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.

The longest long weekend on the 2017 calendar was an eagerly awaited holiday as it coincided with the August school holidays and the chosen destination was Mannar and Thalaimanar.

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.

So this was my second visit (previous visit) to Jaffna this year and I would re visit this lovely land at any given time because there is so much to see. This time my main objectives were to visit two populated islands in Jaffna and also to show around my wife the beauty I experienced during my previous visits. On the way to Jaffna we did stop at Iranamadu to have some tea. We reached Jaffna at around 9am and refreshed ourselves before exploring the peninsula.

Back in October of 2011 I had this bright idea of cycling to Jaffna. The easiest way of doing this was to travel on the A9, but then again that would be so boring and the whole point of riding to Jaffna was not complete the journey from point A to point B but to enjoy journey and experience the solitude and the care free way of travel. The only road that meets my expectations is the Costal road; this road hugs the western coast line of Sri lank all the way to Jaffna!!

This was a long awaited trip for Wuminda and me. I could gather enough information about Mannar and places on the way to Mannar by reading Lakdasun reports. We started the journey from Colombo around 7.30am due to my job commitments. On the way we have visited some other places and reached Mannar around 8.30pm. (I will discuss it later by a separate report). We were warmly welcome by Mr.Rohan at Four Tees Inn.

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.

We started the journey around 10 from Colombo. Our target is to reach Kudiramale point before 4. We stopped at Halawata to fill our cooler boxes. We reached Wilpattu border around 3.30, but unfortunately that road was closed because of rain. It’s better if there’s a way to know that before we turn that way from Puttalam, but even Villages did not know that. So we had to turn back and go around the park to reach Mannar

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 -> […]

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

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.