Once ghost towns along the Puttlum – Mannar coastal line bordering Wilpattu National Park, these small towns and villages have now woken up form the 30 year slumber after the end of the LTTE terrorist occupation.

This stretch of sea was world famous for thousands of years for for producing finest pearls in the world but today a waste land with few fishing villages due to over exploitation. Portuguese, Dutch and British all had considerable interest in the region and the best example is the massive bungalow of the British Governor, Sir Frederick North (1798-1805) built for the supervision of pearl fishery operations in the region.

This was my first ever visit to Mannar and one of the most awaited trips. Initially I wanted to join Niroshan on his Mannar journey but had skipped it because of my wedding. Though I missed out on it I did a good copycat journey. For further information on locations please do read his report. This will be more of a picture report.

There were an endless number of sea gulls crashing like a stone and catching fish and at times floating on the water with the waves like ducks. We got fooled at first they were real ducks. The average speed of the ferry was about 8-10km an hour. It recorded a highest speed of around 20km according to Sheham’s GPS. Time wore on and all of a sudden Nissanka showed us a distant communications tower which was at BG Navy Camp. Without even knowing we had moved from Dutch Bay to Portugal Bay but for me it was the same lagoon or rather the sea. However the water looks more clean and clear than it was close to the mainland. We could clearly see the ocean floor and the depth can’t have been more than 10ft. The water looked a gorgeous emerald green too.

The long weekend in October was eagerly awaited as a trip to Mannar was planned with family friends. Unfortunately, at the last moment they couldn’t make it, but we decided to keep to our plans though the kids were a little disheartened. We left home (Nawala) at 5 in the morning and took our first break at the dried out Thabbowa Tank around 8am. We expected some bird activity but guess we were too late for that.

Year and Month April, 2013 Number of Days Four Day Trip Crew Five (Myself, wife, daughter and two sons) Accommodation Four Tees Rest Inn at Mannar and a private house at Wilpattu Transport Car Activities A Family trip, Visiting Adam’s bridge, Wild life Weather Excellent Route Gampaha -> Puttalam -> Nochchiyagama -> Oyamaduwa -> Thanthirimale -> […]