Sri Lankan Travelogue : Battalangunduwa / Baththalangunduwa

Back in mid ‘90s, when I was a kid, we used to flock in front of the TV set on every Sunday night to watch a feature television program on the National Channel. Named after its telecasting time, 9.05, the program brought some revolutionary changes to Sri Lanka’s TV programs and set a new tone to the conventional feature programs. It was on one of those episodes I first heard the name “Battalangunduwa”. Not a lot left in my memory about what was showed on that episode except it’s an isolated island off Kalpitiya, but the name was remembered, may be because the name was unusual.

When I got the call from one of my travel friends to join a visit to Battalangunduwa, I was ecstatic. We started the journey early and reached the Kalpitiya fisheries harbor, our last destination on the mainland, where we were supposed to catch the ferry to Battalangunduwa. The day had just broke and the fisheries harbor was still calm and empty when we reached there. So we decided to have our breakfast before the place got busy since the ferry starts to board at around 7.30 am. We were blessed with a beautiful sunrise over the mainland while waiting for the ferry. At 7.30 the ferry started loading the passengers and goods to be transported to the island.

The dawn to the harbor

The sunrises

over the mainland

my friends. we are waiting for the ferry to leave

the harbor got busy

routine work

cargo

The Kalpitiya peninsula branches off from Sri Lanka’s mainland creating the Puttalam lagoon. The peninsula stretching for many miles parallel to the main land gets narrower and ends up with a set of sandy islands. Kalpitiya town situated 40 kilometers away from the mainland, a small township at the tip of the peninsula, is the last town on it. After Kalpitiya the Puttalm lagoon opens in to the Dutch Bay and then in to Portugal Bay which joins the Indian Ocean at the end of the island chain.

Battalangunduwa is a fishing village on one of the last of the islands. The journey of about 26 kilometers from Kalpitiya across the Dutch Bay takes about three hours in the ferry. This ferry, a private owned mid size old boat, is the only available public transport medium which runs up and down once a day except on Sundays. Thus it takes all the passengers from and to the mainland, all the cargo for the islanders and their products (mainly dried fish) to the buyers in Kalpitiya in this ferry. The journey across the bay is very scenic and an interesting one. From one side it is the dark green jungles of the Wilpattu National Park seen all the way, from the other side shiny yellow sands of the islands stretching parallel to the mainland seen, below is the deep blue-green waters of the bay and from above the clear blue skies seen all along the journey. Thousands of sea gulls, pelicans and other birds looking for preys and the fishermen in boats and on little sand dunes in the middle of the bay were enjoyed by us during the journey while having a little chat with the islanders.

battalangunduwa - location

passengers

life on the ferry

fishermen and the hunters

the prey

a diver looking for shells

our destination seen clearly now

After a long journey we reached the island. There was no jetty in the island, so the boat came as close as possible to the shore and all the passengers had to get down in to knee high water. All the cargo to Battalangunduwa village was unloaded quickly and the boat left for the next village on the same island.

our destination


getting off the ferry

Battalangunduwa is a fishing village, as I mentioned earlier. There said to be a population of more than 3000 in the village as we heard. Almost all of them are Catholics came mainly from Chilaw and Negombo areas. There said to be a considerable population of Tamil Catholic from Jaffna and around. So the culture in Battalangunduwa is an interesting mix. Their language is a mix of Tamil and Sinhalese, so does their culture. The one and only livelihood in the island is fishing. The island borders the vast Indian Ocean from one side and the large Portugal Bay from the other. Most of the island is opened except for the little area with some coconut groves and little mangrove shrubs. The sun burns over this open land for about 10 months in the year making it is an ideal location for fishing and dried fish industry.

selecting fish

we go through the village

going through the village

the navy camp on one corner of the island

drying

It is a very narrow island. Two minutes walk across the island brings you to the other side. One side is used for living and the other is kept vacant and clean. This is the area where the islanders find their water. There are not water sources in the island. It is not possible to dig wells, too. So the only way they can find water is digging a couple of feet in the sands and collect the water gathered in to those holes. This water is no other than the sea water filters through the sand which has an awful taste and smell. But the people of Battalangunduwa have no any choice other than to use it.

across the island

other side is seen

landscapes

more scenery

the process of getting water

Water is only one – certainly the biggest – problem of theirs. Every single aspect of the life on this island is “harsh”. Children don’t have proper education facilities – only the small school conducted by the Catholic priests is available. No hospitals or resident doctors – the only medical facility is at the Navy camp on the island. They have only limited options to fulfill their needs – only the ones brought in the ferry. Not enough public transport available – they have to use their fishing boats in any of the emergencies to go to the mainland, which costs about 3500 rupees for the fuel alone. In short, the life is harsh and hard. They probably might be living the hardest lives in the whole country.

Watch this video too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tS1FrDXBko

The island is an incomparable beauty. It had one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen in Sri Lanka. The Mother Nature has blessed it with an utmost beauty with the views of the endless Indian Ocean all the way up to the horizon, the sparkling emerald Portugal Bay, the dark green line of mainland seen far away, white sandy beaches, small mangrove shrubs, the coconut grove in one corner of the island and all the small details. But on the other hand the she has cursed the people living there with the scorching sun, the unbearable heat, lack of basic facilities, the ultra-difficult harsh living conditions and inability of finding good drinking water.