a visit to koralampoththa

I visited a village in the Nattandiya area north of Negombo, and met Gamini who used to work for me. The photo above is him in front of his current home with his son and wife who is pregnant with her second child.

He took me on a tour of the small village which included the paddy fields, the school and the temple as well as various homes. His wife's family home is about a stone's throw from his and I also visited his grandmother who is in her 90s but whose hair not dyed is still black. I am told it is to do with applying coconut oil on the scalp after the daily well bath.

As is typical in Sri Lanka, his wife's father had 2 acres of land which has now been divided equally amongst his 5 children with Gamini's wife getting her share which is 50 purches. He has now built the foundation of his home on this property, and will build the house in stages over a few years as when he can find money on this 50 purches. This is the story of village Sri Lanka where people who have small bits of land live in this sort of size ranchettes, reducing the land available for agriculture, where they grow fruit trees and timber trees in their home garden. When Gaminis children grow up I presume this property will be further subdivided.

The photos below are of goraka, the fresh fruit and then the dried ones from the tree on his property. Actually the inside of the goraka fruit is edible, though a little sour, and the sides are peeled and dried for the food additive common in Sri Lankan cooking.

a wedding on the farm

On august 7th Asanka a boy who works on the farm, married Udeni, the daughter of Gamini who also works on the farm. The above is a family photo including the bride and groom. Gamini the brides father crashed a borrowed trishaw the following day and broke his knee cap and will be out of work for at least 3 months, causing severe constraints to me as well as to himself as he has to feed 3 other children and a wife, and are currently living on the farm on charity.

He is about 20 and she about 18 and it was her ticket to get out of an abusive household with an alcoholic father. An all too familiar story in these parts.

in search of dried fish - muhudu karawala

Yesterday, I drove up the western coast of the Island north of Negombo in search of Karawala for my kade, this time just to test what will sell, so I did not buy too much.

The Photos show the fish being dried on the beach

a visit to the chilaw fish market when the boats came in

I went to the Chilaw fish market by the lagoon as the boats were unloading their catch last morning and here are some of the photos.

some colors of the east coast waters

the small bay on pigeon island opposite the Nilaveli Beach

the road to Kinniya and beyond to Mutur and Batticaloa

One afternoon we decided to drive towards Kinniya which is just a short distance from the Sea Anglers Club and we came upon the construction of a bridge across the channel. It is expected to open early next year which will make it much easier for people to get across. We took the free ferry to get to the other side and continued on to the next ferry and up to third ferry which if we had crossed we could have got to Mutur. All these ferries are free services that are provided for the people to travel to get about their daily activities.


Eventually once the series of bridges are constructed the journey to Batticaloa will be short and more economic benefits could accrue to the people living along the eastern coast, so affected by war and difficulty of transport.


One of three places the Mahaweli falls into the Trinco bay. Supposedly teeming with Barrimundi in amongst the dense mangroves in the distance where this delicate ecosystem must be preserved

trolling in the east coast of Sri Lanka in July

Two of the friends I went with to Trincomalee, went trolling in Sea early one morning and by 8.30 am had caught the fish you see on the photo. Graeme is holding his 8kg Kobia and Romeish is holding the 14kg Seer

By the way due to the security situation, a maximum of 15hp outboard motor is allowed and catamarans with no motors, so the area in the east coast is grossly underfished and plenty of fish within a km from the coast waiting to be caught!!!