breeding place for their horses. They also had sent those horses to some other countries which were under their ruling. The stable has 64 pillars which had used to tie the horses; 32 on one side and another 32 on the opposite side. Its length is about 100 meters.

The ruined stable

The ruined stable

There are 64 pillars like this. Horses were tied to these pillars

There is another interesting thing very close to these stables. It is a very big foot step like shape engraved on the ground. It is called the “Giant’s foot step”. Some people believe it is the foot step of “Adam”.

The giant’s foot step…

Wild Horses
Wild Horses are the signature of Delft. These horses remain from the horses that were bred and sold by the Dutch. When the Dutch era was ended those horses were abandoned and remained in the wild. Now there is a quite a large horse population. It is said there are about 2000 horses in the island. But we were told that a lot of horses, about 10% of the population die every year due to the lack of water and food. So they are also in a threat of extinction.

Wild Horses are the signature of Delft

Wild Horses of Delft

Yes they ran pretty fast….

The Baobab Tree
As far as I know there are 3 famous Baobab trees in Sri Lanka. One of them is at Mannar, another one close to Mannar and the 3rd one at Delft. This strange looking tree is native to the eastern Africa and believed to be brought here by the Arabic traders during the 14th-16th centuries. It is also known as “The Upside Down Tree”. The reason for this name is its unusual shape.

The Baobab Tree of Delft

There is a nice folk story that describes how it grew upside down. According to the story, once the gods decided to give a tree for their use to each tribe on the earth. So various tribes were given various trees and this Baobab was given to the “Yaksha” tribe. But this “Yaksha” tribe was not an agricultural nation, so they had no idea how to plant it properly. So they planted it upside down, leaving the roots up and burying the trunk on the ground. And since then these trees grew upside down.

Doesn’t it look ‘upside down’…?

Spooky….

The Growing Stone
There is a coral stone on the island which is different from the others in its shape. It is 3-4 feet tall and stands vertically. People believe that it keeps growing and they worship it believing it has some connections to the gods.

The Growing Stone

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The Banyan Tree
This banyan tree is covering about 10-12 perch area. It is not a very rare thing to see such large banyan trees in Sri Lanka, but still this one is a bit significant to the Delft. It certainly is a very pleasant sight to see such large greenery on this dried up land. Another specialty of this tree is that its mother tree has died several years ago and now it only resting on its branch roots. So it is a huge tree with no main trunk.

The Banyan Tree

There is also a Hindu shrine near the banyan tree dedicated to the Lord Ganesh. The Shrine is called “Aalamawanam Kovil” which means the Shrine near the huge banyan forest. (“aala = banyan” + “ma = big” + “wanam = forest”)

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Though Delft is a pretty dry land, it is not lacking any beauty. The vast flat lands with the Palmyra trees, long rock fences, the sea and the blue skies had created some stunning landscapes on the island.

Landscapes of Delft

The longest rock fence on the island

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.	Rock fences, Palmyra, the sea and the blue sky…. Picturesque…

A village house…

A village scenery…

Traditional village house…

One of my friends, Kamal gave me this fascinating idea of visiting Pavuru Kanda Temple, which is located in Aviththawa, by boat and being always the travel and adventurous guy, I was immediately hooked.

Then I got 6 others and planned our journey on a Sunday. 3 of us set off from my hometown Nugegoda and reached Dehiwala around 8.10 am.
On the way we met one other guy in Panadura. Together we all reached Aluthgama around 9.30 am and joined 4 others.

Then we bought some bread (our friends had bought Fish and Polos Curry with them), plenty of water and some biscuits. They had also brought packets of boiled Jack with coconut sambol for lunch on my request. We called Kasun and met him at the pier of his hotel very close to Benthota Bridge.

We set off around 10.30 am which was a little too late for my liking. Along the mouth of the river and under the bridge we maintained about 20-30 km an hour.

Bentota Tourist Hotels and a boat seen from our boat

On the way we saw fishermen and their temporary shelters.

A lone fisherman staring at us

Another fisherman, we came across quite a few of them, they were very unhappy about the waves created by our boat

Temporary shelters of fishermen

We also passed a ferry service which runs across the Benthara River as there was no permanent bridge constructed as yet.

The Ferry

It was so hot and we had to put up the canvas roof and the cool breeze comes through mangroves kept us sane all along the journey together with some beautiful views. The mangrove looked simply gorgeous.

Gorgeous mangroves protecting the river bank

We also passed a tree with a very strange root coming out of the water.

Peculiar looking root sticking out

We came across cormorants and monitors. Unfortunately however might Kasun tried, we couldn’t see a crocodile. (However we were lucky to see a little croc which is owned by a person who shows it off near the edge of the river on a different tour we went around the mangroves – That report to follow later on)

Cormorant

Monitor

We kept nibbling at loaves of bread and pieces of Polos (my favorite) and fish. It was so humid and we drained most of our water nearly halfway.

Up the river we came up to the huge Bridge built across the river to make the Southern Expressway. At that stage, the highway was still being built so we came across some friendly-Sinhala-speaking Chinese workers who kept calling us “Hallo මචන් කොහොමද?”

Aluthgama bridge on the Southern Expressway being built then

From there we turned left and along a somewhat narrow canal like waterway, went further up and came reached our destination Mathugama-Aviththawa Road around 12.00.

We had to leave the boat there and walk about 1km up to the Entrance of the Hill which holds the temple and the famous cave complex.

The surrounding area was so picturesque and very remote even though it belongs to the Western Province. We reached the entrance to the mountain around 12.30 and immediately began our ascend.

Entrance to the Hill, a branch of the Veralu tree can be seen

Muragala at the entrance

Steps at the entrance

At the entrance there was a Veralu tree and we managed to pick some ripe one and munched on them on the way up. It’s not so known and there weren’t any others except us.

The pathway was almost in ruins as there hadn’t been any renovation work done.

Climbing up

All around the thick forest can be seen. We saw a small cave and on the was was written in Sinhala “පරිසරය සුරකිමු”.

The Writings on the rock wall “පරිසරය සුරකිමු”

Up and up we went and finally reached a big rock with steps carved in it. It was so steep; there was a railing to support the people to climb up.

Just reaching the top, this is the steepest bit

We met one of the monks who stay there. (There are only two and the chief monk was away that day). He was very friendly and told us that you there are snakes, hares and other animals live around the temple in the forest.

We reached the temple entrance and the board which gives you a description of the history of Pavuru Kanda and how the name Punchi Sri Pada was given.

Entrance to the temple

Notice of the Story related to this – Click image to Enlarge

We went it to the Pilima Ge Entrance, whose entrance has a pair of built Tuskers.

Tuskers at the entrance (almost real-like)

We saw a very old Bell tower and besides that the historical stone with the famous foot print and some lettering carved on the stone. This foot print was the reason for this temple to be called the Little Sri Pada.

Bell tower near

the famous foot print

Old stone writings

The entrance to the interior had typical Makara Thorana like design and a Buddha Statue inside.

Makara thorana-like entrance

the Buddha statue inside

Behind that the Stupa can be seen.

The Stupa

There’s a communication tower a bit further towards the edge of the hill and the view beyond that was magnificent.

The view near the communication tower…

Then we went to see the cave complex which housed nearly 400 people.

Roof of the cave complex

We left the temple around 2.30 and came our way back to the boat and started our return journey. It was still very hot but we didn’t want the canvas roof to be put.

Around 4.30 we reached the Pier and came back to Colombo by 7.00 pm.

It was such a marvelous journey coz it was the first time I went on such a long boat ride.

We started around 5.00 am on old new year day and arrived at Dambadeniya around 7.00 am. Our plan was to visit Dambadeniya Raja Maha Viharaya and the kingdom. But it was raining heavily and we gave up the idea andproceeded further and came to Panduwasnuwara around 8.30 am.

King Parakramabahu 1, set up his temporary capital in this city during the 12th centuary. At the entrance to the site is a six meter wide moat(A canal filled with water which ran around the castle, protecting it).

Six meter wide moat round the castle

Main entrance to the castle

It is believed that the throne was kept here

Ruins of a toilet of the palace

Ruins of the palace

Ruins of the palace

The restored temple of the tooth

Elaborately designed roof was restored around 1970s

There were more ruins scattered around the area. The circular area of ruins ‘එක් ටැම් ගේ’ are believed to be that of the high tower. Some believe that the princess Unmada Chithra was imprisoned here.

Ruins of an old temple

එක් ටැම් ගේ

From Panduwasnuwara we headed through Wariyapola and Padeniya to another ancient kingdom, Yapahuwa. The last king of Dambadeniya era, King Buwanekabahu moved from Dambadeniya to Yapahuwa for security issues, during 13th century.

Yapahuwa is a huge rock fortress similar in concept to Sigiriya. This fortress is protected by two sets of moats, the outer moat and the inner moat.

outer moat

Inner moat

The ornamental stone stairway is the most attractive show piece of Yapahuwa. These steps are narrow and very steep. This was a form of defense, the steps can neither be ascended nor descended hastily.

Rock fortress and the steep stairway

Ornamental stairway

‘Yapahuwa Lion’ stone sculpture, the only ones of its kind in the country is seen on this stairway.The only other place where you can see this lion is the ten rupee note.

