Author Archive for NetFinder

Paul. Topps it. In AbaY

Russian karaoke singer, a book launch, wine tasting and the tattooed man: The Whinging Pome at the Arugam Bay

Jezzabel and I set off at 8 AM from Colombo and expect a six-hour journey to get to Arugam Bay on the east coast of Sri Lanka but with non-stop driving. I know it won’t be six hours even though Jezzabel has packed enough egg sandwiches for a full day family bus trip.
Our Muslim driver Neaz is not a “speedy Gonzales” but we must thank god it’s not a Friday with prayer stops. We get on the expressway, heading south till it finishes, then take a short dual carriageway, then a fast empty road to our destination, The scenery is changing from arid areas to a green lush landscape with lakes, lagoons, and stunning views. With these changes come the herds of goats, then buffaloes walking in the water, back to herds of thin white cattle that remind me of cows I’ve seen in parts of India. In the middle of nowhere, the road is so straight and the trees are planted at uniform spaces, creating a guard of honour for the passing traveller. It reminds me of France with plantain trees which were said to give assistance to Napoleon’s troops moving in difficult weather conditions. These trees today are thought to be responsible in some way for one in eight road accidents in France.

We are finally in the village of Pottuvil, taking sharp rights and lefts through shanty houses in a strong Muslim area, then to Jetwing Surf, which is ten minutes from the more famous Aragum Bay. You can’t surf in front of this hotel as it’s too rocky and rough, and I ask the manager “so where do I surf?” Looking me up and down with some doubt about my surfing profile he says “a few minutes away.”

Whenever anyone uses the phrase “a few minutes away”, I’m always sceptical. In India, this can mean an hour.

“Is this running, walking or driving?“ I retort.

We don’t get to the recommended beach but in fact, some people rank this area as one of the best surfing locations in Asia during May to September, along with other locations of some fame such as Whiskey Point, Crocodile Rock and Elephant rock.

This is a very modern beach hotel with a funky reception area, a collection of circular chalets, and an open dining area overlooking a curved pool and the sea. The chalets are large and extremely well designed with lots of space, a big bed and a chilled outdoor bathroom.


The criticism we had heard of the hotel prior was that there is no air conditioning. As I pass the back office of the reception I see a mobile aircon unit and it’s not long before it’s in our chalet, with three fixed fans on full blast. My princess, Jezzabel likes a room ice cold when she gets to bed. I generally have to extensively cover myself as its too cold for a white boy from Africa. It’s good that we are all different but our different requirements for bedroom temperature generally results in me having less sleep and constant phlegm. Too much detail you may say, but bedroom temperature disputes amongst couples are more common than you think.

It’s a long weekend in Arugam Bay and likely the last of the season. Those who are here are from Colombo to enjoy the beach and party, or others who have just forgotten to go home. Some belong in the “unwashed” category. The last time I was here was two weeks before the Tsunami in December 2004. I recall staying at the Stardust hotel and canoeing along the river. Sadly the hotel and the town were hit quite hard by the Tsunami, both losing lives. The town is now a thriving tourist location, though given it’s post-COVID, it’s hard to spot many foreign tourists. Those that are here have likely exceeded their visa period and have no desire to go back to their home countries, which are still being hit hard by the COVID phase two.

Jezzabel is off to the “Hideaway”, one of the few larger hotels in the town. She is meeting girlfriends and to listen to their local heart-throb. Actually, Jerome is a Sri Lankan Aussie as is my wife. I’m off to Siam View, an institution here in the town and well known across the island to all who have visited A-Bay, as some call it. Fred, the owner has been in Sri Lanka for over 35 years, gives me a warm greeting. I’ve known him for twenty years. Fred has had a colourful life with a Maltese/ German background but always comes over as a carefree Englishman, with ten or more kids, I’m not sure he knows the exact number. His Thai wife is a really lovely lady who always has a beaming smile and a friendly greeting. His property was hit by the tsunami but Fred bounced back into business very quickly. It is the go-to place, everyone meets there and there is never a dull moment with music, musicians, karaoke etc.


At Fred’s place, I encounter a rather opinionated and overweight Ex British navy chap who says he is a secret squirrel working for the British Government, tracking undesirable Sri Lankan’s who are trying to get into the UK illegally. Exiting from the conversation as quickly as I could without being extremely rude I meet up with some friends.

Amazingly I find a wine I’ve never seen before, a Malbec blended with Pinotage, a great wine for the price. When I get the bill for the wine there is some mix-up, and the barman/waiter seems to have over-charged me. He is so laid back, he is nearly horizontal, and a few sharp words follow. We will meet again tomorrow.

Night two and its the launch of my book on the east side of Sri Lanka, “The Whinging Pome – To The Point.” The venue is Fred’s place, Siam house.
I check if all my wines are here where I left them the night before, in the fridge. They are all there and I explain to the barman how the night will flow and what his role will be. It is 7.30 PM and my guests are meant to all be here. I ask Fred for the list of attendees, and he gives me some 36 names. I ask how many have confirmed, and he tells me none, which he says is typical of the folk in A-Bay. At eight my first attendee arrives. She is a Russian karaoke singer in a short white dress who tells me she sings every night at the place. My second attendee, or so I thought, is a partially clothed white man who tells me his body is tatted from head to toe. Turns out he works part-time at Fred’s place.
Its 8.30 PM and as Fred had promised a crowd has arrived. A bigger issue for me then became the fact that the barman had gone AWOL, turns out he didn’t like my comments from the night before had walked off the job. At 8.30 PM I’m sharing the podium with the Russian whose dress only just covers her boobs, the tatted man whom I think believes he is a rockstar, my book display and a set of drums.

It’s my first book launch/wine tasting where I’m pouring the wine, serving it, and talk at the same time.

The Whinging Pome’s Random Rule No 185: Learn how to multitask. Prove the ladies wrong, men can do it!

Despite the chaos, I sell about 15 books, 5 to the local MP’s son. Not sure if he was sober. If he was then no doubt he would want them for free. A bunch of airline pilots who have just had their employment contract cancelled are hitting the wine. We have now over fifteen nationalities at the event. In between all of this I need to get the next wine out.

The Russian lady in white is bashing out a Russian song. By ten-thirty the numbers have swelled to beyond sixty people. I’ve got a deaf, out of tempo chap on the drums and the Russian lady giving it her all whilst trying to keep everything in her dress. The night continues with more book signings and characters now believing they are at a full Karaoke event grabbing the mike, whilst random people think they are Ginger Baker, the drummer of the bands Cream, Blind Faith, Hawkwind and more.

This I think is a new book launch concept; Books, Ballards, Booze, Boobs.

The next day we have the opportunity to visit the Kumana National Park but I’m keener to enjoy the beach and visit a few temples than visiting a bird sanctuary. It’s also about thirty kilometres from the hotel and my beach is in front of me and my first temple which is dated at 2nd BC is 4 kilometres away. The location is on a very wide beach, and its histhttps://thewhingingpome.online/russian-karaoke-singer-a-book-launch-wine-tasting-and-the-tattooed-man-the-whinging-pome-at-the-arugam-bay/?fbclid=IwAR186xAXgXlyiqA9LwCJa7sixdAk6TsAGNkWxnPX8yP7PgBU6V68oqiG6Egory is linked to Princess Devi being washed up at the location and some monastery being built. This is the third location in Sri Lanka where this same story is set.

Wifey finds some friends who are staying close by in another hotel and they take a Jeep and head to the park. Jokingly on their return, I make a jibe about “how were the birds?”. I’m bombarded with how great their safari was. This included sightings of two different leopards, an elephant charging their Jeep, and lots of other non-bird species.

So it’s another day, another road, and we are heading to Batticaloa. I don’t think this town is ready for The Whinging Pome but actually, after the Arugam Bay experience, anything and everything is possible.

Source:
https://thewhingingpome.online/russian-karaoke-singer-a-book-launch-wine-tasting-and-the-tattooed-man-the-whinging-pome-at-the-arugam-bay/?fbclid=IwAR186xAXgXlyiqA9LwCJa7sixdAk6TsAGNkWxnPX8yP7PgBU6V68oqiG6Eg

Air Force bombs Lahugala. With MAS seed

 

Sri Lanka Air Force said it had seed-bombed a 60 acre area in Lahugala in a reforestation bid in the fourth such operation conducted so far with material supplied by MAS Holdings, an apparel group.

The mission was organized by the Command Agro Unit at SLAF Base Katunayake under Air Commodore Suharshi Fernando with the Forest Conservation Department and the University of Peradeniya.

The mission is part of efforts to boost Sri Lanka’s forest cover from 27 percent to 32 percent by 2030.

The seed bombs were dropped today from a Mil Mi-17 piloted by Wing Commander Venu Silva Flying Officer Lahiru Chandrasekara.

Over 70,000 ‘seed bombs’ from dry zone species of Ehela (Cassia fistula), Mee (Madhuca longifolia), Karanda (Pongamia pinnata), Mailla (Vitex altissima), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), Kumbuk (Terminalia arjuna), Koan (Schleichera oleosa) and Madatiya (Adenanthera pavonina) were dropped.

“MAS Holdings contributed to this project by providing seeds which were used to fabricate seed bombs,” SLAF said.

The first bombing mission over Ranorawa Government Forest had been conducted in 2018 as a pilot project over a five acres with 5,000 seed bombs.

In 2019, another 67,000 seed bombs were dropped over a 60 acre area in the Lahugala forest in Ampara

In December 2020 30,000 seed bombs were dropped over a 5 acres land area also in Lahugala National Park.

The SLAF said its Command Agro Unit is gathering data to monitor how seed bombs have germinated and are growing in changing environmental conditions. (Colombo/Jan15/2021)
Source:
https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-air-force-bombs-lahugala-with-mas-seed-77867/

Where to Surf and Where to Hang Out

What has been Recommended in Arugam Bay

Arugam Bay was a modest fishing village, known for its scenic coastline. What many didn’t know though, was that its ocean had some of the best waves in the world for surfing. This began to change in the 70s, when the first surfers started arriving in the area.

