Visit to Koggala

Year and Month	2020 September 14th 2021 July 19th and 20th
Number of Days	Separate Two days
Crew	2-Arjuna and Myself
Accommodation	Araliya Beach Resort and spa-Unawatuna
Transport	By car and boat
Activities	Just visit, Boating and Photography
Weather	Excellent
Route	Colombo ->Galle->Koggala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	The boat tour at Koggala Lake was cost Rs 2500. Mahinda Ayya was the boat operator. T.P:0771268663. We spent 2 hours on the water. Distance from mainland to Madol Duwa is minimal but boat riders overcharge for it. Beware of brokers in hiring boats to Madol Duwa. Behave accordingly at Thalathu Duwa Buddhist hermitage. Martin Wickramasinghe museum opens daily from 9am to 5pm. Ticket price is Rs30 per person. No photographs allowed inside Martin Wickramasinghe museum. You have to get a ticket to enter the aircraft at Koggala (Rs 20) and for parking at Thalpe natural pool (Rs 200). Special thanks to Mr. Nishantha of my staff to arrange the visit at Koggala Lake.
Related Resources	Lakdasun trip report on Lungs of the South-Kanneliya and treasures of Galle
Author	Niroshan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Visit to Koggala

Koggala (කොග්ගල) is another beautiful tourist destination at down south. Koggala is bounded on one side by a reef and on the other by a large lake, Koggala Lake, into which the numerous tributaries of Koggala Oya drain. Koggala has one of the longest beaches in Sri Lanka, and is located in close proximity to the popular tourist resort of Unawatuna. Koggala is the birth place of famous Sinhalese writer-Martin Wickramasinghe. The beauty of Koggala village is nicely described by his novel called Madol Duwa.
Let’s list some tourist attractions of Koggala. This list to be updated.

Koggala Lake
Madol Duwa
Air force plane at Catalina Grill Restaurant.
Habaraduwa- Meepe Ambalama
Thalpe Natural Pool

Koggala Lake (කොග්ගල වැව) (6.005868, 80.329756)
This is one of the largest lakes in Southern Sri Lanka. Number of islands are scattered in the lake among which Madol Duwa and Thalathu Duwa are famous. The lake is rich in birdlife and mangroves and is a major tourist attraction for tourists.
My visit to Koggala started from Koggala Lake. Mr. Nishantha who works at our staff is from Habaraduwa. He has pre-arranged the visit to Koggala Lake with one of his friends. Early morning we have reached Habaraduwa town and followed our way to Mahinda Ayya’s boat port. Mahinda Ayya was the person who accompanied us in Koggala Lake.
There are 9/10 islands situated at Koggala Lake: Kukadaluwa (කුකඩලුව), Diyamara (දියමාර), Kosduwa (කොස්දූව), Madinduwa (මැදින්දූව), Thmabige Duwa (තම්බිගෙ දුව), Kasduwa (කස්දූව), Thalathu Duwa (තලාතු දූව) and Madol Duwa (මඩොල් දූව). Kosduwa Island had four houses but no inhabitants now. Number of hotels and Koggala Air force camp surround the lake. We have landed at Madol Duwa and Thalathu Duwa during our two hours boat trip. Thalathu Duwa is connected to mainland by a bridge.

Starting the boat tour at Koggala Lake

Mahinda Ayya’s boat port

The boat operator

Kukadaluwa Island (කුකඩලුව)

Diyamara Island (දියමාර)

Kosduwa Island (කොස්දූව). There were four houses even with electricity. Now no inhabitants.

Madinduwa Island (මැදින්දූව)

The bridge connecting Thalathu Duwa with main land

Thmabige Duwa (තම්බිගෙ දුව)

Kasduwa (කස්දූව)

Closer to Kasduwa

.	At Koggala Lake

These two were friends of Nishantha who accompanied us here

Some awkward rocks situated at Koggala Lake

Sailing at Koggala Lake

View of mainland from Koggala Lake

Koggala Lake

Fishing at Koggala Lake

The bridge over Koggala Lake. Galle-Matara road goes over this.