Yapahuwa lion

Yapahuwa lion in ten rupee note

Ruins of Raja Sabawa – where the king meets cabinet of Ministers

From Yapahuwa we came back to Anuradhapura road and proceeded towards Thambuttegama. Traveling about 4 KM from Galgamuwa junction we came to another ancient temple named Buduruwakanda. There were several caves and most interesting one was the huge Buddha statue which is 84 feet tall.

A cave

84 feet tall Buddha statue

The trap rock is an evident of having a kingdom in this premises.

Trap rock

Statue of King Valagambahu

From Buduruwakanda we proceeded to Rajanganaya. The dam which is 4093 meters long was built across the Kala Oya in 1950

Rajanganaya Dam

Only two gates were open

From Rajanganaya we headed to Wilpaththu through Thambuttegama and Nochchiyagama. We stayed at LLT Tourist INN

Next day early morning by 6.15 am we were at the park entrance.

Park entrance

Hidden behind

Blooming flowers as the early morning sun rises

Jungle fowls

After passing the Nelum Vila the driver stopped the jeep suddenly to see a leopard coming out from the jungle. It seems he preferred the road as he walked along the road for about twenty minutes with us. But never turned back for us to get a good capture. We went behind him keeping a fair distance.

Came out from the jungle

He was walking along the road and did not stop at any time

Did not even bother to see who is coming behind

After about twenty minutes of walking he crept into the shrub and vanished.

From there we proceeded to Kudiramale. After passing Kali villu we met the old Mannar Road at Maila Villu where there was a Navy check point.

Maila Villu Navy check point on Mannar road

Old Mannar Road

Few meters travelling on Old Mannar road we crossed to reach the new Manner road. It is sad to see the massive destructionscarried out by authorities in the name of ‘development’. Even a helipad had been constructed on new costal road.

Massive destructions of the forest

Helipad on new Mannar road

From here we straight away proceeded to Kudiramale where King Vijaya landed to Sri Lanka, who was banished from North India. Vijaya has named this place as Thambapanni due to the peculiar red colour of earth in this area. The colour of soil is due to high content of Ferric (iron)

History of Kudiramale is well written here – Click Image to Enlarge

Kudiramale beech

Peculiar colour of soil

A closer look

After spending about one hour at Kudiramale we started the return journey. We visited Kuweni’s palace and there wasn’t much ruins except for few pillars.

Kuweni’s palace

Missed out from the herd

After about ten minutes drive from the Kuweni’s palace the tracker stopped the jeep as he spotted another leopard hidden inside a bush.

.

.

We switched off the engine and stayed for about fifteen minutes but he was unmoved. Our tracker said that it may be the same leopard that we saw in the morning, although the locations were different.

Then we came across a giant, but the moment he saw the jeep, started charging towards us and we quickly moved out. While the driver was raising the jeep we turned back to see the giant and he was still chasing furiously and his target was something else.

Mad run

There was another elephant seen at a fair distance

Just missed the dance

It was almost 6.30 pm when we reached the park entrance.

Next day morning we started moving to our next destination, Kalpitiya.

Anuradhapura/Puttalam A12road was in excellent shape. We stopped at two places on our way to Kalpitiya. The first stop was the Holcim Cement Factory at Palavi. You need to get prior permission to visit this place.

A12 Road in excellent condition

Holcim Cement Factory

This is one of the largest factories of the country and it produce 70,000 bags of cement in a day. But still fulfills only one third of the country’s requirement. We had a full tour inside the factory and they demonstrated all processes, until a 50 Kg bag of cement comes out and loaded into the lorry. Photographs were not allowed inside and we managed to take few pictures from outside the factory.

Holcim factory

Holcim factory

From Palaviya we turned towards Kalpitiya and on our way we made a brief stop at Thalawila St. Anne’s Church. This is the oldest Catholic church in Sri Lanka.

St. Anne’s Church

St. Anne’s Church

Then we proceeded to Kalpitiya and stayed in a private houseat Kandakuli. Having a late lunch at 5 PM, we went to Kandakuli lagoon for a cool dip.

Cool dip in Kandhakuli lagoon

Sun set at Kandhakuli lagoon

Next day we went on whale and dolphin watching. Owner of the boat was Francis, very helpful guy. But only weakness is he tries to get very close, whenever a whale is spotted. With great difficulty I managed to keep him at a reasonable distance. We sailed from Kandakuli lagoon.

Beauty of Kandakuli beech

Francis looking for whales and dolphins while riding the boat

First glimpse of a Whale

very close

Blowing simultaneously

Moving with us

Same pair

Pfuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Good bye

Few interesting videos of Dolphins taken during this tour

White water rafting is a very famous, challenging, recreational adventure sport in Sri Lanka. I’m sure most of Lakdasun fans have experienced this adventure sport some day in your life. But I couldn’t find any report in Lakdasun related to this. So I decided to write a report on the time.

Usually I go on two annual trips with my school mates. The objectives of this trip is as a get together event, to memorize our good old days, buildup the relationship, share our latest updates, etc…. These two annual trips consist of 1 single day trip and 1 three day trip. This is our one day trip for 2012. For this trip we didn’t have a huge preparation process. One week prior to the trip we decided the place and informed everyone. But this time 1/3 of our usual members couldn’t join due to their personal urgencies.

Sorrowful news for all Rafting lovers….
We had a special reason to select rafting this year. One of our trip participants who works at Laxapana Power Generation complex as an Engineer told us white water rafting will not last long because CEB has already started the Broadlands Hydro power project which is the last hydropower project in Kelani River. The dam is going to be constructed up stream to the place where we usually start rafting, and water will be directed to a power plant which will be located in Kithulgala through a tunnel. Therefore in between the dam and the power plant, there will not be enough water for rafting thereafter. I know this is shocking news for all rafting fans, but this is unavoidable. Hence we decided to go for rafting this time – not waiting till the last moment.

We had breakfast somewhere closer to Karawanella and by 10.00AM we were at Kithulgala. This time our provider was Called ‘Team 39’ which is exactly located at 39th Km post. While we were changing, boats were prepared. We were provided with 2 boats. There were 2 other groups also, and they were given 3 boats. All the 5 boats went on rafting together.

Five Major Rapids….
The usual 5km stretch that we do rafting includes a series of rapids under category 2 and 3. This stretch covers five major rapids. As I heard from several sources the current English names of these rapids were introduced in recent past with the popularization of white water rafting as a commercial adventure sport. But before that there were Sinhala names for each rapid. Below I have mentioned both the names in the order of from top to bottom of the river and each rapid has its own distinctive character as their name explains. The names are;

1. Virgin’s Breast – කොස් අත්ත ඇල්ල
2. Butter Crunch – හැතැම්ම වල
3. Killer Fall – වී කොටන ඇල්ල
4. White Water – කන්ද කැටිය ඇල්ල (Which is underneath the newly constructed bridge)
5. Head Chopper – මැටි හක්ක ඇල්ල

This exciting journey takes 1 to 1.5 hours to finish the entire stretch. It includes rafting on white water, rafting on flat water, swimming in more than 30ft deep water (it’s optional, some even say the river is 60ft deep at that stretch, but I could not validate this).

We went to the starting place in a lorry with five boats. There we got a comprehensive safety briefing and necessary instructions were given at the starting point with 10minutes training session on how to follow the instructions. I can still remember some of them like;

• Right forward – left back
• Hold the rope
• Forward all
• Relax, etc.

It was like cadet training during school days.

Ready to GO…

View of the starting location

Rehearsal

By the time we started the journey a rain started and it added a lot more fun to us. However it disappeared in 5 – 10 minutes, and we slowly reached to our first rapid of the journey. It is a small rapid called “Teaser”. It is a good experience for everyone to prepare for the upcoming major rapids. Then we came to the first major rapid which is called “Virgin’s Breast”. Everyone carefully followed the instructions. But with the force of water we all got excited and shouted which added more fun. All 5 boats managed to pass that without anyone falling to the water. With the thrill and excitement we all rowed with our full energy and were able to pass the “Butter Crunch” without any big damage. When it came to rough waters, everybody were excited and trying hard to keep the boat in the right direction.

But our instructor said next one is not easy like these two. It is one of the dangerous rapids called “Killer Fall”. As it name explains it is dangerous; Because it directly drops in to a big pool of water, which must be so deep. Instructor gave all possible instructions to keep boat on the right direction. If I say in Sinhala, I have to say that we “දන්න වැඩ ඔක්කොම දාල පැද්දා” but she was not kind enough to help us to survive. Our boat dropped to the pool with the push of the strong currents and we just remember us being inside the white water for a couple of seconds – which felt like hours. Luckily we were not thrown out of the boat, but some first time rafters were shocked and frightened.

Managed to Survive

Survived, But 1 fallen in the to the boat

Killer Fall as it explains

Bridge on the River Kwai….
With the thrill of “Killer Fall” then we came to another significant place in the Kelani river. It is a scenic location which was used for the film “Bridge on the River Kwai” filmed in 1956 based on book “The Bridge over the River Kwai” by Pierre Boulle. It won seven Oscars awards at that time.

The Stories of River Kwai Bridge….
There is a nice story related to this bridge. Initially when the film crew built the bridge the villagers thought it is for permanent use. They didn’t know that this was going to be destroyed. So the villagers gave their fullest support to build this bridge. However when they got to know that the bridge was going to be bombed they were very upset; because they never thought such a giant bridge will be destroyed.