The locals, warm-hearted and friendly, taught these tourists about the lay of the land and made them feel part of the community. In turn, the locals got the chance to learn about its surf culture. And a vibe of learning and sharing grew organically, which gave life to the Arugam Bay we know and love today.

The East coast surf season begins as the North Eastern monsoon ends nearing May, and continues until October. If what you are looking for is a mellow experience with fewer crowds, early on in the season, between late May and July, is better suited for you. If you are a more weather-beaten surfer looking for crankin’ waves, as someone familiar with the lingo might say, then the best months for you are from July to September. This is when most of the breaks are working.

Here are four surf spots, apart from the main surf beach in Arugam Bay, that you absolutely must explore!

Surf spots

Elephant Rock
https://lakpura.com/elephant-rock-point

Nestled about 4 km away from the main point in Arugam Bay, Elephant Rock used to be a lesser-known surf spot in the East Coast.

Its waves break to the right from the vantage of the surfer. These waves are known as a right. They are also pointbreaks, meaning that they wrap around the protruding rock before rolling along the coastline. The height of these waves ranges from 2 to 6 feet.

Its gaining popularity now – not only because of the waves but also because of the views. You can climb the rock to immerse yourself in a stunning sunset, and maybe you’ll even catch a glimpse of the elephants freely roaming around.

A word of caution: avoid the lagoon nearby, because it has crocodiles.

Peanut Farm
Image from https://whiskeypoint.info/

Urani village is the home of the Whiskey Point, the second most sought after surf point in Arugam Bay. It is about 15 km North from the Arugam Bay beach and takes about 30 minutes in a tuk-tuk.

Its right-hand, pointbreak waves can reach between 2 to 6 feet in height and are perfect for beginner and intermediate surfers. During the months of May and October, the village becomes animated with surfers bustling about. In the evenings, music permeates the shoreline as many of the surfers mingle.

Lighthouse

Found along the Komari beach stretch, about an hour’s drive away from Arugam Bay, Lighthouse is a less crowded spot reserved for veteran surfers. Its waves break to the right and come to life in the months of July, August and September. Even if you aren’t a pro-surfer, it is a must-visit, simply because of the spectacular coastal vistas.

A 15-minute walk further to the north from Lighthouse will get you to Green House, another surf point you might want to explore.

Surf schools and hangout spots

The experience of anyone absorbing the surf culture of the East Coast is incomplete without knowing where to learn to surf and where to unwind after a long day or surfing. It’s part and parcel of the “surf culture”! So here are a few spots you don’t want to miss out!

Surf n Sun

This family-run joint is just a few minutes’ walk away from the main surf point in Arugam Bay. It has very humble beginnings and a history that spans three generations.

In the beginning, surfing for them was a way of escaping the war. As time went by, they started surf guiding and showing their visitors some of the secret points they knew.

Today they have ISA qualified surf instructors, all of whom are locals from the village who have been surfing in the local spots since their childhood.

Hideaway

This is another spot that is nearby the main beach in Arugam Bay. This was built in 1979 as a holiday home by the Tissera family and is still run by members of the family. They have gathered unique local knowledge over the years and have many contacts that will enable you to have one of the best experiences of the East Coast.

The fusion and traditional Sri Lankan cuisine they offer is often prepared using organically-grown and locally-sourced produce. Hideaway Blue, their café, has amazing coffee. Oh! And Hide & Chill Bar is one of the most renowned watering holes in the region.

Sababa Surf Cafe

This is an underground, minimalist restaurant, bar and chill-out spot facing the beach at Whiskey Point. You will not find it on social media, but on a Friday, which is the party night at Whiskey Point, Sababa Surf Café is the place to be! And you are sure to have a memorable experience, with DJs playing full-on electronic music till hours way past the dawn.

Lighthouse Beach Hut

Lighthouse Beach Hut, as the name suggests, is located at Lighthouse Point. It is an eco-friendly, simple joint run by Ranga. On one side, it faces the beach, and calming greenery envelops all other sides.

Their restaurant is an excellent hangout spot where you can meet surfers from all around the world, and their rice and curry is prepared using freshly delivered fish, seafood and produce sourced from their very own organic farm.

There are also many other small joints that add to the momentum of the peak of the East Coast season. So go off the beaten path, do a bit of exploring on your own, and uncover colourful secrets of the Arugam Bay culture that only a few may know.

Source:
http://www.pulse.lk/travel/east-coast-surf-culture-where-to-surf-and-where-to-hang/

Great Beach(es) for awesome Winter Sun

Arugam Bay Beach

Sri Lanka

November through March is a great time to visit Sri Lanka, but it can get crowded.

Arugam Bay, on the southeast coast, is a far cry from the busier resorts on this teardrop-shaped island’s west side, which are packed at this time of year.

With its chilled, hammock-swinging vibe, excellent beachfront restaurants (don’t pass up the fish curries at Ranga’s Beach Hut), and superb surf, Arugam Bay is a wonderful place to escape the crowds and get a taste of Indian Ocean life.

Source:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/12-great-beaches-for-winter-sun/ar-AAHnZ5n?li=BBnbklE

World surfs in Sri Lanka

World surfs in Sri Lanka
‘So Sri Lanka Pro 2019’ in Arugam Bay from September 23 to 29:
M.A. Phakurdeen -Addalaichenai Group Correspondent

The upcoming ‘So Sri Lanka Pro’ professional surfing event set for Arugam Bay, popular for its magnificent surf, has been extremely well received by professional surfers from all over the world.

The international professional surfing competition is to be held in Arugam Bay from September 23 to 29.

With entries still coming in, already around 120 surfers from 24 countries such as Australia, Indonesia, France, Venezuela, Israel, the USA, Portugal, New Zealand, Mexico, Spain, Great Britain, Brazil, South Africa, Costa Rica, Argentina, Japan, Ireland, Chile, Belgium, Peru, India, the Maldives, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have entered the event.

“It is fantastic to see that contestants from many different nationalities have already entered into So Sri Lanka Pro,” said World Surf League (WSL) Contest Director for the event, Will Hayden-Smith. “The event is extremely important for all these surfers with essential qualification points aligned to the world rankings. With great waves also very likely to greet these surfers, they have shown their approval for the event with entries coming in from all over the world.”

Many of these surfers are well known within the world professional surfing ranks and many are serious contenders to represent their nations in the 2020 Japan Olympic Games, where surfing makes its Olympic debut.

One such surfer is the fast-emerging Rio Waida from Indonesia. The powerful youngster was placed third in the WSL World Junior Championships in 2018 and he is already identified as the future star of the sport.

“I am very excited to be coming to Sri Lanka for this great event,” said Waida. “I have heard great things about the waves in Sri Lanka and it is always fantastic for us to have the opportunity to compete in quality surf. I can’t wait!”

So Sri Lanka Pro 2019 will also play as a huge opportunity for some of the local surfers to take on the international professionals as wildcards in the event. This opportunity is something that has been made possible through the WSL and the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka.

The world-famous tourist resort in Pottuvil, Arugam Bay is going to be a hive of activity as a series of events have been organised from September 23 till the end of the month. This world-qualified ranking event in surfing and World Tourism Day have been planned to be celebrated there.

The ranking event in surfing has been organised in conjunction with the Sri Lanka National Surf Federation under the guidance of the World Surf Federation and elaborate arrangements have been made to accord a warm welcome to surfers from various parts of the world.

The event for local surfers has been scheduled for September 23 and 24, where 32 surfers from various parts of the country have already submitted their entries while the world-qualified ranking event is to be worked out on September 25 and 29, where more than 130 surfers are expected to take part in this event.

A progress review meeting to finalise arrangements and to entrust assignments to respective organisations and personalities held at the Arugam Bay Tristar Hotel auditorium was presided over by District Secretary D.M.L. Bandaranayake with the participation of Additional District Secretary A.M. Latheef, Eastern Province Tourism Bureau Director General A.S.M. Faiz, Pottuvil Divisional Secretariat D.R. Thiraviaraj, Divisional Secretary M.A.C. Nazeel, Pottuvil Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman M.S.M. Waseeth, Chamber of Tourism and Industry President A.M. Jaufer, Arugam Bay Tourism Association Chairman M.H.A. Raheem and high-ranking officers of Tri Forces.

Lanka Sportreizen Chairman Thilak Weerasinghe and President of the Sri Lanka Surfing Federation Hiran Ukwatte briefed the arrangements being made for the event. Officials in charge of electricity, water supply or drinking water, hotel and accommodation for invitees, parking areas, security arrangements, temporary police posts, first aid services, transportation, volunteering, invitees and invitations, solid waste and garbage management, carnival site arrangement, beach cleaning, sanitary facilities, refreshments, media campaign, and promotion and publicity were also discussed at length.

Arugam Bay Tourism Association Chairman M.H.A. Raheem said that there are 226 hotels in Arugam Bay with a capacity of 3,000 rooms to accommodate more than 7,500 tourists from various parts of the world.

“If necessary, additional accommodation facilities too could be arranged. Bookings have already been made and some of the competitors have already arrived and are practicing. This is a good sign,” he said.

“So Sri Lanka Pro 2019 will also play as a huge opportunity for some of the local surfers to take on the international professionals as wildcards in the event. This opportunity is something that has been made possible through the WSL and the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka. It will be amazing to have the WSL come back to Sri Lanka,” said Sri Lankan Surfing Federation President Hiran Ukwatte.

“We cannot wait to witness a world-class event and watch the positive effect it will have on surf sports in our country and on surf tourism to the area. Arugam Bay is a world-class wave with some fantastic local surfers such as D.A. Lakshitha from Weligama, Praneeth Sandaruwan and Lesitha Prabath from Arugam Bay to name a few. These surfers are looking forward to the opportunity to compete with surfers from all over the world,” he said.

