Donkey business
If you’re looking to tick off a lifetime of donkey viewing in a matter of minutes, come to Mannar Island. Sitting off the north-west coast, the island is cluttered with people living in boisterously colourful homes. Here, Sri Lanka is also at its closest proximity to India, both nations forever connected by a bridge of mythic proportions as told in the ancient Sankrit epic called Ramayana.
But back to this donkey business. Brought here by Arab traders in the age of the spice route and used to carry exotic goods to and from inland towns, donkeys played a pivotal role in giving Ceylon – Sri Lanka’s name during the British rule – its status as a crucial location for international trade throughout history. Eventually, the donkeys were abandoned, creating a new resident population in the area. You’re bound to find hundreds of stray cats, dogs and cattle across the island, but in Mannar, the strays tend to bray.
Donkeys and humans live side by side on Mannar Island © Natalie Soysa
Island hopping
Mannar isn’t the only island attached to the north. The Jaffna Peninsula alone is home to a smattering of islands with names that give away the region’s diverse history. On Nagadeepa you will see worshippers gather at the ancient Buddhist temple, Keerimalai on the peninsula is famous for its hot springs pool, literally located on the edge of the ocean. Then there is Karaitivu with its beautiful, long sandy Casuarina Beach and of course, the remote Delft Island populated by wild horses.
Spend each day on a different island if you can. Each are home to old temples and even older ways of life. Hindu temples sit side by side with Portuguese forts, people work in salterns under the heat of a sweltering sun and the heat continues for days and miles around. But for every afternoon heat spell, there comes an early morning air that helps you forget the day before.
Kids swimming in Keerimalai Hot Springs © goozey
Palmyra landscapes
The first thing you’re bound to notice about the landscapes of the north are their alien quality. The further you travel the more you’ll notice endless lines of coconut trees give way to a myriad of Palmyra silhouettes that shape an otherwise bare panorama. Locals make as much use of the Palmyra tree as the southerners do with coconut. Its fruit, stems, sap and leaves are used to manufacture several products from confectionaries to handbags – and a heady local called toddy, which is a specialty of the north.
A silhouette of Palmyra trees © Natalie Soysa
A personal paradise
You don’t come to the north for anything obvious. In fact, you come here to escape it and what you get is a truly unique experience.
To ignore the history of this part of the country that was ravaged to the bone for three decades would be to do it injustice. The scars from the war between the LTTE and Sri Lankan government still remain. But the northerners endure. In fact, they rise.
Northern Sri Lanka is not a group tour sort of destination, this is where you come, one at a time or two by two. Here, paradise becomes a personal thing, where you immerse yourself in beauty and authenticity on arrival.
A northerner attending a Hindu festival © sabrinavancleefault
Getting to Jaffna from Colombo
From Colombo, you can go by road to Jaffna (around 12 hours), by rail ( around 9 to 10 hours) or take a commercial flight from Ratmalana Air Force Base to Palaly Air Force Base close to Jaffna.
Comments