The actual explosion was to be done on 10 March 1957 with the presence of some government delegates including the speaker. (According to Wikipedia S.W.R.D. Bandaranayake was also present for this occasion. But I’m not sure about the accuracy of that, because at that time he was the Prime minister of Sri Lanka.) The film producers wanted to shoot the scene of carriages falling in to the river. So they had to get a special approval from the government to use some abundant carriages from CGR. Therefore these government delegates have been invited as honor to this occasion. In those days they didn’t have technology and camera tricks like today. So there were 4 cameramen filming the scene from 4 different angles. Everything was ready and train came over the bridge. However one cameramen was unable to get out of the way of the explosion in time, and they had to stop the explosion. So the train ran and hit into a generator on the other side of the bridge and that side of the bridge was wrecked. Then they repaired the bridge again to be blown up the next morning. The second time – it was successful. If you are an experienced diver, on a clear sunny day you could even dive in the river to see the carriages of the train and remains of the actual bridge. It is a nice place and you can see the base prints of the Bridge even today. (More info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai)

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Actual Bridge they built

After visiting the remains of the bridge we rowed towards the next rapid. It is “White Water”. It is quite a lengthy rapid compared to the others and can be seen from newly constructed bridge. It was so hard to manage the boat and keep the balance of ourselves with the force of water. Boat went and hit on a rock and several friends were fallen off the boat. They were under the water for several seconds but later they were able to hold our peddles and we managed to pull them to the boats.

Exciting Rapids

Forward – hard…

Trying to avoid the Rock

Hit on the Rock and 1 fallen

He is here….

Hit on the Other side of the Rock and 3 of us on water

After all these obstacles we came to the last major rapid of the journey. It is “Head Chopper” which is another dangerous rapid. Suddenly a big wave hit the boat from a side and 1 buddy fallen off the boat again. But we couldn’t do anything this time to help him as our boat was moving fast. After passing the rapid we waited until he comes to the boat. Luckily no one got injuries by hitting on rock during the rapid. Wearing helmets and life jackets properly helped us survive.

Then we came to an area where we had flat water. Since we have 5 boats, instructors suggested having a boat race for next 400m – 500m. All boats were lined up and with the signal of one instructor we started the race. We all rowed with our fullest strength, more than the speed of the boat, I think everyone shouted to their best. It was a tough race with first 3 boats and finally we were able to win the race. By the time we finished the race all were very tired.

Since it was calm water we were asked to jump from the boat and swim or float on water. People who have the courage to swim on deep water can do it. Some people who cannot swim were scared to jump. But you don’t have to be a swimmer; because life jackets will keep you floating. Finally everyone got in to the water which is deeper than 30ft. and swam. Actually it was free floating. It added a lot more fun and everyone enjoyed it very well. There is a method of floating with life jackets. You don’t need to do anything. Just freely lay on the water like a dead body by putting your feet towards the downstream. It is the easiest and safest method because even if you hit on any rock or something your head is still safe.

He Hee I’m here…

School Day Friendship…..

After that we got in to the boats again and slowly came to the destination. By that time the lorry had come to pick us from there. But our trip was not finished. There were two more activities to be done.

Those are;

• Confidence Jump and
• Sliding

For that we needed to go to “Kataran Oya” which is a sub river of Kelani river. We all got in to the lorry and we were taken towards the uphill and got down some where parallel to the “White Water” rapid and walked in to the jungle. It was 20 minutes’ walk and you need to cross the Kelani river right over the “White Water” rapid. While we were walking we could see other groups passing the “White Water” rapid. It was a fantastic view from the bridge.

Entering to the White Water….

Wow…

In few more Seconds….

Yes…nothing else can be expected

Survived

Then we came to the place where we do sliding and jumping. The place is called “Kataran Wala” where you can slide down an inclined 05 meter water fall with safety gear, in to the rock pool. By the time we went there it was very slippery on rocks due to the rain. So you need to be very careful because if you fall on a rock you might even break your legs/arms. Anyway these two activities are very dangerous and risky. So you have an option not to do those.

First we did the sliding and then did the confidence jump. First time everyone feared to do it, but Sliding down an inclined waterfall is definitely fun and then people were fighting for the next turn. Some of us did it upside down as well. But it is more risky because you have less control and if your head hit on a rock even with helmet there will be damages with the speed of sliding.

Kataaran Oya

What is this? Ahh..

.	UP side DOWN

Ohhh….

After having fun of 15 – 20 minutes we all moved for the confidence jump. There are 2 adjacent rock pools for the jump which is about 20 ft deeper. The water is very dark on the pool. It was a really challenging event to check your potentials.

Jumping to the SMALL Pool

Challenging potentials (Taken from the previous Trip)

Jumping to the BIG Pool (Taken from the previous Trip)

It was an unforgettable experience with loads of fun, thrill, etc. simply we had an awesome time over here. It was FANTASTIC!!

Note: This was my 3rd rafting experience and all 3 times I went for 3 different providers
Namely;

• Rafters Retreat
• Ceylon Adventure
• Team 39

There are pros and cons of each provider. It is not ethical to compare here because all of them helped me a lot to gather above information which most of us never heard before and I really enjoyed all 3 trips to maximum. But in general I would say Ceylon Adventure has more activities than other two.

Some of the information – especially related to the “Bridge on the River Kwai” is a bit doubtful. But I heard that there are few villagers still alive who actively participated to build this bridge. But I didn’t have a time to meet them. I couldn’t find any written document related to this and with the Broadlands Hydro Power Project rafting will come to an end and all these stories will become history. Therefore it is really appreciated if anybody can gather that firsthand information and correct the above if those are wrong.

Special Thanks Should goes to

• Mr. Channa Perera (Rafters Retreat)
• Mr. Priyantha (Ceylon Adventure, He is a very helpful person and he is the person who gave me those Sinhala terms for all five rapids)
• Mr. Ravi (Team 39)

Thanks for reading this and will meet you with another great adventure…..

Every year, Tharaka (one of my best friends) and his family go on their annual trip after the New Year and I’ve been with them number of times.

This time the trip was very special coz his father had managed to get permission for us to visit the war remains in the north and even before the trip we were highly excited.

Day 01 – Kataragama / Yala

So on the 15th morning, we (highly excited bunch) left Colombo around 5.30 am. There was ample room in the van since it was only 7 of us (including the driver) and soon we reached Ratnapura and stopped for Breakfast.

Kadala, String Hoppers, Red Rice with Kiri Hodi, Sambola and Fish may sound like a feast as we wolfed down the food.

Then we reached Udawalawa and stopped around the park to take the breath taking view of the reservoir in.

Udawalawe Reservoir

By lunch time, we reached our Hotel and rested till about 2.00 pm. Then it was time for a safari to Yala. However, a peacock had decided to welcome us by giving his wonderful dance in front of our hotel and it really was an amazing thing to watch.

On our way to Yala, we saw the beautiful and majestic Tissamaharama Stupa, and it looked simply stunning paddy fields surrounding.

Peacock welcome dance near the hotel

Tissa Chaithya

We first visited the Yala Museum which houses a lot of preserved animals, skeletons and bones.

Croc skeleton on display

Preserved Leopard

Me in front of a Python skeleton

Then it was all around Yala, however we came across a very few animals as it was late afternoon.

First Peacock we saw

Yala tank (Buthawa)

Very few deers… coz of the late afternoon

One of many colourful birdies

However, to our surprise we came across only the one elephant and I was really worried as the number of elephants in SL decreasing rapidly.

One and Only Elephant, I was really worried

Tsunami Memorial at the Yala beach

After a wonderful safari we came to the hotel and changed into clean, white clothes to go to Kiri Vehera.

What a beautiful sight

Lovely

It’s really beautiful in the night. (First night – Kataragama)

Day 02 – Arugam Bay / Muhudu Maha Viharaya / Deegavapi

Early morning we set off via Buttala to Arugam Bay, one of the most popular beaches in the whole world, especially for surfing. On our way along Kataragama-Buttala road, there was this baby Elephant at the edge of the road and he was so cute and we stopped to give our remaining fruit from the Pooja Wattiya.

Hungry Baby elephant on Yala-Buttala road

Not so picturesque

Arugambay…scorching hot

After that, we went to see Muhudu Maha Viharaya in Potuvil. It was very sad to see the condition there as the neighbors (non-buddhists) are extremely hostile to the temple and the monks live there. The only monk who was there said that no one sees about the threats made to him and the temple by those religious fanatics living in the neighborhood.

Muhudu Maha Viharaya sing board is at the temple coz of those …..

Only the board is there but no one to protect our heritage – Click Image to Enlarge

Ancient ruins in the temple

Lord Buddha statue

Even the road to the temple is blocked using paddy and we had to drive over them to the temple. So if you go to see this temple, don’t ever ask the road to the temple by people nearby, get directions from the police officers on duty because you might be misled by them.

They have even removed the huge banner giving directions to the temple displayed on the main road.

It’s really sad any of our politicians those who boast about Dharma Rajya and all don’t even acknowledge these kind of things happening right here in Sri Lanka. I hope this article will open those blind eyes and necessary steps will be taken to safeguard our temples and ancient places especially in the east.

Our next stop was Deegavapi, another holy place abused by those religious fanatics and taken over its land by force and political influence.