Madol Duwa (මඩොල් දූව) (5.987264, 80.336797)
This is a small island situated at Koggala Lake but famous due to “Madol Duwa”-Children’s novel written by Mr. Martin Wickramasinghe. Main characters of “Madol Duwa” were Upali and Jinna who ran away to this island and lived at Madol Duwa until they reunited with family. The distance from mainland to Madol Duwa is minimal (about 20 minutes) but they overcharge for the boat ride.
Main attractions of the island are the well and “Sekku Gala” (සෙක්කු ගල). There are foot pathways through mangrove trees. Some of the trees have sign boards. As it is frequently visited by travellers pollution is also common.

Boat is landed at Madol Duwa

Mangroves there

Note the minimal distance from mainland to Madol Duwa

සෙක්කු ගල at Madol Duwa

The well

At Madol Duwa

We have turned the boat from Madol Duwa and reached Thalathu Duwa. Thalathu Duwa is connected to the main land by a bridge and a Buddhist hermitage is situated there.

Koggala Lake and a hotel situated at bank

Landing at Thalathu Duwa

Entering to Thalathu Duwa

A message

At Thalathu Duwa

The bridge connecting Thalathu Duwa with mainland

Over the bridge

Buddhist Hermitage at Thalathu Duwa

Back to the boat

Martin Wickramasinghe folk museum (මාර්ටින් වික්‍රමසිoහ ජන කෞතුකාගාරය) (5.989971, 80.327983)
This museum is situated on the Galle-Matara main road in Koggala. There are two parts here: Folk museum and house of Martin Wickramasinghe.
It is the ancestral home of the renowned Sri Lankan writer and poet Martin Wickramasinghe (1890-1976) where he lived with his family. The surviving part of the house has been converted into a museum complex displaying artifacts, photographs, awards and souvenirs of great writer. This house was the only remains of old Koggala village as all other was razed to the ground in 1942 to make way for an air force base. Visitors can view his life story by photos displayed at museum.
The folk museum exhibits the life of southern Sri Lankans: Life of fishermen, traditional cuisine, Kolam masks, colonial crockery, ancient jewellery etc. No photographs allowed inside the museum but can get at Wickramasinghe house. Tombs of Mr. and Mrs. Wickramasinghe are also situated here. There is a book stall of Martin Wickramasinghe at the entrance.

.	Martin Wickramasinghe folk museum

Martin Wickramasinghe folk museum

The garden of the museum

Exhibits of the museum

House of Mr. Martin Wickramasinghe

Story of Koggala village

Mr. Martin Wickramasinghe house

The grave stone of Mr. and Mrs. Wickramasinghe

We were there…..

An Air force camp is situated at Koggala. There is a road side restaurant called Catalina Grill (5.991731, 80.315908) run by the camp and a used air craft is placed there to visit. You can have a visit to this aircraft while your meal is prepared by the restaurant.

The used air craft

Get into the air craft

It is well maintained

Inside the air craft. Actually this was converted as a part of the restaurant to have meals here.

The control room of air craft

At control room

Habaraduwa-Meepe Ambalama (හබරාදූව මීපේ අම්බලම) (මීපේ වෙල මැද අම්බලම) (6.019875, 80.293923)

The Ambalama is situated at Habaraduwa-Meepe area, amid of paddy fields. It is said to old as 200 years. People who travelled to Galle were used to rest here. This Ambalama was renovated at 2016. Currently this Ambalama is in good condition.

Information of Meepe Ambalama

Habaraduwa-Meepe Ambalama

At Ambalama

Thalpe Natural Pool (5.995550, 80.286250) (තල්පේ ස්වාභාවික නාන තටාකය)

Thalpe natural pool is a recently popular tourist attraction. There are naturally made / man made pits (small pools) on corals at Thalpe beach. It is a nice experience to have a bath when it has low water level. But the sea was rough when we visited there and water level was high. You need to pay for parking at Thalpe Natural Pools. We couldn’t find fresh water to bath following sea water bath.

Man cut / naturally made pits on reef

Thalpe Beach

At Thalpe Natural pool. Water level was high.

Thalpe natural pool. It is not a good time to visit when sea was rough.

Thalpe natural pool

With Thalpe Pool

We stayed at Araliya Beach resort and spa during our visit to Koggala.

Araliya Beach Resort and Spa-Unawatuna (6.009946,80.242063)
Araliya Beach Resort is a luxury hotel situated at Unawatuna. It is a beach front hotel and has 301 rooms. Fourteen story twin hotel building has a roof top with amazing surrounding view. There is an infinity pool at 13th floor viewing to sea. The hotel has a separate beach restaurant with a pool. Rooms have a view towards Unawatuna beach.