By Paul Topping

We have had over thirty nights’ stay at this seafront southern town or stretch of Koggala, both before and after the 2004 tsunami. It is thirty minutes from the south of Galle, in the heart of tourist routes further down the coast. Perhaps the highways have caused much of the traffic and business to bypass the area. With one of the longest beaches in Sri Lanka, it has always, ironically, been so quiet. There are fewer rooms on the beach strip now than before the tsunami, if you exclude the Fortress Hotel at the end of the beach. Many dilapidated, low-level damaged hotels face the sea. They can never reopen, having been hit with thirty-foot tsunami waves. Erosion is another big issue. There are many new tourist properties and villas around the lake and a few on the seafront.

The Fortress Hotel in Koggala first opened in 2007, having been stalled during its foundation work by the tsunami. It was and still is a five-star hotel, and we were regular visitors in those early days when two amazing Australian managers ran the establishment. We still enjoy the hotel and meeting familiar staff who have served for years. We enjoy the many Koggala Lake outings by boat, meeting cinnamon growers and visiting a temple. The area has many links to the Second World War and the British. These include the military airport where a number of Catalina seaplanes were based, flying to Singapore and beyond. These flyers deserve their own stories. There was also a short airstrip and over 800 people were on the overall base at the time. There is a golf course close by and st the end of the runway close  to the sea there is what is called an “aviation museum”. It is actually a small post-war propeller plane that takes ten minutes to visit.

In season the area has surfers and lots of sun and beach budget tourists, mainly on package holidays.

I walk along the local beach to see the old-style Koggala Beach Hotel in its prime location but with most of its land frontage lost to the sea. It is forty dollars a night B&B and most people I meet there are middle-aged Dutch budget tourists. When there are monsoon rains or high winds, frequent warnings go out to potential swimmers. In front of the Fortress Hotel you can see the “stilt fishermen”. They sit over the sea on sticks with basic fishing stick with wire and hook . I don’t think I have ever seen one catch anything. If you take a photo of them, a local will appear and demand money. This area is renowned for both these activities.

Close by we visit a museum partly dedicated to one of Sri Lanka’s most prolific writers. It is the birthplace of Martin Wickramasinghe. He published in six different languages and was best known for his children’s  novel Madol Doova.The most prolific writer of his generation There is also a painting in the museum gifted by Queen Victoria to the people of Sri Lanka, supporting their Buddhist beliefs and their right to practice them. On my first visit to this museum in its old location I recall seeing what I thought was a stuffed raised cobra above a wardrobe. It turned out to be real. I never took guests there or returned to the old site.

Koggala Lake is one of the largest natural lakes in Sri Lanka and has eight islands. It is predominantly rain-fed but there is a hundred-metre canal link to the Indian Ocean. From my own experience of boating here, always take one with a big canopy. It gets very hot despite travelling at times through the mangroves.

So, whilst you are thrashing down the coast road from Galle, spare some time for Koggala.