Entrance to Deegavapi

Deegavapi Chaithya

Tharaka, me and our driver Ruwan (from L to R)

We were even informed in the 1950s; the chief monk was shot dead by one of those.

Recently built Budu Medura

ඇත් පවුර, along the wall…

Then our stop was Daybridge Hotel near Kallady Bridge where we bunked down for the night. It was very good and reasonable with clean rooms. (Second night – Batti)

Day 03 – Passikudah

We left and reached very beautiful yet not so well-known Pasikudah beach. We even managed a boat ride for 500/-.

Pasikudah

Boat ride

Our crowd except me

Lone fisherman

We were dog tired after all this and slept like logs. (Third night – Batti)

Day 04 – Seruwawila / Nilaweli

We went further up the north bound highway and reached Seruwawila on the way, yet another Buddhist holy place.

Temporarily built bridge

A hut built by the army to rest and eat

Kovil on the rock

Seruwawila…

Ruins all around

Still solid looking

Old pond

Rare Budu Medura

Chaithya up close

Chaithya up close

.

After that we reached our rented house near Nilaweli Beach (famous Pigeon Island nearby) and went for a dip in the sea. (Fourth night – Trinco)

Day 05 – Thiriyaya / Arisi Malai / Koneshwaram / Kinniya / Wilgamwehera / Pigeon Island

Early morning we went to Thiriyaya further up the road towards Pulmuddai.

Newly built bridges are a common sight in the east

Just caught

Along the way, we came across a giant snake (Polanga) that was killed trying to attack a police officer in a bunker during the night. An army soldier had shot it with a T-56 rifle twice to kill the fellow.

Deadly dangerous, see the bullet wound on the head

Thiriyaya is where the first Stupa in Sri Lanka (Girihadu Seya) is located. This area was under attack by the terrorists, however SL Navy valiantly fought for its safety.

Just plucked from the tank…

Click Image to Enlarge

.	Stone bridge

Tank…

Very very old

Pariwara Chaithya

Basin….used for?

Entrance to the Girihadu Seya

There are entrances from all 4 corners

Girihadu Seya (first in SL)

Pond on top of the hill

Afterwards we visited Arisi Malai beach, the meaning of Arisi in Tamil is Rice and Malai is Hill. So Arisi Malai means Rice Hill. This was probably due to the shape of the sand on the beach there, like rice grains.

Arisimalai beach

The black sand is used at the Ilmanite factory at Pulmuddai

Then we went to famous Koneshwaram Kovil and Kinniya Hot wells.

Baby deer near the Koneshwaram Kovil

Beautiful lock split…

Koneshwaram Kovil (my first time)

Lots of statues of gods and goddesses

Near the entrance

Must have been a risky job placing this at the very edge

Me and Tharaka (best friends)

Can see a boat coming in

All around beautiful colours

Afterwards, we visited Wilgamwehera, another Buddhist ancient sacred cities in the east.

Wilgamwehera

So many signs of our prosperity

Quite a complex

Buddha Statue

Very famous and popular Kinniya hot wells….

Trinco Beach near the main bus stand

Fresh fish

We came back to the house around 3.30 pm and immediately set off to the pigeon island in a rented boat of the Pigeon Island hotel. That was a marvelous place and we came back to the hotel around 7.00 pm.

Not so far away

Near by other small islands

.	Rock hugging

You can see millions of CaCO3

For supper, we had giant prawns which tasted so much. (Fifth night – Trinco)

This has been a dream of mine for a so long ever since I saw an ad by SL Navy on a newspaper and had been hoping against hope to go there.

Trip reports by Lakdasun subscribers have been greatly helpful especially finding the hotel, Four Tees Inn, which was a wonderful place and met all my expectations.

However, after a lot of effort finally managed to gather two of my best friends Podi and Dimuthu for the 2-day journey on 29 September.

I booked the Train tickets about 4 days before and managed 3 seats for 6.50 am Intercity Train to Medawachchiya. There’s another train leaving at 5.45 am but slower.

Off to a happy and fast start

However, we got delayed more than I could’ve condoned at Veyangoda and some other places due to signals and got to Medawachchiya around 11.50 am (more than an hour delay)

Gosh, this thing is not moving…

One after the other was waiting to be cleared by the ever so slow signal system

Got a partial view of the giant Buddha statue in Kurunegala

So we missed the 11.00 am bus to Mannar and had to wait till 1.30 pm for another bus, the buses were very rare coz it was a Poya day.

Anyway the bus we got into was virtually flying and reached Mannar around 3.00 pm. I then called Jude at Four Tees Inn and got the directions. You can take any bus passing Thoddaveli or Erukkalampiddy (Mannar – Pesalai or Mannar – Talai Mannar are the quickest) and get off at Thoddaveli (Anjan Kattei Junction).

This is a four-street junction the direct road leads to Pesalai and Talai Manar. To your right is the Erukkalampiddy.
We took the right which had been a gravel road but now being carpeted and went about 700m till we meet the Four Tees Inn which is right next to the Thoddaveli Station.

Four Tees Inn

Now the former railway track from Medawachchiya to Talai Mannar is being rebuilt and it might take another year or so. When it does it would be so much easy to travel.

It was almost 4 pm when we reached the hotel and was feeling ravenous. Jude very kindly offered to make lunch and prepared a grand meal in record time with delicious prawns.

Murunga is abundant in Mannar

Thal is what they call “Kapruka” in the North… like Coconut to us

After a long bath (I must say the water was not what I expected. I actually thought it would be salty and feel strange on your skin but for my utmost joy it wasn’t so. I guess they do a very good job of a continuous supply of running water even though the power supply is not consistent. However we always drank bottled water coz you get that funny taste, even the hotel gives you bottled water)

Mango is yet anothe common sight in Mannar

Different kinds… all in the hotel’s garden

As soon as we finished our meal, I decided to go for a walk up to the lagoon coz we had about 1.5-2 hours of daylight remaining and didn’t wanna waste one minute of it.

However, I got how the name of the hotel (Four Tees Inn) came about while chatting with Jude. Mr. Lawrence, the owner, has 4 daughters whose names start with “T”. So he has named the Hotel after those 4 Ts.

Remeber the story of the name???

If you go further down the road where the hotel is, you can go down to the beach and it’d be ideal to watch the sunset, unfortunately we had no time and a way to go there. It’s about 2km to the beach, you had better take a vehicle coz the road is extremely dusty.

So we checked the Thoddaveli station which is now in ruins but will be rebuilt to her former glory very soon.

Old Thoddaveli station in ruins…. but can see the recently dug earth for the new railway line

Ticket counter of the station….

Not a train in sight… but soon will be

Very old and destroyed buildings still are a common sight

Along the road we went up to the main road and next to it the lagoon, a strikingly beautiful place to sit and relax in the evening. Along the way we met a bullock cart which nowadays hard to come by.

Bullock cart

The lagoon was looking majestically in the evening sun and we took loads of pics and then headed down the road across the lagoon towards Erukkalmapiddy.

Lagoon….

That’s the causeway which links Erukkalampiddy to mainland Mannar island

Mother and son watching us cautiously

More to go…

About halfway I noticed a few donkeys, typical sight in North western coastal area of SL. I managed a rare pic of a baby donkey drinking milk from his mother.

Common as ever

Rare seen, my first glimpse of something like this among donkeys

About halfway down the road, we came across fishermen who were doing shallow water fishing using tiny nets. They can catch small fish like “Para Patau, Morallo, etc”

Morallo fish

Para Patau, 10 of these were just 50/-

Just caught

I could also take a pic of an octopus which was in gorgeous pink. You wouldn’t believe the price of fish there. One little boy and his brother paid Rs. 50/- for 10 fish (I understand those were medium size Para Patau and in Colombo the cost would be about 500/-).

Little visitor to the lagoon

So we came back to the hotel around 6.45 pm and had yet another wash. However I must say the weather in Mannar (even though many tend to think quite harsh) was a darn sight better than Colombo nowadays

Strikingly beautiful

Colourful

It gets so hot in Colombo even in the night but in Mannar it was nice and balmy.

We had delicious Pittu with cuttle fish, home grown Murunga and Sambola. This was the night SL took on WI in their 2nd super eight match however we turned down Mr. Lawrence offer to watch the match as we had to wake up early morning the following day. (However SL had crushed WI in grand style and eased into semis)

We got up around 5.00 am in the morning and up and running by 5.30 am. We reached the Thoddaveli junction to wait for a Talai Mannar bus.

Talai Mannar Bus stop, still about 1.5 km to the pier

It took nearly 1 hour before we took on Colombo-Talai Mannar bus, however managed to reach the pier by 7.00 am.

Talai Mannar light house

It says it all – Click Image to Enlarge

Definitely eligible

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To our dismay, the weather looked a bit rough and the Navy informed us we might not be able to do the trip today. Would you believe the frustration having traveled nearly 10-11 hours from Colombo yet not being able to reach your goal?

Nevertheless, I was ever so hopeful coz the nature has so far never let me down. I do hope it will be the case forever. I was silently asking the nature to allow us go on this journey.

Pier and the craft that we go in

Sky was gloomy

While waiting there another bus load of 18 people joined us.

After about 8.45 am, the navy personnel started moving the boats that carry people and I was overjoyed

Hurrahhhhhhhh…..finally….nature hasn’t let me down this time either

We even help them get the boats into the water soon. Then we bought our tickets (600/- per head) and Navy gave some snacks too.