“They will have the opportunity to compete with wildcards in the So Sri Lanka Pro event, which will be an incredible experience for them. At present, the three top surfers of Sri Lanka are competing at the2019 ISA World Surfing GamesinMiyazaki, Japan, which is an Olympic qualifying event. Finally, the tireless efforts of the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka have made this event happen and I truly believe the event will make the Federation grow in many ways and become an integral part of sport development in this country,” Ukwatte said.

“Meanwhile, beaches are also being cleaned by the Arugam Bay Development Forum (ADF). Members of the ADF, Tri Forces personnel and the public too are participating in shramadana. A large number of foreigners too are voluntarily engaged in this task,” ADF President Hajith said.

Arrangements are also afoot to celebrate World Tourism day on September 27 in Arugam Bay with colourful and cultural events. The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Tourism Bureau of Eastern Province together with the Chamber of Tourism and Industry of Sri Lanka have drawn up all programs.

Eastern Province Tourism Bureau Director General A.S.M. Fayis told the Daily News that the highlight of the day would be the sail and cruise ship from which one could watch whales and dolphins.

Foreigners and locals are allowed to board the ship for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Meanwhile, Chamber of Tourism and Industry President A.M. Jaufer has made all arrangements to give away the awards and certificates to the winners who won the art competition on the theme ‘Creating employment opportunities in tourism’; an Eco Tourism Award will also be presented.

At the same time, the National Youth Services Council has planned a few cultural events with the objective of strengthening communal amity, inter-communal harmony and co-existence.

source:
http://www.dailynews.lk/2019/09/18/features/197202/world-surfs-sri-lanka

(0)

Muhudu Maha Viharaya

The legendary photographer, the late Nihal Fernando’s stunning image narrates the tale of the vanishing glory of Muhudu Maha Viharaya

Life brings tears, smiles and memories that last forever. All it takes is a picture to bring back a thousand memories. Our subject this time is the Muhudu Maha Viharaya in Pottuvil where time stands still, where the dust of the royal past never settles. How about reliving an age gone by?

Now, you can take a step back in time and enjoy the fascinating past. Photographic records of a bygone era capture a slice of history and become part of our cultural heritage. Nihal Fernando’s timeless photo of Muhudu Maha Viharaya, brings alive the past in minute detail. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. The photo, with a vast grove of coconut trees amidst the ancient ruins of Muhudu Maha Viharaya narrates the tale of today’s despair in a telling manner.

Though there is no dearth of evidence on an era gone by in Muhudu Maha Viharaya, this picture is perhaps the first of its kind. Fernando might have taken it in the 60s or 70s which shows how the temple ground occupies the grove of coconut trees near the sea coast off Pottuvil. Just about everything in Pottuvil is contained in this photo. And what’s more, it solves many a jigsaw puzzle.

The photo presents a grove of coconut trees in front of the temple ruins which belonged to the temple and is now a bustling housing scheme. Similarly, one gets to see government buildings close to the sea coast near the temple. This photo is one of the best ways to show the picture of Muhudu Maha Viharaya in an age gone by and today the temple is facing a land dispute.

Photographer Nihal Fernando embarked on a voyage across the length and breadth of the country with camera in hand in an era of black and white or monochrome photography (sixties and seventies). He captured historic sites, monuments, people and wildlife, travelling freely everywhere in the country which was an obvious advantage during the post-independence but pre-war period.

I am an avid admirer of this great photographer and the stunning photo was culled from one of his pictorial books –‘The Wild- The free – The beautiful’- published in 1988.

At the Muhudu Maha Viharaya, he captured this breathtaking candid shot that captures the solitude and silence of the environs in a bygone era which is evidence of today’s encroachment of temple land by nearby villagers.

As Nihal Fernando did, I too visited Muhudu Maha Viharaya on several occasions during my journeys to the East. I visited it after the Peace Accord (MoU) was signed by the Government and the LTTE in 2000 and also during my visits to the Yala East National Park.

During my second visit in 2008, I stayed overnight at the temple to view the breathtaking sunrise over Arugam Bay. At that time, Ven. Kataragama Sirirathana Thera was the resident monk of the Viharaya. He told me that he rarely gets the Dana (alms) twice a day since the Sinhala Buddhis community is very small in Pottuvil. Sometimes he depended on the Buddhist pilgrims who visited the temple.

Ven. Udalamaththe Ratnapriya Thera is the present resident monk of the temple. He said that in the past the temple owned 30 acres of land, but due to encroachment by the villagers the land has shrunk to a very small area. He said there are around 17 Sinhala families who live around Pottuvil and offer Dana (alms) to the temple. Sometimes, the soldiers of the nearby Army camp provide meals while some financial contributions are provided by Buddhist pilgrims who visit the site. Not far away from the township of Pottuvil lies a tiny hamlet amidst bustling concrete block houses. Scattered here and there on the elevated ground were a few stone pillars and a torso of the standing statue of the Buddha along with limbless limestone -cut statues believed to be a Mahayanist Buddhist site. In the bushes of the sand dunes generated by the waves are a few stone pillars. A few yards away from this spot on the sandy beach facing the sea was a heap of broken bricks strewn here and there. Some stone pillars were partially submerged in the sand. A glistering newly-built white dagoba stands majestically on the elevated ground in the coast. Several brickbats and terracotta sculptures have been discovered in the process of excavation.

The name given to this antique spot locally is Muhudu Maha Viharaya. According to a folk tale, after the Royal wedding of Princess Vihara Maha Devi, daughter of King Kelani Tissa and King KavanTissa of the Rohana kingdom, the Royal couple made their maiden visit (probably on their honeymoon) to this spot. Kelaniya was submerged by the sea due to a natural disaster. Princess Devi the daughter of the King of Kelaniya was cast away to sea in a vessel and the princess washed ashore near the Muhudu Maha Vihara in Pottuvil. To commemorate that occasion, the king is said to have built these dagobas and the image house which are now almost in ruins and hardly discernible.

When Nihal Fernando visited the site, the limestone cut-Buddha statue that was lying prone on the ground has since been restored. This fallen Buddha statue has now been restored to its original standing position by the Department of Archaeology. However, the stunning photo that Nihal Fernando captured many decades ago is a perfect picture of Muhudu Maha Viharaya even to date.

source:
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2019/09/08/reflections/going-back-time-through-timeless-frame

 

 

 

 

Lankan’s biggest surfing event ever scheduled for June

International Surf WQS planned at Arugam Bay this June!

With the growing success of the Surfing Federation of Sri Lanka (SFSL), it will host the World’s most accomplished Surfers in a World Qualifying Series (WQS) competition this June at Arugam Bay.

The SFSL is a member of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka and will play a big part in the proceedings.

Altogether, 145 competitors and 105 officials from 22 countries such as United States, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, France, Japan and Indonesia, to name a few. are billed to participate, with the projected income for Sri Lanka set at US$ 450,000.

Surf Champ. Julian Wilson. Enjoying his winning with a cool Corona @ the Siam View

The World Surf League (WSL) is the home of professional Surfing, and the WQS events are given Star Ratings with this particular event made a 6 Star Event, the highest rating in this series, up with the Hawaiian events and attracting the very best of professional Surfers. In the exciting world of professional Surfing no one is safe on the “tour” and attendance and good results at these events, held worldwide, are vital in keeping the dreams alive of a possible world title one day.

The WQS is the only possible route into the final Championship Tour that decides a world champion from 32 Surfers, but those in the lower rankings of the Championship Tour have to compete in the WQS events to stay on that tour, so expect to see some of the biggest names in Surfing gracing our waves.

The global media presence at the WSL events is massive with an expected 120 million online viewers over an event window. This media exposure would be a huge boost to, not only Arugam Bay and Eastern Sri Lanka, but to the entire Sri Lankan tourism sector. Sri Lanka would be up in the rankings of Hawaii, California and Australia who of course are major venues for WSL events.

WSL events are expect to bring around US$ 450,000 of direct revenue to the area where the competitions are held, but it’s the aftermath of this exposure online that has made a huge and positive impact for many countries that have hosted these events.

So how do they find a winner? Surfers are judged by a panel of 5 professional judges who travel the tour and the Surfer will be judged according to a set criteria, with each wave judged out of a possible maximum 10 in a 20-30 minute period. Of course, they are surfing against their rivals but more than that, they are trying to catch the judges eyes with a solid performance. Its exciting stuff and quite easy to understand. Even the layman can often give a solid opinion on a spectacular surfing display. Surfers compete against one another in groups of 4 until the final exciting rounds where its man-on-man competition until the winner is crowned. They receive considerable prize money too for their efforts.

source (of the text content):
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/190203/sports/lankans-biggest-surfing-event-ever-scheduled-for-june-334099.html

(0)

Luftwaffe Magazin mentions AbaY !

Aragum is a working Bay

ARUGAM BAY: POTHEADS, SURFERS AND A GREAT DREAM Cheap nasonex nasal spray A?Exploring the real Sri Lanka is best done by bus. What you should know: Buses never use their brakes, and love to overtake. Rock-hard benches, diesel engines that sound like tractors and a Bollywood-style soundtrack are all part of the trip to Arugam Bay. Ita??s a genuine experience and takes ten hours.

A two-kilometer stretch of street lined with huts, houses and small hotels: This is the east coasta??s legendary surf spot. West of the place also known as a??A-Bay,a?? peacocks strut across paddy fields, and further south, elephants lumber through the wilderness. I arrive with a headache, a backache and hurting ears: I need a beer. The Siam View Hotel, owned by A-Bay veteran Fred Netzband-A?Miller, 65, serves the best beer, I am told. a??I came here in the seventies, to smoke pot and surf,a?? says the Dutchman. a??Then I met a A?local woman. She said therea??d be nothing happening between us unless I married her first. So I did a?? ten days later.a??

We are on the roof of his hotel, on the Flower Power Terrace. Over a beer a?? homemade and excellent, by the way a?? Fred talks about the wild days in A-Bay a?? and about the civil war, the battles that raged on other beaches not far from here. Surfers still came to A-Bay, though a?? for the spectacular waves a?? if necessary even traveling through the region occupied by the rebel Tamil Tigers. Fred also experienced and survived the 2004 tsunami in A-Bay: a??I was up here, partying with my staff. All of a sudden, there was salt water sloshing into my gin and tonic. Absolutely unacceptable!a?? Then the easy smile he has worn until now disappears. a??But seriously, you know: The party saved our lives.a??

