Today is the last day doing our own thing, so we left the hotel after breakfast, firstly to drop our clothes off at a local laundry and then to find a tour to Negombo Lagoon. This is achieved by supporting Sri Lanka’s cash economy – a tour agent, a tuk tuk driver and a boat guy. I think everyone gets their cut and of course the last guy gets to try to get the big tip. I’ve now worked out that they’ll usually ask for 5,000 rupees which incidentally is the equivalent of a week’s work, so probably doesn’t represent good value if you pay everyone that much.
Anyway, Negombo Lagoon is a large estuarine lagoon that is fed by a number of small rivers and the Hamilton Canal (also known as the Dutch canal built in 1802). It is not Venice, but does provide and important thoroughfare for the fishing industry. Many of the boats are old and not well-maintained.
The lagoon is linked to the sea by a narrow channel near Negombo city and is surrounded by a densely populated region containing rice paddies, coconut plantations and grassland. The lagoon has extensive mangrove swamps and attracts a wide variety of water birds including cormorants, herons, egrets, gulls, terns and other waders.
Lagoon fishing is popular among the fishing community in Negombo. Lagoon crabs and prawns are in high demand, locally. After the 2004 Tsunami, people were not allowed to build as close to the waterfront. This has had impact particularly on women in the community that perform a good portion of the daily fishing activities.
Our ultimate destination was Monkey Island, one of the mangrove islands that houses a population of Toque Macaque monkeys which are a reddish-brown-coloured monkey endemic to Sri Lanka. Its name refers to the hair at the crown of the head, reminiscent of a brimless toque cap. We feed them coconut husks and bananas and they come right onto the boat. As is typical of beasts in their own habitat they are prone to peeing on people… like me.
After Monkey Island we came back to our hotel for a swim, which was also the opportunity to wash the monkey pee out of my shorts. Sri Lanka is quite a cash driven economy, so we found where the nearest ATM was and planned our lunch location to suit. The lunch venue was called Ceylon Kitchen and we had a Sri Lankan Lamb Curry and some Sweet and Sour Prawns with rice. I also had a nice cold pineapple juice to lower the body temperature after the walk in the heat of the day.
We met up with our tour group this evening. There are 11 people on our tour from lots of different places Canada, UK, Switzerland and of course Australia. We were briefed on our itinerary and then we all went to dinner at a Sri Lankan curry restaurant called Seafood Express which incidentally was right across the road from the ATM we’d walked to earlier in the day. The food was a great sample of different Sri Lankan curries. It was a great way to set the sun on our time in Negombo as we move inland tomorrow.
Until tomorrow
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 