Waiting anxiously

Pic of the ticket – Click Image to Enlarge

Anyway the sea still looked a bit rough and we could feel the boat maneuvering through long waves and we got sea wet a bit too. Due to that my camera was useless as I didn’t wanna take a chance with sea water.

We traveled about 30-40 mins and reached one of the islands of Adam’s Bridge

First sight of the island

This is our boat and the crew

That really was a wonderful experience and we had a great time exploring the tiny islet.

Nice…

Who would’ve thought about flowers?

Apparently a fishing hut where they come and rest

They were beautiful drawings of sand done by the waves and the winds.

Wind is the artist

Crab artists at work

Please don’t pluck these and try to take home….

Yeah, Sri was there

We saw schools of small fish and nice plants along the sand.

Dimuthu came across a crab which was fairly big and it was playing with us for sometime.

Here comes our friend

Measuring us up

Ready to take on

I got hold of the fellow and took some nice pics and finally when I let him go, he wouldn’t go and bury in sand, instead still watching us I guess enjoying our small encounter

Finally got the fellow

Beautiful

Rare pics

Fellow was thrown to the beach by the waves, couldn’t save the fellow though

Leave only foot prints….

After about 45 mins on the island it was time to go back. We reached the pier around 11 am and hurried back to the hotel as I was planning on catching Colombo bound train at Medawachchiya at 3.30 pm.

We went and had a quick wash and lunch, and bid our farewell to Jude. The total bill came to Rs. 4,070/- for the 3 of us with the room and 3 meals apiece which was really cheap.

Me, Jude and Podi….

However when we reached Mannar town it was 2.10 pm and had to give up trying to catch the train, instead we took a bus to Dambulla and reached there about 6.00 pm and had egg hoppers and coffee.

Then took a bus to Colombo and it was 10.30 pm we reached Pettah.

That was a brilliant trip and I guess if given half a chance, nobody should miss the chance to visit there.

Jaffna was a place from my childhood – a place that had happy memories of unrestricted travel within the peninsula and meeting loads of friendly people. Language was never a barrier as my limited Tamil with lots of gestures managed to get what I wanted! But that was in early 1970s.

Four decades later I was back in Jaffna – more a trip down the memory lane with a whole lot of new discoveries. As is usually the case unexpected was the best as there were no memories for comparison.

We stayed at SLAF Pebble Beach holiday home. This can be obtained only through SLAF and a SLAF officer has to be a member of the party. Place was heavenly……..

SLAF Pebble Beach Chalets

SLAF Pebble Beach Chalets – there are two

Sunrise from the North of Sri Lanka……….

And sunset in the North coast…..

Re exploring Jaffna resulted in mixed feelings and memories……… I guess one can’t really go back in time

Jaffna Railway Station – today

After an exhaustive trip it was time to return. Our last stop was scheduled to be the Nilavarai bottomless well……

Nilavarai bottomless well

එබී බලන්…..

Mission accomplished and we got in to the vehicles to head back home when my son felt that we MUST visit Fort Hammenheil. A call to friend in the Navy and we were on our way to Karainagar!!!

I am pretty sure that the road marked up to the end of the Ponnalai Causeway is correct but I am not very sure about the road we travelled in Karainagar to reach SLNS Elara

The drive along the northern coastal belt was fantastic!

The Jaffna lagoon – from the peninsula

Life goes on ……….

Somewhere along the road

Landscaped by nature

Stolen dreams….

Towards Karainagar

The gods that returned

The Ponnalai Causeway links the peninsula with Karainagar

The Ponnalai Causeway

A solitary fisherman

Along the causeway

Along the causeway

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Standing alone……..

The Good Earth

Fort Hammenheil can be reached only by boat and our port of call was SLNS Elara in Karainagar

At SLNS Elara

The northern coastal line with Fort Hammenheil in the distance

Quote:

“Fortaleza do Caes’, occupying a tiny island between Kayts and Karainnagar -was built by the Portuguese in the mid 17th century to guard the passage by water, which led to the Jaffna Castle-Fort. In March 1658, the Portuguese were forced to abandon their posts in the Fort, following the Dutch siege. The Fort was acquired only following a fortnight of heavy bombardment from the shores which had caused heavy damage to the wooden rain water tank. The defenses in the Fort had fallen at that point, as it was the sole fresh water source in the island.

Although renamed Fort Hammenheil (Heel –of- Ham, which the Dutch thought Lanka resembled), the Dutch had preserved the Portuguese masonry pattern inclusive of eight sides. They also did nothing to correct the Fort’s weak point – the water tank – and the insecure fresh water supply was the falling factor of the Dutch too and in 1795 the Hammenheil fort fell into the hands of the British.

After the British left the Sri Lankan shores, the fort served as a high security prison. Following the bloody insurrection that claimed many young lives in 1970, rebel leader Rohana Wijeweera and 12 other rebels were detained at Fort Hammenheil. To this day, words of the rebels can be seen in their cells….”

-From my readings of whatever I could find on the Fort

The Fort from SLNS Elara (zoomed)

Fishing in less troubled waters

Kayts

And finally, Fort Hammenheil……..

Fort Hammenheil until very recently served as a correction facility for Naval personnel. The fort is the domain of Sri Lanka Naval Ship (SLNS) Elara, the very first naval base in Jaffna, located on Karainagar Island.

The Fort was to be transformed in to a Tourist hotel/attraction and the final transitional changes were taking place when we visited it. The Navy has done a superb job in converting the Fort to a hotel with all modern facilities while preserving its original status.

The Ramparts

The Ramparts

Octagonal in shape, the Fort occupies the entire island

The only entrance – may have been a point of no return to some…….

The only entrance

As you enter…The bo tree is a remnant of the Navy correctional facility

Prison

Prison
“Of all the crimes that man commits to go to prison, in most cases our decision to keep him there is worse.”
Source: Prison Poems – Poems about Prison www.FamilyFriendPoems.com

Or is it:
“A payment for taking away another man’s time/family and/or means of support”

Cell No 4

Inside cell No 4. This is supposed to be the hottest of all the cells due to the sulphur in the walls

The cell wall had writing on their walls; some could still be read clearly. These could most likely have been written by Rohan Wijeweera and/ or his comrades. The writings in all cells and the style of language are similar, so much so that it could well be one person writing all of it.

Though no more, thus they speak across the years……….

In cell 1, the writing addresses the Commissioners and talks about individual and private property. – Click Image to Enlarge

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Cell No 3 – Currently being sort of refurbished for anyone who wants to experience the prison life

But my favourite was:

සදාදරණීය හැමන්හීල්…. “Beloved Hammenheil, for the last time….” – Click Image to Enlarge

“Heads” in Navy jargon means toilets and for a good reason. The toilets for prisoners had only the bottom part of the door covered so that when they squatted the heads could be seen

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To the upper courtyard…………

upper courtyard

A look out

People must have been quite thin during that era or I must be…..

View from the top was breathtaking – but I don’t think the prisoners ever saw it!

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Au revoior Hammenheil……….

It was Friday the 16th March. We set of at around 4 a.m. from Moratuwa on a three day excursion to Galoya National Park. Shahan had booked the Mahadorowwa camp site on the Nilgala side of the park. We were a crew of 9 in three vehicles.

Day 01

Our route was via Bandarawela as we had an invitation from a good friend for breakfast at his home.

Few hours later the first rays of the day appeared from the eastern skies. Since we left quite early we were on the most scenic areas of the A4 by that time. No surprise that the scenery was absolutely fantastic!

First rays of the day filtering through the trees

The most beautiful A4 around Haldummulla

The day just started

Be careful!

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By 8 a.m. we were in Bandarawela and were warmly welcomed by Priyanjan and Menaka for some delicious breakfast!

After breakfast, and of course about an hour of chit-chat, we said good bye to Priyanjan and menaka to continue our journey to Nilgala.

Climbing down on Ella – Wellawaya road, passing the scenic Ella gap, we were in Wellawaya in less than an hour.

Passing Wellawaya it was an effortless drive on perfectly paved highway. Complementing the pleasure of driving was the beautiful road side scenery with the central mountains in the backdrop.

Paddy fields around Buttala with Mountains in the backdrop

Can it be better?

It was eye candy where ever we look

Had I cycled this route, my memory card would fill in a matter of minutes!

From Moneragala we continued toward Bibile. Roads gradually became narrow and bumpy but the beautiful scenery did not change a bit!

By the time we reached Bulupitiya junction it had started to rain, and rain as always, enhanced the beauty of the world!

Paddy fields reaching the far away mountains

Towards the park office through typical forest in NIlgala

Beautiful stream now flooding the road after the rain

This is what we found in there

It was almost 2pm by the time we reached the park office. We had a packed lunch with us so by 2.30 p.m. we were heading towards the campsite after lunch. Rain had subsided by that time even though the sky continued to be gloomy.

It did not take long to reach the Mahadorowwa camp site. It was a nice and calm location bordering Galoya. We quickly setup our tents and jumped in the river for a long relaxing bath.

Nilgala Park Office

The camp site was nice and even had a sand platform for pitching tents

Suddenly it started to rain again and the rain forced us out of water. It rained for about 30 minutes, non-stop, making us worried about the trip. However after fairly persistent downpour of 30 minutes the rain gods decided to leave us alone to enjoy the rest of our trip to the fullest!