Others were not so fortunate: Up to 38 000 Sri Lankans lost their lives in the tsunami, among them the father of Irsah and Irfan. On the beach in the morning, I meet the 25-year-old twins, who work as surf instructors and fishermen today. a??We were 14,a?? Irfan says, a??and had to quit school because our mother had no money.a?? Today, they are short of cash again; this time to fullfill the great dream they share. Irsah points to a structure at the top of the beach with no walls, but a large roof about 14 to 15 square meters in area, made of palm leaves and supported by tree trunks. a??Thata??s going to be our surf school,a?? Irsah tells me, a??as soon as we have a few spare rupees, wea??ll carry on building, buy some second-hand boards. And then wea??ll really make a splash a?? youa??ll see!a??

Tripping. On a small road to Arugam

video-bus Protonix 20 mg price Amantadine generic name How much does fosamax increase bone density

Super-Rich Wild Life

Why Sri Lanka is super-rich for wildlife

How geology, evolution and ancient cultures forged a super-rich wildlife destination

Is escitalopram cheaper than lexapro
 

“Sri Lanka is a puzzle: it has large animals which a moderately sized island should not have. In fact it has the highest annually recurring concentration of wild elephants and possibly the highest density of leopards”

Hakgala CRW_4472 (c) Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Hakgala CRW_4472 (c) Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

above: Toque Monkey 2008 08 05

Synopsis

This article unveils an internationally significant story. It quantifies how the species per unit area in Sri Lanka is unexpectedly anything from 5 to 13 times higher for certain species groups, than predicted by island bio geography in comparison to other large tropical islands such as Borneo, New Guinea and Madagascar. Sri Lanka is a puzzle: it has large animals which a moderately sized island should not have. In fact it has the highest annually recurring concentration of wild elephants and possibly the highest density of leopards. Unusually for a continental island, large whales are close to shore (best for Blue Whale and super-pods of Sperm Whales). This article is the first to provide a cohesive explanation in plain English as to how planetary physics, evolutionary forces and human factors have worked, almost as if with a design to create a wildlife super-rich island; arguably the best all-round wildlife watching destination.

Introduction

This is the story of how evolutionary forces and ancient civilizations have made a tropical island super-rich for wildlife on a scale that is not seen anywhere on moderately sized or large islands. Sri Lankaa??s super-richness on a proportionate scale eclipses large islands such as Madagascar, Borneo and New Guinea.

Alfred Russell Wallace, the founder of modern bio geography and Charles Darwin with whom he shared the theory of natural selection in evolution were both influenced by what they had observed on islands. Both of them would have been surprised by Sri Lanka. Almost every key driver of evolution seems to have played a part in shaping its biodiversity. The result is an island which is rich in wildlife both in terms of endemic tropical biodiversity as well as large land animals and marine mammals and in concentrations which give rise to some of the worlda??s most interesting wildlife spectacles. Ita??s an island which Wallace and Darwin or modern biologists could not have imagined as so many of the bio geographical and evolutionary forces have come in to play simultaneously, to create an unrivaled richness. To top it all, ita??s a compact country with good tourism infrastructure making it optimal for wildlife tour operators.

This article is about the physical, evolutionary, and human factors that have made Sri Lanka something seemingly imaginary, but yet real.

In a previous article (Sunday Times: Sri Lanka, 13 January 2013) I explained why Sri Lanka has a claim to be the best all-round wildlife destination from a wildlife tour operatora??s perspective. In this article I explain the physical, evolutionary and human-induced forces that have made this happen. In essence, I would simplify it conceptually into a three part a??business modela?? for the creation of a top wildlife destination. The first is a set of physical factors, especially those influencing both surface and underwater topography. These together with other planetary phenomena such as plate tectonics and monsoons create structural or topographical complexity on land and under water. Together with time, the topographical or structural complexity on land with monsoonal rainfall has led to the creation of distinct climatic (and hence ecological) zones that are the engine for specialization. Sri Lanka has benefited from other physical factors such as an ancient Gondwana start and having deep seas close to it unlike other continental islands. Having set up the right conditions for evolutionary factors, the engine of speciation needs to be fed with raw material. The output of the species production factory will be enhanced if besides the operation of long intervals of evolutionary time scales, new species production is boosted by fresh stocks of mainland species through immigrant waves. However, surprisingly, Sri Lanka has managed to produce a phenomenally above normal species richness (explained below with examples) primarily from evolutionary radiations within the island resulting in endemic genera and species. It seems that only later has it supplemented its cargo of species by land-bridging repeatedly with the mainland. This has become more apparent recently through phylogenetic studies using DNA.

I would describe the land-bridging as a five stage process for building up the number of species. During periods of glaciations, water is deposited as ice on land and sea levels fall forming a land bridge in the shallow seas. A land bridge is still physically evident in the discontinuous land bridge between Mannar and India, known as Adama??s Bridge. New waves of immigrants are imported to the island via the land bridge and dispersed and then isolated by rising sea levels drowning the land bridge during warming after an ice age (a post glacial). The new arrivals are physically stressed into niches by complex structural and physical factors of topography and climate. In essence, the process is connect a?? import and disperse a?? isolate a?? stress a?? speciate.

Glaciations have been a key agent of the islanda??s richness in allowing large land mammals to colonise and persist in Sri Lanka. However, phylogenetic studies indicate that most of the radiations of endemic species occurred before the land bridge connections of the Pleistocene epoch in the Quaternary Period. So land-bridging has helped, but still unresolved evolutionary forces have been responsible for the species super-richness which occurred before the recent Pleistocene ice age.

The third of the large scale factors is that it has benefitted from human factors or a cultural overlay. The last has two aspects. Firstly, the decline of ancient kingdoms has resulted in great seasonal gatherings of wild elephants and one of the best sites for leopards. This creates wildlife spectacles which make great viewing on wildlife safaris. (These spectacles have also been complemented by evolutionary factors mentioned above resulting in species radiations which are of great scientific interest even though species such as amphibians are not high on the list of commercial wildlife safaris). The second aspect of the cultural overlay is that the deep respect for life makes wildlife viewing easy as man and animals co-exist with great tolerance.

Taking Stock: What does Sri Lanka have?

Allow me to start by surprising you. If I asked you which country has the largest seasonally recurring gathering of elephants, what would your answer be? You might think it is somewhere in Africa. And if I asked you for an easy and reliable location to see Blue Whales, the largest animals to have lived on Earth and once one of the hardest animals to see, what would it be? Or consider super-pods of Sperm Whales, the largest toothed carnivore. Is there a country where there is a chance of seeing one on a commercial whale watch? Or one of the best to photograph leopards or the Sloth Bear (possibly the largest tropical bear)? The surprise is that the answer to all of these is the same country; Sri Lanka. This is both impressive and surprising given that it is in contradiction to conventional island biogeography according to which a moderately sized island (65,610sq. km.) is unlikely to have large terrestrial animals.

Sri Lankaa??s potential to be the best for big game safaris outside Africa (albeit on a different and smaller scale) is only now beginning to be discovered by wildlife photographers from both within and outside the island.

All-right, I hear you say; top marks for the big stuff. But what about biodiversity? Well, let me surprise you again and illustrate it with a recent statistic. First remember that it is well established that the larger the land area, the larger the number of species will be (the species-area relationship). Of course we also need to compare land areas from similar latitudes because species richness increases as one travels from high latitudes to the tropics. Leta??s take inland snakes for example. Sri Lanka has 89 species in approximately 66,000sq. km. How much more would you estimate that other tropical islands which are approximately between nine to twelve times bigger will have?

The numbers are surprising: New Guinea (86 species in 786,000sq. km.), Madagascar (91 species in 578,000sq. km.) and Borneo (141 species in 734,000sq. km.). One would have expected these islands to have ten times as many species. But none manages even twice as much and the extent which Sri Lanka is above the species-area curve is conspicuous even if you factor in that more species are to be discovered in the bigger islands. The relative species per unit area is extraordinary and is repeated with many species groups.

So why is Sri Lanka off the curve?

Clearly there is something remarkable and special going on with the forces of speciation, about which the island has still received little international publicity, although that will change when wildlife film producers pay it more attention.

For many vertebrate species, Sri Lanka ranks high in terms of species per unit area. Leta??s take a closer look at one vertebrate example where this may not seem to be the case. Costa Rica is synonymous with amphibians. With a land area of 51,000sq. km. it is fifteen per cent smaller than Sri Lanka and has more amphibian species; 199 versus the 120 from Sri Lanka. So is Sri Lanka not special with amphibians? Although Costa Rica is smaller as a political unit, it benefits from being part of the large physical unit of South America. Therefore in a wider sense the species-area still holds as it has benefitted from being a part of the vast South American continent. A better comparison for Sri Lanka would be a similar sized or larger island which is a natural bio-geographical entity. For example, Madagascar, which is nine times bigger, has only two and a half times as many amphibian species.

After mammals, birds are the most a??touristya?? of animals. Sri Lanka has 33 species of endemic birds, largely confined to its lowland and highland wet zones. The number of endemic birds per unit area is high compared to Borneo (52 species) and Madagascar (106 species with a 51% endemism rate), but on par with New Guinea (320 species). A further fifty plus species of birds found in Sri Lanka are shared only with India (subcontinental endemics). Furthermore, it has a special avian spectacle in the Sinharaja Bird Wave. This is the longest continuously studied mixed species bird flock phenomenon in the world, with the largest average number of individuals in a flock from such studies and offers the most stable viewing of usually fast moving tropical bird waves. The island is the last stop on the Central Asian flyway and a million migrant shorebirds were counted one February in a land based census which suggests that Viddathalthivu in the Mannar region may even be the most important integral site for migrants on the Central Asian flyway. The shorebirds make landfall in Sri Lanka funnelling through the once powerful ancient seaport of Mannar through to the Palatupana Salterns and Bundala National Park in the South: the latter two offer some of the best close viewing of waders in the world.

