Things to do

GLORY OF NORTHERN PARTS OF SRI LANKA

(The Palmyrah Land)

SAVOUR OF THE NORTHERN PROVINCE OF SRI LANKA

North of Sri Lanka is a world apart from the rest of country. The region had always been closer to southern India than to Colombo (commercial capital of Sri Lanka) and was repeatedly settled and invaded by Tamil migrants from southern India and has retained a unique character and culture, one which owes as much to Hindu India as to Buddhist Sri Lanka.

The thirty year old war, which engulfed the area, had set the clock backwards in the Northern Peninsular, where LTTE terrorists and the Sri Lankan Army were engulfed in intense fighting until the war ended in 2009. The region is gradually emerging from its long years of isolation and fighting, and the painful process of rebuilding of shattered towns and villages, de-mining fields, restoring roads and returning refugees to their former homes is likely to continue for some time to come.

For the explorer, the north is Sri Lanka’s final frontier, and offers an opportunity to explore a region emerging from over twenty years of isolation and civil war.

JAFFNA & SURROUND TOURISM

(Northern Province Of Sri Lanka)

Reaching Jaffna is now straightforward and requires no security checks or clearance, and although it still entails either a long road journey or a short flight, those who make the effort are amply rewarded.

Foremost of the attractions is the fascinating town of Jaffna, with its absorbing mixture of colonial charm and vibrant Tamil culture, while the Jaffna Peninsula and surrounding islands offer a string of remote temples, Hindu and Buddhist alike, beaches and more off-beat attractions.

Arriving in Jaffna can come as a culture to the uninitiated, and it is difficult to miss the profound Indian influence made obvious by the gradual switch from the singsong cadences of Sinhala to the quick-fire intonations of Tamil, as well as a listof other details like the Indian pop music which blares out of shops and cafés, and the hordes of kamikaze cyclists who fill the congested streets.

Yet the town has its own unique and complex identity shaped in true Sri Lankan fashion, by a wide cross-section of influences, including Muslim, Portuguese, Dutch, British and Sinhalese, with colourful temples set next to huge churches, and streets dotted with ancient Dutch and British residences.

The rural surroundings of the Jaffna town, and the source of much of its former prosperity, is the Jaffna Peninsula, a fertile arc of land criss-crossed with small country roads lined with endless walled gardens and smallholdings, growing a wide variety of crops including chillies, onions, bananas, jackfruit and grapes.

Further south, the vast track of thinly populated countryside known as Vanni, is little visited, even by locals, although the remote church at Madhu draws a steady stream of pilgrims while the war-torn town of Kilinochchi, former capital of the LTTE, provides a stark reminder of the destructions of the war.

To the west of Jaffna, a string of islands straggle out into the waters of the Palk Strait towards India. Two of them, Kayts and Karaitivu, almostjoin up with the mainland, to which they’re connected by causeways, as is Punkudutivu further west. Punkudutivu is the starting point for ferries to Nainativu, home to two important religious shrines, and the remote island of Delft.

MANNAR & TALAIMANNAR TOURISM

(Northern Province Of Sri Lanka)

Mannar Island is also a beautiful destination which situated northern part of Sri Lanka, eerily dry near-peninsula with lots of white sand and palm trees, gulls and terns, wild donkeys, and little lanes and fishing boats. Jutting out into the Palk Strait, the island is only about 30km from India. Because of its location, Mannar Island was hard hit by the war: it was a major exit and entry point to and from India, and became a key host of refugees. The island’s large Muslim population was driven out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1990, and some of the land is still mined. The Vavuniya–Mannar road was aggressively fought over, and most of the villages along it were abandoned; bunkers and watchtowers still dot the road at 50m intervals.

But despite all that, the town of Mannar, reached via a 3km-long causeway from the mainland, is a pleasant place. There’s not much here for tourists, but it’s quiet and more appealing than Vavuniya if you want to break up a Colombo–Jaffna trip. The town has a Portuguese-Dutch star fortress, which is an out-of-bounds military camp, and a big, exotic baobab tree, 1.2km northeast of town. The tree is believed to have been planted in 1477 A.D by Arab traders; it’s shaped like a giant ball, with a 19m circumference.

About 38km from town, at the western end of the island is Talaimannar; long ago, ferries to Rameswaram, India, departed from a nearby pier. Offshore is Adam’s Bridge – a chain of reefs, sandbanks and islets that nearly connects Sri Lanka to Rameswaram. In the Ramayana these were the stepping stones that the monkey king Hanuman used in his bid to help rescue Rama’s wife Sita from Rawana, the demon king of Lanka. Along the coast, an abandoned lighthouse marks the start of Adam’s Bridge. The navy now occupies this area and runsboat trips to the first of the Bridge’s sandbars.

In the other direction, about 13km from Mannar on the mainland, is
Thirukketeeswaram Kovil.
Thirukketeeswaram is one of the pancha ishwaram, the five historical Sri Lankan Shiva temples established to protect the island from natural disaster. It’s an imposing site, with a towering, colorful gopuram. Ranged around the temple are pavilions containing five gigantic floats, called juggernauts, that are wheeled out each February for the impressive “Maha shivarathri festival”.