Soon it was dark. We lit up a camp fire, had some quick dinner and settled in our tents for a good night sleep

The camp Fire

Day 02

After a good night sleep we woke up to the music of hundreds of birds who seems to have come to welcome us to Nilagala.

Unlike most other national parks, Nilgala is not a place for wildlife viewing safaris. Nilgala is famous for its bird life. Unlike most national parks, Nilagala does not have an extensive network of jeep tracks to drive around. Also you are allowed to walk in the vicinity of the camp site for brid watching accompanied by your guide.

Even though we woke up early our plan for day one was not brid watching. The grand plan was to take an early morning boat ride in the Senanayaka Samudraya (a.k.a Inginiyagala Reservoir). The wildlife department operates a boat service from the Inginiyagala Office (on the opposite side of the reservoir). We had pre-arranged the boat to come to the Nilgala side to pick us up for a ride.

It was 6.30 in the morning. We left the two SUVs  in the camp site and took everyone in the double cab. From Mahadorowwa campsite, there was approximately 4.5km to the edge of the reservoir which was also famously know as  ”Makara”, the place where GalOya disappears in to the reservoir. Out of this distance, about 3.6km is motarable by a 4WD. [View Google Earth Trail Map]

After a 25 minute, bumpy ride we reached the furthermost point a vehicle can travel to. Another 10 minute walk took us to Makara and by 7.15 a.m. we were sailing in the largest irrigation reservoir of Sri Lanka, the mighty Senanayake Samudraya.

Fun begins when the road ends!

The mighty Galoya raging towards Makara

Recent rains had set it in rampage

Makara – Where Galoya disappears in to the Inginiyagala Reservior

The reservoir was full, almost up to the spill level. It was a beautiful clear day with plenty of sunshine.

as we set sail

Breathtaking!

Cormorants taking off

The boatman

Beautiful GalOya Reservior

Mighty Hills that surrounds the reservior

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by 8.00 a.m. we reached a tiny island with a sizable cave. The boat was anchored there and every one got off.

The whole island was ours. Except for few fishing boats that wondered around, we felt as if we were many hundred miles away from Civilization!

Boat anchored at the island

Looking towards the water from where we anchored the boat

We had breakfast there and spent couple of hours enjoying the serenity of the lake, mountains and the pure white clouds which were creating numerous patterns in the heavens.

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A Private Pool Surrounded the Island

This fun will be all gone when the water level of the reservoir goes down. So make a visit during first few months of the year if you want to experience this.

At abut 10.30 a.m. we boarded the boat for the return journey. Despite the rising heat we decided to do a round in the reservoir without heading strait back to Makara. [View Google Earth Trail Map]

Even in the harsh light conditions, the boat trip proved to be quite picturesque!

Leaving the Island

Mirror!

Beauty of Galoya National Park

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It was well past noon by the time we returned to the camp site. After a cool dip in river, it was time for lunch.

On the way to the camp site fro Makara

Lunch!

Day 03

It was the third and the final day of the trip. We woke up early as usual and walked around the camp site enjoying the beautiful morning with sun rays breaking through the forest canopy. We managed to see many species of birds.

Returning to the camp site, it was time for a quick breakfast and a long dip in the river for the last time before we headed home with sweet memories of Nilgala.

Good Morning!

The by road linking the camp site to the one and only jeep track of the park

.	Busy looking for feathered friends of the jungle

Good Bye Galoya!!!!

Having read so many interesting reports on Delft and Jaffna, I decided to visit the Peninsula yet again. Coz last time, I only managed a few places.

So I decided to do a bit more comprehensive Jaffna tour and a trip to the Delft Island which is the biggest of island of Sri Lanka.
So I checked the bus services available and Thinakaran Express of Lake House came highly recommended and it really was great. I booked the tickets for that and for the return journey, the train from Vavuniya at 3.10pm.

On 14th, we got onto the bus at Rama Krishna road in Wellawatte around 8.45pm. The bus left around 9.30pm and reached the Lake House for them to take more passengers and their papers for the following day (That’s the main reason they’ve introduced a bus service so that they could make some money while delivering the papers to the peninsula). The service was great and they showed the controversial movie “Vishwa Roopam” on DVD.

However, unlike most other services, the noise levels are not too high and after around 11.30pm, the DVD is completely switched off so that people can sleep in peace.

Day 01. – Kadurugoda Temple / Keerimalai / Dambakola Patuna / Jaffna Dutch Fort / Archeological Museum

We reached Jaffna around 7.30am and took a tuk-tuk to the Uthayan Rest. (Always check with the tuk-tuk drivers about the prices as they sometimes don’t understand what you are saying or try to rob you in daylight whenever possible)

Ravi, the Caretaker at the Uthayan Rest, was there to meet us. He really is a wonderful person who tries his level best to make sure your stay is comfortable. Uthayan Rest doesn’t make meals, but provide you from outside. Ravi makes sure that you’re getting the best and not over charged.

After a typical Jaffna-style string hoppers, pittu and curries, we got into Mayuran’s brand new TVS tuk-tuk around 9.00am. We took the Palali Road, and around mid-way, I saw some beautiful plantations and immediately recognized them to be grapes. I checked with Bimalan, mostly in sign-language, if we could take a few pictures at one of the places and he happily obliged.

The one we went was about 40 perches and there was an elderly person fertilizing the creepers. When we asked if we could take pictures of the place, he was very happy and showed us around and gave a comprehensive explanation. Unfortunately, we understood only a few things coz our Tamil knowledge was minimal. It was the first time I visited a grapes plantation and it really looked gorgeous. There were green bunches of grapes hanging from creepers and it really was something to look at.

Udayan Rest Garden from our Room (1st Floor)

Wow….

Beautifully done

Not ripe yet

Couldn’t resist

Afterwards, we went further up and turned left towards Manipay road and along the Uduvil road up to Kadurugoda Temple. It’s yet another sacred area under threats by the locals as the temple premises is being captured and looted by them. The area which used to be more than 7 acres now reduced to around 3 acres. The temple houses 56 pagodas (now only about 30 visible) containing sacred relics of 60 Monks (Rahathan Wahansela). There are no monks nowadays but the Army soldiers to protect it from those bandits. One soldier said the fences start walking if they are not there. I guess the relevant people must look after these places and make sure they are protected for the future.

.	The Legend – Click Image to Enlarge

.	Remaining Pagodas

One of the big ones

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The Budu Medura in a shed

Our next stop was Keerimalai. We traveled along the KKS road passing Chunnakam and Tellippalai. We then reached the Maviddapuram Kandasamy Kovil at the Maviddapuram junction where we can see the KKS cement factory clearly. I wanted to go see the place but the Military police politely declined our request as we had no prior approval. Disappointed, we took the left turn towards Keerimalai. It really was something to see and one of my friends decided to go for a swim in the famous pond over there. Surprisingly the water was not salty even though it’s only a stone wall between the pond and the sea.

Maviddapuram Kandasamy Kovil

KKS Cement Factory

Keerimalai

Good place to play too

Religious ceremonies

The water is surprisingly not salty and sticky

Afterwards, it was time to visit the Dambakola Patuna where Sangamittha Theraniya brought the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi to Sri Lanka. Navy came “Agbo” is located near the temple and they have renovated the temple and now looking after it so that we can worship in peace. It really was a very peaceful place and they even have built a replica of the ship that brought Sangamittha Theraniya to Sri Lanka. Don’t forget to have Belimal from the Navy canteen there with original Thal Hakuru.

Waiting patiently

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Click Image to Enlarge

Click Image to Enlarge

Click Image to Enlarge

The replica

Sangamitta Theraniya

Dolosmahe Pahana

.	The scene depicted well here

The path she took to reach Dambakola Patuna – Click Image to Enlarge

They certainly are unforgettable – Click Image to Enlarge

Don’t forget to have a cuppa – Click Image to Enlarge

Afterwards, we took Mathigal-Sandippai road to reach Jaffna and went around seeing the famous Jaffna fort. It was threatening to rain and started drizzling. However, it didn’t last long and we managed to do a thorough tour of the fort. It’s being renovated to its former glory and hopefully be finished very soon. It was around 2.00pm by the time we finished seeing the fort and feeling ravenous.

I told Mayuran that we need a good place to have thosai and wadai and he took us to the Grand Bazaar Street and stopped at Malayan Café. The thosai and Ulundu wadai was delicious and the service was grand. They serve you on a Banana leaf and the Sambar Curry was excellent. It had everything from Dhal, Beans, Egg Plant, Potatoes and Cucumber. 5 Thosai and 5 Ulundu wadai cost us only Rs. 290/-. Once you’ve finished eating, you have to take the banana leaf and put it into the garbage area. They only bring you the bill, and you have to take it to the cashier and make the payment. It really was a funny thing coz it deprives of the waiters getting any tips.

Afterwards, we got into the tuk-tuk and reached the Archeological Museum which is around 300m from the Uthayan Rest itself. There ended our tour with Mayuran and he charged us Rs. 2500/- for the whole tour which must have been more than 50km and it really was worth.

The museum is in an old property on Navalar road, and has so many old things from Statues, sketches to so much more. It’s apparently forbidden to take the pictures inside the museum but we managed to get the permission from the caretakers.

