Lively golden Peninsula de Jaffna

Map of kaytes -click to enlarge

Map around Thondaimanaru – click to enlarge

I have heard that Jaffna is like paradise especially after the monsoons so I wanted to witness it myself. Since I have visited all of those main attractions around Jaffna I was more focused on some mysterious caves plus bird life. (By the way I did visit Jaffna on the next weekend too will update you guys on that expedition in my next travel log) We had many plans during this weekend but the bad weather made us differ the plans. We were left stranded and no other option other than heading towards Jaffna where Amila’s hotel is been currently completed.

We arrived at Jaffna around 6.30am where we refreshed ourselves and started exploring the peninsula on a bike within no time. Our main objective was hunting bird life specially the Flamingoes. For this we picked the Kytes road across Mandathivu. Not more than 3Km’s from Jaffna we spotted a flock of Flamingoes but all our efforts to capture them on image weren’t successful. They seem to be so shy that even we were few Km’s away they would fly far away. Along the road we came across many species of ducks mainly. We captured them effortlessly while traveling to Velanei. After getting to Velanei and sipping some Palmyra toddy we headed towards the famous Chatty beach.

Chatty beach was so calm and quiet on that particular day and we enjoyed a good one hour bath. After having lunch at Velanei we went to Kytes and took the AB19 road to enjoy a duck fiesta.

beauty of lagoons

still a sleep

glimpse of Flemingoes

huge prawn

finally captured one

grey heron

a flock

Black headed gull

Asian Open Bil

black headed ibis

Little Ringed Plover

spoonbill

ah there they are!

can you count them

Northern Pintail

lovely

painted stalk

Eurasian Curlew

Ashy Wood Swallows

a Brahmin kyte

Wood Sandpiper

northern shoveler

northern shoveler female

Black Winged Stilt..

lot of ducks

flying away

lonely guy

Spot billed duck

bit of land

populated

Gargeny

Wigions

you know these guys

and more

close up

Northern Pintail

pelicans

indian rollar

paddy at velanei

tobacco

chatty beach

calm oceans

enjoying the bath

Fort Hammenhil seen from kaytes jetty

the colours

wow

more landscape

mode of transport

Day two was a magical one; the sun rise we witnessed from AB19 was the best I have ever witnessed. The oceans were like on fire and shining like gold. We did enjoy every moment we witnessed that morning. Next it was all about cave hunting. After seen Dhammika’s post on lakdasun I was tempted to explore a huge unknown limestone cave complex close to Vallvettithurai. On our way we did step in to Rajamanthris mansion too (for details on that refer this trip report). The Point pedro road was through paddy cultivations and was a dreamily ride. After reaching Thondimanaru we had breakfast and took off towards Kerudavil village where we met a friendly local chap who showed us the way to “Periya Mandapakadu”( 9°49’15.49″N   80° 8’40.46″E).

This cave which is located in Kerudavil villege was one of the best places I have been to. It’s just like a crater and from that crater a huge “Siyambala” tree rises up providing a roof to it. There were many cave openings in it and Amila did manage to explore one of those by crawling. This is an amazing masterpiece of Mother Nature which one needs to visit. After getting out of it we searched for “Sinna Madapakadu” but the efforts were in vein.

After the cave expedition we crossed Thondaimanaru and headed towards KKS but at many instances we had to back track because we reached the boundaries of the high security zone. Tough we were disappointed with all those restrictions we were also pleased to take alternative routes through rural Jaffna and witness how people cultivate. These people are courageous not like some who cry for everything and request the government to help them. These hard working people with blessed fertile soil do wonders in this deserted peninsula and we were lucky to witness it.

here she comes

perfect shot

livelihood

from here onwards its just a big woooow

golden oceans

what a sight

more	a wallpaper

Poothathamby Arch

Rajamanthri mansion

transport service jaffna style

onions

natural art

on the way to PPD

paddy at PPD

Periya mandakam cave complex is near this tree

entrance

a big wow

inside the cave

a tunnel

friends

plenty of room

more chambers

exploring

the tree

lovely roof

an opening

they were shy

his smile

hard working people

lovely oceans

triple cycle

working under the sun

more onion cultivations

beet and potato

only in jaffna

Our next target was Keerimalei snake cave but again we were told that it lies in the high security zone. We had to contemplate ourselves by visiting a small lime stone cave in front of Naguleshwaran kovil ( 9°48’39.73″N   80° 0’46.72″E). Next we wanted to have a bath a Casuarina beach at Karainagar but instead of the regular place we decided to try out a new place. There was another casuarina beach marked on Google maps and we headed that way to try it out. It was a lonely and lovely beach but there was a small problem, to reach the calm and shallow waters one needs to cross a 10m dead coral reef. We did cross it and enjoyed the new found location before we returned back to Jaffna for a lovely sun set. That night we got in to Colombo bus and headed towards Colombo because there was a Eli hatha expedition around the corner..

Entrance to keerimale cave

inside it

the roof

capturing

Kareinagar

New Casurina beach

lonely beach

sea weed

what we found

he was having problems with lighting his “beedi”

Tamusela koheda????

time for a sunset

wow	there she goes