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

o 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.

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 12 in three vehicles.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.