As explained earlier, a three factor a??business modela?? has been at work to create this extraordinary richness and I will expand on this in the sections to follow.

Creating the perfect, super-rich wildlife destination

Imagine your goal was to create the perfect location for wildlife tourism. Sri Lanka would be a good example of how to go about it. You want to keep it small so that tourists dona??t have to travel too far from one location to another. But not too small as small areas dona??t have many animals and also cannot hold on to their animals. An island would be good as isolation allows species to evolve into new species. An ancient start would help. So leta??s begin with Sri Lanka being split off from ancient Southern Gondwana, tethered to India and drifting north on the Indian tectonic plate, carrying an ancient cargo of species which results in affinities between species in Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Next, crash the Indian plate into the Asian land mass (creating the Himalayas) and allowing Palaearctic mammals such as the tiger to drift south into India. Anchor Sri Lanka nearby as a continental island to enable immigration of species from the Asian mainland. But leave the island isolated for sufficiently long interglacial periods (where sea levels rise cutting off the island) for the process of speciation to allow endemics to evolve.

Isolation and physical stresses have resulted in high levels of endemism (e.g. 100% freshwater crabs, 95% amphibians, 80% land molluscs, 53% freshwater-obligate fish, 52% of dragonflies, 25% flowering plants, etc.).These have been supplemented by the a??immigrantsa?? from later land bridge connections. The down-side of repeat connections is that Sri Lanka does not have as high a proportion of endemic species or a number of endemic families as found on an island such as Madagascar.

Physical isolation is not enough and ecological isolation is also desirable, both from Asia and within the island. A good trick here is to create a central mountainous core, with two alternating and diagonally blowing monsoons (the Southwest and North-east) creating a very moist a??wet zonea??, distinct from a a??dry zonea??. The mountains also allow for a further vertical zonation, allowing more speciation to take place as some species diverge into sister species at different altitudes. Horton Plains National Park, the roof of Sri Lanka has many species confined to the highlands.

Build on this theme by up-thrusting a few more rugged, spectacular mountain ranges such as the Knuckles Wilderness creating elevated wet zone a??islands a??within the wet zone.This creates point endemics such as the Tennenta??s Leaf-nosed Lizard in the Knuckles. For extra measure add a few mountainous edges to lowland rainforests like Sinharaja to create more point endemics like Karua??s and Erdelena??s Dragon-lizards in Eastern Sinharaja (15 of the 18 agamid or dragon-lizards are endemic). Indulge in more innovation by throwing up a mountain with a wet zone character; Ritigala, surrounded by a sea of dry zone with more point endemics and build a legend around it that it was a piece of medicinal herb rich mountain from the Himalayas dropped by the Monkey God Hanuman as told in the Indian epic of Ramayana. Culture and wildlife go hand in hand in this area of ancient kingdoms of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, where the tallest archaeological brick buildings in the whole world; giant stupas, stand. Endemic Toque Monkeys wage ferocious tribal wars watched over by meditating saffron robed monks and are studied in one of the longest running zoological field studies in the world; the Smithsonian Primate Research project.

The process of speciation can be accelerated further by throwing in a few evolutionary tricks like direct development in the Rhacophorid Tree Frogs. This allows them to skip the stage of laying eggs in water and having tadpoles developing in water which leaves them vulnerable to periods when ephemeral bodies of water dry out. Instead, allow them to use foam nests in which the eggs develop into little frogs which plop out fully formed allowing one of the significant species radiations discovered in the 20th century to take place. There are many other examples of species radiations; for example all 20 of the forestdamsels described so far from the island are endemic. In fact Sri Lanka has four, five, and six times as many species of dragonflies per unit area than New Guinea, Borneo and Madagascar respectively. Geological turmoil and variations in the climate creating a??ecological nichesa?? could also have created physical stresses that favoured evolutionary variation. In fact, although I have referred to Sri Lankaa??s land area as 66,000 sq. km., most of the endemism is packed into an area of around 15,000 sq. km. ; less than a quarter of the total in what comprises the wet zone. This a??localisationa?? of small-range endemic species makes the endemicity (e.g. 740 endemic flowering plants in the wet zone) and the species richness in the wet zone even more remarkable.

Whilst all this is happening, keep stirring the evolutionary brew with fresh material. A few judiciously spaced out glaciations will lower sea levels forming a land bridge (Adama??s Bridge linking India to Mannar across the Palk Strait) allowing mainland species to immigrate and start anew to evolve into new species. Wildlife tourists like big stuff, so keep the land bridge open to get a good population in of the elephants, leopards and Sloth Bears. Ooops! Closed it too soon as enough tigers did not make it across to establish a viable population.

Having got the big stuff in, one may as well make an eco-tourism spectacle out of it. This requires some human intervention or anthropogenic factors for the technically minded. Throw in a liberal sprinkling of ancient kings who will usher a golden age of hydraulic civilisation. They will dot the islanda??s dry zone with grand civil engineering works, with vast lakes (e.g. the Sea of Parakrama) irrigating agriculture. Allow this to go to ruin and perfect conditions are made for the Elephant Gathering at Kaudulla and Minneriya in the North-Central Province where over 300 elephants may gather on the receding lakes in search of grazing, water, mates and social networking (elephants dona??t use Facebook)! Allow the farmland in the South-East in Yala to turn to grassland where together with the man-made waterholes, conditions are perfect for high densities of Spotted Deer, in turn creating one of the highest densities of leopards. The over 2,000 man-made lakes or wewas create wildlife rich wetlands which pre-date the interventionist conservation efforts of the London Wetland Centre. In Yala at Buttuwa Wewa, this results in the largest seasonal concentration in the world of the Mugger or Freshwater Crocodile, the second largest land reptile in the world. Not far away, the soft sandy beaches are visited by five of the seven species of marine turtle including the Leatherback; a giant!

Introduce Buddhism and Hinduism, two great world religions with a respect for animal life. Most animals lose their fear of people and everything from leopards in Yala, Blue and Sperm Whales in the surrounding oceans to fighting Purple Swamphens in Talangama Wetland (close to the commercial capital Colombo) are embarrassingly curious and camera friendly for tourists.

With the top side sorted out, the marine side needs some attention as well. The trick here is to have deep water close to shore which suits the large whales (unlike an island like Britain which is covered with shallow seas or the islands of the Indonesian archipelago).

Improve on this by having the continental shelf pinching in at the South at Dondra Head near the fishery harbour of Mirissa so that Blue Whales can be seen easily close to shore on a morning whale watch from a coastline studded with luxury villas, boutique hotels and backpacker crash pads. Create a deep 400m depth isobath running north-south for Sperm Whales in Kalpitiya (the Sperm Whale Strip of E 79 35 to E 79 40). Slide a peninsula of golden sandy beaches out onto it so that the Sperm Whales are a mere fifteen minutes by boat. For those for whom boats are not their thing, thrust a deep submarine canyon into Trincomalee in the North-East so that Blue and Sperm Whales can be seen from ashore on some days from the temple atop Swami Rock or very rarely from the pool side of beach hotels. For extra good measure throw in a few more canyons on the east coast which are good for enigmatic and elusive beaked whales. All of this is being a bit greedy as the island also has shallow seas where it needs it most; close to the mainland, to allow intermittent land connections for the immigrant waves to supplement the speciation factory.

The island has the best of everything in terms of underwater topography; now add to this a generous mix of nutrients. Whales need food; lots of it. The two monsoons are in charge of the kitchen, driving a hundred and three river systems (yes, thata??s right, 103) bringing down rich organic nutrients from the mountains, slow released from the lichen cloaked cloud forests to the lowlands creating nutrient rich soup around the island. The Blue Whales and the Cloud Forests are inter-connected. Not content with that, whip up some speed with the monsoons and create upwellings, which generate phytoplankton blooms which show up on Indian remote sensing satellites suspended in space in geo-synchronous orbits. All of this food creates fringing coral reefs which are rich in marine species.

Sri Lankaa??s coastline which is 432km long has approximately 800 species of marine fish recorded. Sites better publicised for their marine wildlife such as the 1,126km long Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) has 700 species of fish. The Maldivian islands which stretch across 1,500km have around 1,200 species recorded and the Great Barrier Reef stretching over 2,600km has 1,500 species. If we consider the number of marine fish species per unit length, we can see that Sri Lanka has roughly treble the statistic for the Gulf of California and double that for the Maldives. This is a very crude measure but it helps to give a flavour to the layperson of the relative species richness. The nutrient rich water in Sri Lanka and the monsoons which lash the shores reduce visibility in the water.

The lack of good viewing has resulted in its species richness not being understood as almost everyone including dive operators in Sri Lanka think the waters are a??poora?? for fish compared to other tropical destinations. I have come to realise that a??poor viewinga?? has been confused with a??poor species richnessa??, which it is not.

To be clear about context, for big game safaris many countries in Africa are unmatched. Large tropical islands such as Madagascar and New Guinea, lack large land mammal herbivores such as elephants or large carnivores such as leopards (Borneo does not have leopards and the origin of its elephants is disputed) but in absolute terms of species, have huge biodiversity. However, from the viewpoint of commercial wildlife tourism, in terms of ease of access, tourism infrastructure, affordability and with a short time frame of say two weeks, there is no country which has the array of terrestrial big game, endemism-rich species density, spectacular marine wildlife, diverse landscapes and close-knit cultural bonds (love-hate with elephants) with wildlife that is found in Sri Lanka.

The proof of the pudding of the physical, evolutionary and human factors is in the viewing. A visit of mine in April 2012 is an example of good evidence. I had an amazing trip where in the space of two weeks I watched courting Blue Whales, scrumming Sperm Whales, had a mother and baby elephant pad silently past my vehicle and drove back to camp in the gathering dusk, passing leopards out on the hunt.

