Hambanthota

The story of Hambanthota, which is quickly becoming a major port in the Indian Ocean, must begin with its name. Malay seamen who tried to follow the westerly winds out of the Straits of Malacca found sanctuary in the port city of today. The ancient sea path known as the Silk Road brought the Malay explorers in their Sampans. The town continues to have the greatest Malay population, whose ancestors took their wives with them as they searched for a permanent holiday home in Sri Lanka. A new deep water port city that serves the steady flow of marine commerce in both directions between the Straits of Malacca and the Arabian Sea has once again seen its fortunes altered by the tides of trade in a new global order. The dry zone that expands up into the plains of shrub jungle is marked by Hambanthota as the boundary between the wet and dry zones. With an international airport now being built, the geography of the southern part of the island is undergoing a significant shift.

The fact that Hambanthota is near to the two major sanctuaries with abundant avifauna, Bundala and Kumana, may interest the curious. They are used for nesting by migratory birds from Siberia, the Himalayas, and Central Asia. When flying to Sri Lanka, the broad-bodied Boeing and Airbus birds will seek the same tailwinds that the Siberian and Himalayan birds require. About 40 minutes from Hambanthota lies Tissamaharama, which gets its name from the imposingly massive Stupa constructed in the third century BC. You may take 4X4 safaris to the Yala National Park from the ancient town. You could be persuaded to take a boat tour around the artificial lake by its enormous flocks of egrets and the calm winds that accompany them.

The well-known Skanda temple at Kataragama, son of Shiva and the deity of battle and knowledge, is only a half-hour distant. The history of the current shrine’s beginnings is shrouded in folklore since it is so remote in time. Both Hindus and Buddhists hold the temple in high regard. Fascinatingly, there is an ancient pilgrim path that runs from Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka to the shrine that is just a few kilometers from Kirinde, a beach resort on the island’s southernmost tip. Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions, which have co-existed on the island for at least two millennia, come together at Katharagama in a unique way. The precious chance to dive to depths never before experienced at the legendary “Great Basses” wreck and the Little Basses reef is of considerable appeal. On the ocean floor off the Great Basses, a 24-cannon warship that was dispatched to the Far East by Moghul Emperor Aurnagzeb is lying in peaceful rest.