Entering into the fort

The walls had been painted with maps

Must be the world atlas

The central tower

All in ruins

The canal surrounding the fort

Being renovated

Archaeological Museum is behind

Click Image to Enlarge

The Skeleton of a whale

.	Dutch artillery

Wooden sculpture

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.	Reminds me of Ambekke (This is called Kenimadala)

Must be something used in their festivals

Dolawa (on the right for the Ladies and the left for the men)

Oldest Telephone????

Surgical items (wouldn’t wanna be operated by these)

Found in Mannar

Carved Lion’s head

Telescope

Queen Victoria’s painting

Found in Kadurugoda

Dutch Sign

After about an hour, we reached the Rest and had a wash. When someone visits Jaffna, there’s a place you shouldn’t miss. That’s the Rio ice cream shop and it’s a hallmark in Jaffna. We walked up to the Nallur Kovil and then took a left to the Rio Ice Cream shop and had Chocolate and Nuts which was tasty.

Then it was time to call it a day and after a tasty dinner with typical Jaffna-crab curry and turned in for the night.

Nallur Kovil

Rio Chocolate and nuts ice cream

Not an easy life

Still hunting for fish

Giant Paraw fish

Couldn’t get the name

Famous Kattawa dried fish

Day 02 – Delft Island / Yamuna Pond / Rajamanthri Walawwa

After so much protest from my friends, I got them up and running around 5.00am. Ravi very kindly prepared tea and arranged a tuk-tuk for us to go to the Bus Stand. We reached the bus stand around 6.10am, and a CTB bus was there and got into it immediately. However, there was a private bus too and it left at 6.30am and I started to get worried as we couldn’t afford to miss the only ferry to the Delft.

We then around 6.50am left for Kurikkattuwan and it really was roller-coaster ride. The driver was traveling at maddening speed and it took only 40 minutes to reach the jetty which usually takes an hour or more. Sri Lanka has definitely missed a Formula I driver in him. The jetty is about 32km from the Jaffna town. We got off at the Jetty and it’s the same as you get on board to the Nagadeepa. They now have introduced a semi-luxury ferry to the Nagadeepa called “Mani Nagadeepa”.

We were hanging about till the ferry was ready to leave at 9.00am and it’s for free. There’s another boat that carry goods to the island called “Save the Children” and it too takes passengers providing there’s enough space and they charge Rs. 60/- per person. The passenger ferry “Kumuthini” takes an hour to reach Delft and the ride was smooth. The life jackets are stinking and hardly wearable. I would’ve liked to drown than wearing one.

Bimalan was waiting at the jetty and we immediately set off. The most significant thing in Delft is that it has no brick walls or chain or Thal leaf fences. Instead, the gardens are marked using blocks of Corals kept on top of the other without using anything to keep them in place such as a cement mixture.

Delft is locally named as Neduntheevu. The island’s area is 50 km² and it is roughly oval-shaped. Its length is 8 km and its maximum width about 6 km.

Delft is a flat island surrounded by shallow waters and beaches of coral chunks and sand. There are horses (In reality they are the feral ponies) on the island that ware abandoned after Dutch period. The island was named after the Dutch city of Delft by Rijckloff van Goens. He named the eight most important islands after Dutch cities, but the seven others are now named with domestic names.

Things to see at Delft, in the order we saw them.

1. Famous Pigeon House and the Court Complex – This really was amazing to see in person as opposed to see it in pictures. Bimalan said it used to send messages. The Court complex still has the symbol and the year says on it 1905.
2. Dutch Fort (Through the Hospital) – You have to go through the Delft hospital to reach this and it’s in ruins now and however, has walls still rising to the skies. We can still climb to the first level and it needs protecting as soon as possible.
3. The Tank – This is another sad story of the Delft, coz the legend says that the Dutch wanted to breed horses and get people to work for them, plus they wanted the land so that the horses could be fed using the grass grown. However, Delft was near self-sufficient due to the fresh water tank as it contained the people used to grow everything they wanted and had no desire to work for the Dutch or the English. They then did a very wicked thing one could imagine. They dug a canal from the sea to the tank so the sea water mixed with the fresh water and made using that water for drinking and farms redundant. So the people were left with no choice other than slaving for them.
4. Fresh Water Wells – These wells provide Delft with water, however Bimalan told us that’s the drinking water is very hard to find and specially in April and after when the drought hits, things get very worse.
5. Wild Horses – Such beauty I’ve never seen before. It was so nice to watch them running about. That’s the icing on the cake.
6. The Giant’s foot-print – This is another amazing thing and it looks like a huge right foot print. Even though, the toes are not visible, the shape is very much like a foot. It’s on a rock surface and difficult to believe even a giant could print his foot on a rock surface like that.
7. The stone stable – This is the place where horse were kept. The whole stable was made of rocks and corals.
8. Pagodas – We now can see the remains of the foundations of two Stupa. There’s has been an attempt to build the foundations and try to raise them back. It seems apparently that the treasure hunters had been at work there too.
9. The Swimming Beach – This is something to cherish as the sea stretches into the horizon miles and looks sparkling in the glistening sun. I’ve never seen such a beautiful beach and vivid colors anywhere else. One my friends couldn’t resist the temptation and he went about 1km into the sea and still it was around his waist height.
10. Baob Tree – This is the biggest tree I’ve ever seen and very unlikely to see a bigger one. The tree must be about 40 feet in circumference. It has a whole in the middle where about 10 people can stay.
11. Growing Stone – This is another interesting thing. Bimalan said it really is growing and people worship it in big time. I guess there must be something in it for the people to believe in such a thing called stone growing.

We finished our tour around 1.00pm and sadly there was no such place called a hotel to have lunch. This is mainly due to the fact that they haven’t got a proper supply for fresh water. We then had to wait at the jetty till 2.30pm for the ferry back.

Kurikkatuwan Jetty

Semi-luxury ferry service to Nagadeepa

Nagadeepa looming in the distance

The meter board on the Ferry

View from the pilot’s seat

Here he is

The engine and the fuel supply

The engine and the fuel supply

“Kumuthini”

Delft Jetty

Such vivid colours

Pigeon cage and the court complex

The symbol

Up close is grander than on pics

Post office at Delft

Delft Hospital

Through the hospital to the Dutch fort

Behind the Dutch fort

All in ruins

Inside

The entrance

Delft Cemetery in the back

The tank in the middle of the island

Tame one

Oh ho, we’ve got visitors….

Better to stay away

Kachchativu, last land mass of SL before India lies 10km from here and from Kachchative it’s barely 12km to India

Horse’s skull being used as a Scarecrow

Giant’s foot print

Stone Stable

Pagoda foundation

Small one

Tell me if you can resist taking a bath here

Inside is plenty of room

Mammoth tree

Inside

Growing stone

Up close

Navy still on the move

SL Coast Guards too

Guess who won???

We reached Kurikkattuwan around 3.35pm and our morning bus was there. I happily got into it and expected another mad run. However, it wasn’t like in the morning even though he broke so many records. It was around 4.30pm when we reached Jaffna and feeling hungry like wolves and headed straight to our friendly water hole, Malayan Café. After yet another thosai and Ulundu wadai feast, we took a Point Pedro bus and got off at the King Sangili statue. This was largely due to Christy’s report that I wanted to go see this and we went towards the Church behind it and a group of boys showed us the way to the Yamuna Pond which is about 600m from the Statue. (There’s a proper Road in front of the Rajamanthri Walawwa).

It’s said that the Yamuna pond was where the queen of the Rajamanthri Minister bathed and there allegedly was a tunnel dug from the Walawwa to the pond where she could go and bathe without being seen by anyone. The steps leading to the pond is still there and nowadays it’s being used by other people and we could see a few tubes running from the pond to the nearby houses.

Then it was time to go see the Rajamanthri Walawwa and we almost gave up on that as no one knew about it. This might have been that they didn’t understand what we were trying to ask. However, Dimuthu pushed on the Point Pedro road saying that it must be there and he was dead right. It was about 200m from the Statue onto the left side and the Archeological Department had put up a sign saying it’s a protected area but the gate was open so we helped ourselves.

It’s in ruins and must’ve looked grand in its prime time. However, we could see the well in the house is being used by the nearby people and saw some ladies’ under skirts hanging too. The place apparently used as the tunnel now being used as a dumping place by the same villages and we could see heaps of garbage in it.

After that, it was time for another ice cream at Rio. Tired but exhilarated we went back to the Uthayan Rest and Ravi was waiting at the top of the road wondering if we had lost our way. After yet another tasty dinner we fell asleep and got up to go back to Colombo.

Don’t forget to taste their thosai and ulundu wadai

Here’s the King Sangili

Yamuna Pond

Steps leading to the pond

Rajamanthri Walawwa

From behind

The well

Still standing tall

This should give us a clue

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The entrance may have been to the tunnel, now being used as a dumping area

Second storey is no more reachable

Day 03 – Jaffna Station

On our way to the bus stand, we got our tuk-tuk to stop near the Jaffna station which now has become a paradise for all the hooligans and vagabonds. We could see lots of broken bottles and cans lying around. The walls are peppered with bullet holes and all the door and window frames including bathroom ware have been looted.

We took the Vavuniya bus at 9.45am and reached Vavuniya around 1.15pm. Went to one of my school friend’s house in Ambalangodella, 2km from Vavuniya town and had lunch. Then took the 3.10pm Express train and reached Fort by 8.00pm.