In this article, I have with some speculation on my part drawn together material that is known from Sri Lanka and the mechanics of large scale processes studied elsewhere. Science is dynamic and what is known and conjectured today can change. But the broad principles should hold true and I hope I have explained why Sri Lanka deserves more attention from both those viewing wildlife for pleasure as well as those studying how planetary forces and time, drive the great engine of evolution and biogeographical distributions. At this point I should add a gentle reminder that in reality evolution is a a??blind processa?? although I have for the purpose of telling a story, written it as if evolution had set out to make a super-rich wildlife destination.

I have to add that although it is arguably the best all-round country for multi-faceted wildlife viewing with ease, it comes with a caveat.

Sri Lanka does need improvement in terms of better interpretation and better facilities for visitors at parks and reserves and more responsible guiding. Finally and alarmingly, less than 8% of its biodiversity rich wet zone remains forested and more attention is needed both locally and internationally to lay emphasis on how special this island is for its wildlife.

Island Magic: A summary of how Planetary Physics, Evolution and Ancient Cultures forged a super-rich wildlife destination

  1. Physical Factors
    Continental Island – Permitted intermittent land connection with mainland allowing immigrant waves (see below). Also continental islands usually inherit a rich stock of species unlike oceanic islands created from volcanic activity.
    Origin – Benefits from an ancient stock of species which have become island endemics but shows affinities to groups as far away as in Madagascar.
    Two diagonally blowing monsoons and a central mountain range – Highly distinct and extreme climatic zones found more typically on large continental masses.
    Isolation – Despite the intermittent land connections and proximity to the mainland, the creation of a climatically distinct wet zone, allowed speciation to operate in the manner it does in isolated environments.
    Mountain ranges – The central mountains together with the monsoons have created a topographical and climatic complexity, driving evolutionary forces to create more species. Some mountain ranges have a??point endemicsa?? and they create pockets of isolation all over the island.
    Deep seas close to shore and shallow seas with mainland. Best of both. – Sri Lanka violates the rule about continental islands having shallow seas around them by having deep seas and submarine canyons (except where it needs shallow seas the most, near the mainland to form intermittent land bridges). The deep seas create conditions for Blue Whales and Sperm Whales to be very close to shore, within sight of naked eye at times.
    River Systems – The 103 river systems drain a vast flow of organic nutrients into the deep seas around the island. Per unit length of distance, the coral reefs have more species than more famous marine reserves such as the Gulf of California and the Great Barrier Reef. But rich nutrient load and silt results in poorer visibility than other dive destinations.
  2. Indinavir buy

  3. Evolutionary factors
    Intermittent land bridge connections to mainland – Allowed successive immigrant waves from mainland to boost the number of species in the island and to a lesser extent supply a speciation factory with new material. Later colonisers if successful may evolve into new species if they penetrated a??pockets of isolationa?? in the wet zones. Sri Lanka breaks the rule that moderately sized or small islands dona??t have large animals thanks to the intermittent land bridge.
    Species Radiations – For example, rainforest tree frogs in the genus Philautus have evolved direct development, skipping egg laying and tadpoles in the water allowing them to radiate into new species. Other groups such as the Shadowdamsels have all 20 plus species endemic to the island. Evolutionary forces have resulted in Sri Lanka breaking the species-area relationship for islands. Land bridges may have played a part, although present evidence is that it has been a small influence.
  4. Human factors
    Ancient Civilisations and Religion – The Elephant Gathering and the high density of Leopards in Yala are both results of intense agricultural farming. A religious respect for other living beings means Blue Whales and Sperm Whales swim up to boats. Birds and other animals are prolific and tame.
  5. Result
    Wildlife spectacles, high proportion of endemism, large number of species, large animals and easy viewing Sri Lanka is the best in world for some of the most charismatic or desired species (e.g. Blue Whale a??largest animal, Sperm Whale super-pods a?? largest toothed carnivore) or has special spectacles (e.g. the largest recurring elephant gathering, the Sinharaja Bird Wave, high density of Leopards) all in a compact island with good tourism infrastructure and good specialist guides.

Ice Ages and Speciation

The table below summarises a 5 stage process in which a continental island like Sri Lanka would have benefitted by ice ages in enhancing species diversity. This assumes that ice ages acted to lower sea levels in the tropics but did not cover the land with ice sheets as it did in temperate latitudes with islands like Britain. If an island is covered with ice sheets, it will kill species and leave it poor. Britain for example has only 35 species of trees which are native. On the other hand a tropical island like Sri Lanka which was not covered in ice would benefit from a two way exchange of species with the mainland. The dry zone has benefitted from this connection and has species which are found in Southern India and in the northern half of Sri Lanka. The island also has large land mammals such as the elephant and large carnivores such as the leopard not typically found on moderately sized islands.

Puzzlingly and inconveniently, the phylogenetic studies on plants and animals suggest that radiation of species in Sri Lanka took place in the Tertiary age before the series of ice ages in the Pleistocene Epoch (in the Quaternary Period) with the last land bridge connection being as recent as 10,000 years ago. This poses two questions. Firstly, we see that evolutionary events happened in Sri Lanka so many millions of years ago that have left it richer in species compared to much larger tropical islands. New Guinea and Borneo also have varied topographies and have the structural complexity and physical stresses that Sri Lanka has.

If evolutionary events happen because of physical factors combining with random mutations in genes, why has the species per unit area not remained proportionate? Secondly, during the recent ice ages in the Quaternary Period, did the wet zone remain isolated from the Indian mainland surrounded by a sea of dry zone? For answers to the latter question more work will need to be done on the fossil record on plant pollen to understand the extent of different types of forest on the island. The five stage process I have outlined below is a useful general model, but based on what is known at present does not provide the evolutionary answers for Sri Lanka being super-rich in species. This is still a puzzle.

How ice ages could drive a 5 stage speciation process

  1. Connect
  2. Import
  3. Isolate and Disperse
  4. Stress
  5. Speciate
    Repeat to enhance species richness

Bibliography

Ashton, P. S., Gunatilleke, C. V. S. (1987). New light on the plant geography of Ceylon. I. Historical plant geography. Journal of Biogeography 14: 249a??285.
Bedjanic, M., Conniff, K., van der Poorten, N. & Salamun, A. (2014). Dragonfly fauna of Sri Lanka: distribution and biology, with threat status of its endemics. Pensoft, Sofia. 321 pp.
Bambaradeniya, C.N.B. (Editor), (2006). The Fauna of Sri Lanka: Status of Taxonomy, Research and Conservation. The World Conservation Union, Colombo Sri Lanka & Government of Sri Lanka. viii + 308 pages.
Bossuyt, F., Meegaskumbura, M., Beenaerts, N., Gower, D., Pethiyagoda, R., Roelants, K., Mannaert, A., Wilson, M., Bahir, M., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Ng, P. K. L., Schneider, C., Oommen, O. V. & Milinkovitch, M. C. (2004). Local endemism within the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot. Science., Volume 306. 479-481.
Dennis, R.L.H. (1977). British Butterflies. Their Origin and Establishment. E.W.Classey Ltd: Oxon.
Donnelly, T.W. & Parr. M.J. (2003). Odonata, Dragonflies and Damselflies. In Goodman, S. M., & Benstead, J.P. (Eds). (2003).
The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. Pages 1709.
Erdelen, W. R. (2012). Conservation of biodiversity in a hotspot: Sri Lankaa??s amphibians and reptiles. Amphibian and Reptile Conservation 5(2): 33-51.
Finlayson, C. (2011). Avian Survivors. The History and Biogeography of Palearctic Birds. T & A D Poyser. Bloomsbury: London. Pages 304.
Glaw, F., & Vences, M. (2003). Introduction to Amphibians. In Goodman, S. M., & Benstead, J.P. (Eds). (2003). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. Pages 1709. Goodman, S. M., & Benstead, J.P. (Eds). (2003). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. Pages 1709.
Hawkins, A. F. A., & Goodman, S.M. (2003). Introduction to the Birds. In Goodman, S. M., & Benstead, J.P. (Eds). (2003). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. Pages 1709.
Inger, R. F. & Lian, T. F. (1996). Checklist of the Frogs of Borneo Purchase cardizem online . The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 1996 44(2): 551-574.
Kalkman, V. & Orr, A. (2013). Field guide to the damselflies of New Guinea. Brachytron 16. Dutch Dragonfly Journal. Pages 118.
Kalkman, V.J. (2013). Studies on phylogeny and biogeography of damselflies (Odonata) with emphasis on the Argiolestidae. PhD Thesis. Leiden University. 224 pages.
Kottelat, M. & Whitten, T. (1996). Freshwater biodiversity in Asia with special reference to fish. World Bank Technical Report. Pages 72.
Kreft, H., Walter.j, Mutke, J., Kier, G., & Bartholott, W. (2008). Global diversity of island floras from a macroecological perspective. Ecology Letters (2008). 11:116-127.
Lowry, D.B. (2012). Ecotypes and the controversy over stages in the formation of new species. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 106, 241-257.
Losos, J.B. & Ricklefs, R.E. 2009. Adaptation and diversification on islands. Nature Vol 457. 12 February 2009.
MacKinnon, J & Phillipps, K. (1993). A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford University Press Inc., New York, United States. Illustrations by Karen Phillipps. 459 Pages.
Marshall, A.J., & Beehler, B.M. (Eds). (2007). The Ecology of Papua Part One. The Ecology of Indonesia Series Volume VI. First Edition.Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. Pages 1-749.
Marshall, A.J., & Beehler, B.M. (Eds). (2007). The Ecology of Papua Part Two. The Ecology of Indonesia Series Volume VI. First Edition. Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. Pages 750-1,467.
Meegaskumbura, M., Bossuyt, F., Pethiyagoda, R., Manamendra-Arachchi, K., Bahir, M., Milinkovitch, M. C. & Schneider, C. J. (2002). Sri Lanka: An Amphibian Hotspot. Science, 298: 379.
Michaux,B. (2010). Biogeology of Wallacea: geotectonic models, areas of endemism, and natural biogeographical units. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 101, 193-212.
Orr, A. G. (2005). A Guide to the Dragonflies of Borneo. Their identification and biology. Natural History Publications (Borneo). 195pages. ISBN 983-812-069-3.
Pethiyagoda, R. & Manamendra-Arachchi, K. 1998. Evaluating Sri Lankaa??s amphibian diversity. Occasional Papers of the Wildlife Heritage Trust, 2: 1a??12.
Pethiyagoda, R. (2005). Exploring Sri Lankaa??s biodiversity. The Raffles Bulletin pf Zoology. Supplement no 12: 1-4.
Phillips, Q & Phillipps, K. (2011). Phillipsa?? Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo. Second edition. John Beaufoy Publishing: UK. Pages 372.
Premathilake, R. & Gunatilaka, A. (2013). Chronological framework of Asian Southwest Monsoon events over the past 24,000 years in Sri Lanka and regional correlations. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka. 2013 41 (3): 219-228.
Pyron, R.A., Kandambi, H.K.D., Catriona, R.H., Pushpamal, V., Burbrink, F.T. & Somaweera, R. (2013). Genus-level phylogeny of snakes reveals the origins of species richness in Sri Lanka. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2012.12.004.
Quammen, D. (1996). The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an age of extinction. Pimlico an Imprint of Random House: London. Pages 702.
Rasmussen, P. C. & Anderton, J. C. (2005). Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Vols 1 and 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, Washington , D.C. and Barcelona. Vol 1: 180 colour plates, 378 pages. Vol 2: 683 pages.
Raxworthy, C.J. (2003). Introduction to the Reptiles. In Goodman, S. M., & Benstead, J.P. (Eds). (2003). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. Pages 1709.
Sparks, J.S. & Stiassny, M.L.J. (2003). Introduction to the Freshwater Fishes. In Goodman, S. M., & Benstead, J.P. (Eds). (2003). The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press. Pages 1709.
Van Tol, J. (2009). Phylogeny and biogeography of the Platystictidae (Odonata). Doctoral thesis. Leiden University.