What a grand tour it was. We didn’t waste a second and everything fell into place.

Special thanks to Christy for his support getting the info on Uthayan Rest and Jaffna.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and now

From left (Ravi, Me, Podi and Ranjith Kumar)

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No one around

The railway track is not there but will soon be

Hope to come here one day by train

Inside

From the stairs

“Ananthayata yana para dige” – A9 from Mankulam

Peace in the country means that we can explore it at will and that was what took us to Mannar. Out of bounds until recently, exploring Mannar was an unforgettable experience as the area is steeped in both history and culture.

After a lovely lunch at Four Tees, the first day had us exploring Mannar. The Fort and some birding at the Vankalai Sanctuary was all what we could manage.

Mannar Fort – Fort was in very poor state compared to the other Forts of the same period

Memories are sacred…… – Click Image to Enlarge

A bit of history – the tomb stone of Mr Pierre de Salve, the Chief of Mannar

Click Image to Enlarge

Mannar lagoon from the Ramparts of the Fort

And the wild ponies of Mannar, no longer wild! – “Now do YOU also have to creep in?”

Vankalai was great for birding and we spent a quiet evening watching the feathered visitors……

Crab plovers, all in a row

Northern shovellers

Adam’s Bridge or Rama Setu of the Ramayana fame was our planned destination for the next day. There are 16 islets, 8 of which belong to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Navy operates a boat service that allows one to land on one of these – namely Island No 2. These islands are home to a whole heap of migrant shore birds and some would even build nests in these islands.

The next day saw us at the SLNS Gajaba by 6.30 am!! It was the perfect day for a trip to the Dancing Islets

The pier at SLNS Gajaba

Sunrise – as seen from the water jet

To the deep blue seas…..

මුහුද දෙබෑ කරන……….

The ride was great and it took us almost 1 hour to reach the Adam’s Bridge.

Adam’s Bridge – crossed by Adam, Rama and Hanuman…… among others!

Getting closer………..

And closer……….

……. And finally on Island No 2 of the Adam’s Bridge!

It was an amazing place – water all around with strips of sand in between. The salt water ponds in the islets are so shallow that one can walk across….. and walk on …….. and on…….

The place was almost surreal…………..

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Despite the absence of trees, the landscape was truly amazing!

What the sea has washed ashore . Plastic, plastic and more plastic

The islets are the perfect place for two painters to create their masterpieces – the waves and the winds! The many patterns on the land were breathtaking.

Work of the masters – waves and the winds

Work of the masters – waves and the winds

What the usual inhabitants leave behind……

The place was home for many shore birds and one needs to take extra care when walking as the slightest movement could disturb them.

We first met these plovers…….

And then these gulls, watching the waves….

And then………

Caspian terns and brown headed gulls

Greater crested terns – jam packed!

No landing space

අපි යන්න යමු………………..

There were many other birds on the islet…..

Ruddy turnstones

Brown headed gull

Sanderlings ???? Not sure of the ID

Eurasian curlew

Waking around the islet is an amazing experience as the terrain and the landscape changes subtly.

The landscape in another part of the islet

Apparently made by a turtle

Although there were only a few plants, what was there was beautiful……. and the colours, amazing.

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It was almost like being on another planet!!!

Me, on the Dancing Islet No 2

And one last look………

Dancing islet No 2 – A heaven with only sand, water, and wind …..

On the way back, we also visited the Talaimannar pier. The usual tours by the Navy to the Dancing Islets start from there.

A halted journey…..

The evening saw us birding again at Vankalai…..

Garganeys having a great time!

We made sure that we were at the Mannar causeway in time for one of the most spectacular shows on earth….

Thallady bridge – a stark reminder of what it was………

We wanted to do a complete Jaffna tour within three days. Before plan this trip I read Sri’s Jaffna and Delft report (The Land of Horses-Delft & re-awakening Jaffna) which was the most recent updates of Jaffna in Lakdasun especially about Delft Island. Then I went through Kristy’s reports of Jaffna (Jaffna-Micro Attractions and which gives a good idea about rare places there. Zoysa’s Jaffna report (On the A9 Road to Jaffna 2010) also helped me to know about Vallipuram and VVT. I knew about Fort Hammenheil from Chandanie’s report (Fort Hammenheil-a prison in the middle of the ocean)
We (I and Wuminda) got into Thinakaran bus from in front of Lake House carrying so many plans with our bags. Journey to Jaffna by this but is bit slow as it stops at about 20-30places from Vavniya to Jaffna to throw their news papers. We reached the Jaffna private bus stand around 7.30am and Ashan has come there before us. After having breakfast we walked towards Udayan rest with help of our Google map. We were warmly welcome by Mr. Ravi the owner of the rest. By 9am we were able to start our journey by the three wheel.

Day 1
Our three wheel driver (Nathan) had a poor knowledge outside the city. Therefore he haphazardly brought us to these places. Then we started to direct him as we were knowledgeable than him.

Naguleshwarn Kandasamy Kovil and Keeramale Herbal Pond

Entrance of Naguleshwaran Kovil –one of four Shiva kovilas located at four corners of the country

Importance of the Kovil – Click Image to Enlarge

Framed picture

Only Shiva Kovil is having male lingam on female lingam-Photo by Ashan

The way towards Keeramale herbal pond

Then we stepped towards Keeramale Herbal pond which was nearby.

Keeramale Herbal pond

Keeramale beach

View of Kanakasanthurai (KKS) from Keeramale

Dambakolapatuna is situated few kilometers away from the Keeramale. Our next stop was that.

 Dambakolapatuna

Although they haven’t found any ruins here, according to the literature this place has been identified as Dambakolapatuna.

.	We should not forget

Location of Dambakolapatuna

Dambakolapatuna beach

Statue of Sangamiththa therani

Replica of the ship

Stupa

Once we finished visiting there I got a call for getting permission to visit at Kanakasanthurai cement factory (KKS). I planned to get the permission to visit there and it was on the way.

Kankasanthurai cement factory (KKS)

No further cement production done here and it is having historical value only. Sri Lanka Army uses this place to put their ammunition now. We had a warm welcome there and we were given an army soldier to show the factory.

Old administrative building

The cement factory

Familiar symbol in those days

Still strong

Hanging down

Remains of Old Yaldewi train in the factory

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Few train compartments belong to last Yaldewi train (before the war) can be seen about 1km away from the KKS factory. We went there also and photography was not allowed there.

After thanking them we moved to Kadurugoda/Kandarodai temple.

Kadurugoda temple

Historical background – Click Image to Enlarge

Remaining of stupa

All in one

Here I would like to include some photographs taken at Archaeology museum of Jaffna.

Belongs to Kadurugoda

Found at Kadurugoda

Remains of Buddha statues

Found at Kadurugoda

Some more

Then time was around 2pm and our plan was to visit at Fort Hammenhiel at Karainagar for lunch.

Fort Hammenhiel-Karainagar

Actually Karainagar is a separate island from Jaffna. Old navy prison called Fort Hammenhiel has been converted to a hotel which has three rooms (full board for Rs 18000 per day) situated in the small island form main island. The restaurant is at Karainagara beach. This is ruled out by Sri Lanka Navy. We had our lunch there and meanwhile visited at Fort Hammenhiel hotel by boat.

The price of the lunch was reasonable.

Crossing the causeway to Karainagar

Fort Hammenhiel restaurant

Fort Hammenhiel

Story of Hammenhiel – Click Image to Enlarge

Entrance

The picture tells the story how Dutch caught the fort from Portuguese by destroying the rain water tank

Entering to a cell

Written by prisoners

Luxurious prison compared to present ones

JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera also were here

Courtyard

These were used as stores

Pigeon couple

Telescope

View of Jetty

World is on the table

After enjoying meals and view of fort Hammenheil we needed to have a sea bath at one of a famous and beautiful beaches called Kasurina. It is situated about 5km away from the fort Hammenheil and we hired a three-wheeler to reach there.

Kasurina beach

Evening at Kasurina beach was a wonderful experience.

Kasurina beach

Kasurina beach

Tasting Palmyra

Sun set

Evening discussion

Floating-Photography by Ashan

Another sun set

Different colours

Long hair friend

Sun set behind the Palmyra trees

Fortunately we got the last bus from Karainagar to Jaffna and came to last visit of the day- Naga Vihara temple

Naga Vihara Temple

This is one of main Buddhist attractions situated in the middle of the Jaffna town.

Historical background of Naga vihara Temple – Click Image to Enlarge

Stupa

Image house

Following worshipping Nagavihara temple we had our Dinner and walked to Udayan Rest.

Day 2

We woke up early morning and our plan was to visit at Delft and Nagadeepa. Soon after our breakfast we got into a bus to Karaikattuvan which started from Jaffna around 6.40am.

We reached Karaikattuwan Jetty around 8am and joined with the queue to Delft. “Wada Tharaka”-Northern star came to Jetty around 9.15am.

Some faces of the queue

Loading passengers

View of Nainathiw

Happy passengers-lower floor of the boat is hot. Therefore passengers are reluctant to go there and crowded in the cabin and upper floor.

After boat started we also joined with the crowd in cabin. It was a fantastic experience and some people had to come to cabin due to vomiting.

Disappearing of Karaikattuvan

At cabin