Acknowledgements

Structural improvements were made to the article from comments from Pippa Jacks (Managing Editor of Travel Trade Gazette) and other useful comments were received from Tara Wikramanayake who also performed an extensive copy edit. Many others were used as a sounding board by me before I wrote this article. None of these people necessarily agree with the views and speculation the author makes in this article. My thanks to Keith Wijesuriya and his team at OMD Sri Lanka for designing the booklet which was released on 1 July 2014. The graphics showing the relative species richness is reproduced with permission from the Sunday Times: Sri Lanka and was prepared by Nalin Balasuriya. This article was first published as two articles in the Sunday Times Sri Lanka on 20 April 2014 and 27 April 2014. This version has been amended and expanded. The citations for the original articles are given below.
de Silva Wijeyeratne. G. (2014). Why Sri Lanka is super-rich for wildlife. Sunday Times: Sri Lanka. Sunday Times Plus. Page 8. Sunday 20 April 2014. Part 01.
de Silva Wijeyeratne. G. (2014). Creating a super-rich wildlife destination. Sunday Times: Sri Lanka. Sunday Times Plus. Page 8. Sunday 27 April 2014. Part 02.

Citation

The following citation is suggested for the expanded version of the articles which was released as a pdf.
de Silva Wijeyeratne. G. (2014). Why Sri Lanka is super-rich for wildlife. Pdf, circulated electronically. Version 1 July 2014.

Continue reading ‘Super-Rich Wild Life’

THE NEAREST FARAWAY PLACE

The road to Arugam Baya??. A surfera??s paradise. This story ran in Gulf aira??s inflight magazine, Gulf Life. The images have also been used by CNN Traveller and by the Metro newspaper. Ita??s an arduous journey to Arugam Bay. Even after making it to Sri Lankaa??s capital Columbo, ita??s a further twelve hours along dusty roads.But this is a small price to pay for the amazing scenery and wildlife youa??ll see.

Buy olanzapine uk PottuVille Point

Famous for its glorious west coast resorts and elephant safaris, Sri LankaA?is a firm tourist favourite. But the east coast of Sri Lanka representsA?uncharted waters for most. Home to pristine beaches and a laidbackA?lifestyle, Arugam Bay is carving out a niche for itself as a surfingA?paradise. Natacha Butler visits the countrya??s latest safari hotspot to catchA?a few waves

Cozaar 50mg online Purchase lincocin ampolletas Surfers at Arugam Bay

Ita??s a little after sunrise on Sri Lankaa??s east coast and at Arugam Bay theA?first surfers are out. Tousled-haired local boys and wave-chasing touristsA?breeze across the golden sand with well-worn surfboards tucked underarm.A?They head to the end of the long beach, to Main Point, where six-foot wavesA?rise and roll to shore.A?a??Ia??ve been surfing for 12 years, twice a day, everyday,a?? says Fawas Lafeer,A?the 26-year-old head of the Arugam Bay Surf Club. a??I love it,
I cana??tA?imagine life not surfing, which is why Ia??ll always live here; the waves areA?really good.a?? The waves are not just good, they are some of the best in theA?world, which is why surf-lovers have been making the journey to thisA?far-flung sleepy community on Sri Lankaa??s east coast for decades. In theA?1960s and 1970s they would set-off from the capital Colombo on an arduousA?nine-hour cross-country car journey on a barely-there road. Most wereA?Australians and Europeans chasing the thrill of an Indian Ocean ride.
Entranced by the breaks and a sweeping curved beach lined with palm trees,A?several ended up staying, helping to transform a poor fishing village intoA?the nationa??s top surf spot.A?a??Back then people came from everywhere,a?? says Anglo-Dutch civil engineerA?Fred Netzband-Miller, who arrived at Arugam Bay to surf in 1977, fell inA?love with the place and decided to call it home. He now runs the localA?hoteliersa?? association. a??It was the combination of quality waves and aA?beautiful beach.A?Although therea??sA?not much rain ita??s a very lush placeA?because of the rivers. Ia??ve travelled the world, but Arugam Bay is unique. a??The bay became such a hot destination in surf-circles that travellers neverA?abandoned it despite the shock of the devastating 2004 tsunami, whichA?battered the Sri Lankan coast on 26 December claiming more than 30,000A?lives, including one in ten people in Arugam Bay. They also defied nearlyA?three decades of deadly civil conflict between Tamil Tiger rebels and theA?Sri Lankan military. a??During the war surfers still came, they did not stop,they were not afraid,a?? explains Lafeer. a??You know surfers only think aboutA?surfing,a?? he laughs. Continue reading ‘THE NEAREST FARAWAY PLACE’

(0)

Dreams of Ceylon

Purchase lady era Promethazine with codeine online Imitrex generic price canada

PM makes revelations about a “mansion” in Arugam Bay

…….“Sri lankaa??s best beach is in Arugam Bay” ……
Addressing a public meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe revealed facts about a mansion that was being built in Arugam Bay.

Order nimotop infusion

Google Earth View of the Peanut Farm Hotel project, Panama - AbaY

Tamoxifen price in us Google Earth View of the Peanut Farm Hotel project, Panama – AbaY

The meeting was held in the Uluwitige area in Galle.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe speaking at the meeting expressed these views,

a??Recently I located a palace. It is bigger than the Buckingham palace. This was found in Arugam Bay. This palace also has a name. It is called the International Coordinating Headquarters. What we have found here are chalets, in other words holiday bungalows. There were 57 chalets. They were VIP chalets with pools. There are three pools. This is in the sea and it is 100 feet long. Sri lankaa??s best beach is in Arugam Bay. There are pools here. What is the purpose of this. Can international coordination be done from Arugam Bay Canon imageprograf ipf755 prices ? For whom are these built? Now we have put a halt to it. They have already built 15. Only walls have been put up and we have stopped further work. The Parliament has not given approval for this. Money from the Presidential Secretariat has been given for this. All financial regulations have been violated. Who paid for these? When these expenses were stopped, we could lower the fuel prices.a??

Minister of Mass media and Parliamentary affairs Gayantha Karunathilake too expressed views at the meeting.

a??They filled their pockets with commissions from road construction. This government will initiate a new beginning where everything will be done in a transparent way. All this would be done within the one hundred day programme.a??

http://newsfirst.lk/english/2015/02/pm-makes-revelations-mansion-arugam-bay/78216

Healing waters

BeitragVerfasst am: 06.08.2005 08:23A?A?A?A? A?A?Titel:

Surfen in Arugam
Antworten mit Zitat Where to purchase tetracycline

‘Healing watersCarolyn Fry finds that surfing is helping one Sri Lankan resort to get back on its feet after the tsunami

Tuesday August 2, 2005

Alan Stokes takes on the surf at Arugam Bay. Photograph: Carolyn Fry

On a sweeping stretch of cinnamon sand, a crowd turned its eyes to the rolling ocean surf. Local families, holiday-makers and a throng of photographers, film-makers and journalists were gathering to see the 2005 Champion of Champions surf contest in Arugam Bay, south-east Sri Lanka.
As a new day’s sun burned the sand through the fronds of coconut palms, surfers launched themselves into the water to ride the swell in a ballet of curving turns, speeding glides and twists of spray. The Boxing Day tsunami ripped through this sleepy beachside village, but the Indian Ocean’s barrelling waves are helping the community get back on its feet.

The legendary ‘right-handers’ of Arugam Bay have long attracted travelling wave-riders. During the country’s 20-year civil war, a dedicated group of Australian surfers regularly risked being bombed, or shot in cross-fire during violent battles between Tamil Tigers and the army. With the end of the conflict in 2002, more adventurers started to make the 10-hour journey along narrow, pitted roads to the famed beach.

Last year, when the British Professional Surfing Association (BPSA) held the first ever Champions surfing competition in the area it seemed things were finally looking up for this dusty, laid-back cluster of low-rise hotels, palm-roofed cabanas and fishermen’s shacks.

A message posted on the Siam View Hotel’s website at Christmas said: “The 2004 season has been the best the bay has ever seen. Nothing – not even another civil war – can stop the bay’s progress now.”

Hours later, the first of eight waves struck, sucking a metre of sand from the base of palms on Arugam Point, plucking cabanas and their inhabitants from the sand and smashing a thickening cargo of debris through the windows of the buses on the main street.

Simon, owner of the unfortunately named Tsunami Hotel, was managing the Siam View that night. He awoke to find himself underwater with his leg trapped. After breaking his ankle to free himself he was swept through several dwellings by the murky, diesel-tainted current before managing to grasp hold of some building blocks. This stopped Simon being swept out to sea as the water receded back to the horizon. Today, his faded superman tattoo has been supplemented by a fresh turquoise inking of a tsunami, along with the date he survived against all odds.

Following the tsunami, the organisers of the surfing contest were in two minds as to whether it should go ahead this year. A third of Arugam Bay’s 3,000 inhabitants had been killed in the disaster, money pledged by charities was slow in reaching the village and the bridge carrying the main road into Arugam Bay had been breached by the waves, cutting the community off for a short period.

However, when the bridge reopened in April the organisers decided the competition should take place. They felt that bringing 100 people into the village would serve as an impetus to get hotels rebuilt as soon as possible as well as injecting much-needed cash into the local economy.

“Everyone worked very, very hard to put it in place,” said Ralph Pereira, managing director of Travel and Tours Anywhere, which developed the contest in conjunction with Sri Lankan Airlines and the BPSA. “We didn’t know for sure that it would go ahead or whether there would be sufficient hotel rooms until six weeks beforehand.”

Guesthouse owners had certainly been hurrying to rebuild and reopen rooms damaged by the tsunami. At Hideaway Guesthouse, where I was staying, the front part of the garden was still a building site. But the main building, with its colonial tea plantation feel was homely and clean, with plump pink and orange cushions brightening rattan chairs.

Before the tsunami, surfing had been a mainstay of the tourism economy right around Sri Lanka’s southern coastline. The island’s south-west has the best waves from November to April, the south-east from May to September.

When Arugam Bay’s right-handers tailed off with the onset of the monsoon, surfers simply headed west to Hikkaduwa, where plentiful hotels and beach villas stood among lush gardens of banana and bourganvillia.

Recreating this surfers’ paradise in the wake of the tsunami has not been easy; with compensation payments from the government yet to materialise, most tourism enterprises have had to rely on their own funds to rebuild their businesses.

“We lost all our watersports equipment,” explained Thilak Weerasinghe, managing director of Lanka Sportreizen. “I didn’t get a cent, but luckily we had built up the business and can afford to rebuild.”

The Travel Foundation and Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito) are working with the Sri Lankan government, local communities and environmental groups to help people affected by the tsunami regain their livelihoods by developing responsible tourism initiatives.

A number of projects have been earmarked for assistance, including a plan to create a sustainable fishing village. Visitors will see fish being brought to shore and sold, enabling fishermen to benefit from tourism while maintaining their traditional role in society.

Another scheme aims to revegetate land affected by the tsunami, using native plant species. This will include research into using mangroves for coastal protection. Funding for the projects will come from money already pledged by Aito members and donations from customers.

Back in Arugam Bay, there are plans to use money raised by the UK surfing fraternity to build a community surf foundation. Tsunami Surf Relief UK (TSRUK) has so far raised A?A?30,000 through charity auctions and events and has allocated a third of this to building a new surf centre. As well as being a focal point where local surfers can meet, the foundation will help generate cash by offering board hire and surfing lessons to visiting tourists.

“We felt the community would benefit from having a centre offering surf-board hire and perhaps swimming lessons and life-guarding,” explained Phil Williams, national director of Christian Surfers UK and a trustee of TSRUK. “The break at Arugam Point is world famous for its waves and surfers from around the world go specifically to that area. In the three or four years after the ceasefire and before the tsunami, more and more surfers were coming to A-Bay; it was a much more prosperous place than before they came.”

As the surfing contest hotted up there was something of a party atmosphere on the beach. Dozens of coloured flags rippled in the tropical wind along the path to Arugam Point where glassy turquoise waves curled invitingly around the reef.

Judges assessed surfers on their turns, style and risk-taking, while waiting competitors nervously flexed their muscles, waxed their boards and contemplated their chances of winning the A?A?2,000 prize money.

For the Sri Lankan surfers, many of whom lost friends and family in the tsunami, preparing for the contest helped them overcome their fear of the ocean. As each entered the water, the 100 or so villagers seated beneath the palm trees lining the shore cheered and whistled their support.

“The contest has been hugely important for morale after the tsunami,” said Phil Williams. “It’s sent out the message that, while Arugam Bay isn’t quite yet open for business as usual, it’s back on the tourist trail.”

Way to go

Getting there: Sri Lankan Airlines ( Zestoretic online stopwatch 020-8538 2001

), offers 11 flights a week from Heathrow to Colombo. Fares start at A?A?450 return plus taxesWhere to stay: Travel and Tours Anywhere Ltd (0208 8136622) offers surfing holidays to Arugam Bay and Hikkaduwa. A 15-day holiday to Arugam Bay including flights, transfers and B&B accommodation in a guest house costs from A?A?699pp. 14 days in Hikkaduwa costs from A?A?599pp. Hire of boards and surfing lessons can be arranged

When to go: The waves at Arugam Bay are best between May and September during the dry season. During the off-season, Sri Lanka’s main surf spot on the south-west coast, Hikkaduwa, has good waves

Further information: Sri Lanka Tourist Board ( Buy unisom sleepgels nz 020-7930 2627), arugambay.com’

http://travel.guardian.co.uk/c…..60,00.html

Continue reading ‘Healing waters’

The Island

Arugam Bay. And the progress.

"The Island" article

Environmentalists, nature lovers and some holidaymakers are up in arms against the rapid haphazard development taking place in Arugam Bay which isA?one of the most soughtA?after and un-spoilt tourist resorts in Sri Lanka.

Michelle Mitchel of Sydney, Australia, born to Sri Lankan parents, expressed her displeasure at the adhoc and rapid development taking place in the area and added if the government allowed the trend to continue, very soon the country would see thatA?the steady flow of tourists to the resort would reduce drastically.

Michelle Mitchel of Sydney

Mitchelle in an interview with “The Traveller” after holidaying in Arugam Bay said that the tourism authorities and otherA?stakeholders should make every effort to protect the area and ensure that there was no overdevelopment in the resort.

Arugam Bay with its pristine and un-spoiltA?beaches, the laid back and rustic atmosphere had attracted thousands of holidaymakers to the country. Another reason why it has become popular all over the world as a destination among tourists is because Pottuvil Point is one of the best surfing areas in the world. Pottuvil Point has attracted large number of surfers from different parts of the world and it is a gold mine for Sri Lankaa??s tourism industry which should be protected at any cost,” she said.

Building of high-rises and similar construction , overdevelopment and overcrowding would definitely ruinA? theA? character of the areaA? and it would become just another tourist resort A?with a concrete jungle A?which would eventually result in holidaymakers who loved the a??paradisea?? turning to other exotic destinations in the region or elsewhere and this could be a dangerous precedent, Mitchelle said. Continue reading ‘The Island’

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

As with most Asian countries, ita??s not necessary to book accommodation, or anything else, in advance when visiting Sri Lanka. However, I knew that Ia??d be arriving into Arugam Bay in the middle of peak season aka surf season and so I emailed a couple of places to see whether they had any room. Most replied saying that they were full, with the exception of the Siam view hotel, whose reply was, well, intriguing:

No problem, dear Tom-Tom.
Just make your way.
(“But “Don’t mention the War” 😉
Drop in.
And all will fall into ita??s place.

No worries.

Arugam bay, and this hostel both sounded like my kind of places, and they havena??t disappointed. The town itself is a small, relaxed, hippy surf town, pretty much a Sri Lankan Byron bay. Except that ita??s much cheaper a?? a coconut costs less than 50 cents a?? is less busy, has pumping waves and there arena??t the stupidly strict drinking rules that exist in my usual hippy paradise. So far so good, then I got to the hostel.

AbaY Beach in front of the YMCA

AbaY Beach in front of the YMCA

The YMCA is right in the centre of town, and it is the first hostel Ia??ve come across in Sri Lanka, the first time that Ia??ve had air-conditioning, and the cheapest accommodation Ia??ve found. I wandered into the only dorm room, and I wandered into a new family. The floor was covered in sand (sorry Fred), a mouse ate through my iPhone case and 500 rupees, the power is intermittent, and I used a towel as a bedsheet for a week, but the YMCA is everything a hostel should be.

YMCArugam's Road front

YMCArugam’s Road front

Ita??s full of fascinating and fun people, inspiring quotes cover the walls, and the relaxed approach of the owners makes for an incredibly welcoming atmosphere. The guys running it didna??t even know that I was staying for the first 4 days, and Ia??ve now been here 7 days and I still havena??t paid for one yet, a perfect environment for someone that hasna??t had a house key for over a year.

YMCA Philosophy

YMCA Philosophy

Little Derek (great name for a baby!) runs around the hostel naked, therea??s a brightly painted VW camper can parked in the garden, and the locals chat to you while youa??re using the outdoor showers, with butterflies swooping overhead.

The owners, of various hippy and traveller backgrounds, even offer the rooms for free on couchsurfing.com if theya??re not occupied by paying guests. When I asked one of the owners why theya??re so relaxed, the response was a fairly obvious one: when youa??ve lived through a tsunami, nothing else seems worth worrying about.

If I ever do own my own hostel, I want the atmosphere to be based on this one. I wona??t make any money, like the guys here dona??t, but Ia??ll have a great time with great people and thata??s what really matters to me. Unfortunately, however, all good things must come to an end, and most of our family have gone their separate ways, despite staying for far longer than planned, and I will leave tomorrow too. Fortunately, thata??s because I have to catch my flight to the Maldives for some more sun, sea and surf, life is tough right now!

Message Wall

Message Wall

source / original post:
http://travellivedream.com/2014/08/11/home-away-from-home-away-from-home/