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Visit historic Tricomalee
to rediscover the Sri Lanka East Coast with Asia's best
beaches at Nilaveli. Pigeon Island.
Dutch Fort Frederick. Swami Rock. Scuba
Dive over Sunken Temples. Whale watching. Ancient
Temples. Hot springs Stay at deluxe
Trinco hotels.
Chaaya
Blu, Nilaveli
Beach Hotel , Pigeon Island Resort
at Nilaveli
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Trincomalee on the East
Coast of Sri Lanka with
the finest deep water natural harbour in
Asia has been a historic trading port
for 2500 years attracting great sea
farers like Marco Polo.
Trinco's strategic
importance attracted the European
powers who calculated that whoever
controlled Trincomalee would control the
East Coast of India. First the Portuguese invaded. Trincomalee next fell to the Dutch.
Then the French, till the capture of Ceylon by the British in 1795.
A famous frigate HMS Trincomalee,
built of teak in India, was
named after a battle between the Royal
and French navies off Trincomalee, During WWII, after
the fall of Singapore, Trinco became the base of the
retreating British Far East fleet and
the Naval HQ of the Allied Southeast Asia
commander. After Independence, the East
Coast with the best beaches in Asia, saw
foreign tourist inflows but then came
the insurgency years ending in 2009. See below for
the more recent history of my earlier 1998 2003 visits to Trincomalee
and Nilaveli
Beach, staying at then deserted, but now
refurbished post war tourist boom hotels like
Club Oceanic,
now Chaaya Blu which I revisited
in January 2011 during the worst floods
in Sri Lanka for decades.
In addition to being steeped in history,
both ancient and modern, with a
multitude of historic attractions
including Swami Rock, Fort
Frederick,
Girihandu
Seya the East Coast offers the
finest beaches in Sri Lanka,
superior to the beaches on the South
Coast.
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For decades during
the civil war years the
Sri Lanka East Coast with the best
beaches on the island was sadly off limits to tourism. The return to normality
after the welcome end of the war
in 2009 has reopened Trincomalee and the
East Coast. My 3 visits to Trincomalee
in 1998, 2003 and 2011 have been during
"abnormal" times. I reached Trincomalee on
my first visit to Sri Lanka as a British
tourist in 1998,
travelling by state bus transport from
Colombo as my hosts in Sri Lanka were
reluctant to lend me their car for
fear LTTE insurgents would nab it on the
road between Habarana and Trinco. Arriving at
Club Oceanic after a 10 hour journey, I asked if there were any rooms
available. I was told that as I was the
only guest I could pick any room in the
huge empty hotel. I also stayed at
Nilaveli Beach
Hotel, 14 kms away on beautiful Nilaveli
Beach opposite Pigeon Island. I re-visted Trinco in 2003 during
the Ceasefire, staying again at Club
Oceanic. In December 2004 Nilaveli Beach
Hotel was damaged in the Asian Tsunami.
In 2009 came the total defeat of the
LTTE. In January 2011, with Trinco tourism booming
again along with the Sri Lanka economy,
on my 9th annual winter escape visit
from Britain to Sri Lanka, I visited Trinco, during the worst floods
on Sri Lanka's East Coast for decades. I
, stayed at Club
Oceanic (renamed
Chaaya Blue),
Pigeon
Island Resort on Nilaveli Beach
and
Nilaveli Beach Hotel visiting
Thiriyaya
Vihara once under LTTE control. |
How to
reach Trincomalee: The Sri Lanka Airforce Helitour Service operates twice weekly flights to Trinco from Ratmalana
Airport in the Southern suburbs of
Colombo. Flights depart at 08.00 Mondays and Fridays and return from Trinco at 14.00. Costing $80 return, this saves a long
West East Coast trans island road journey.
With an overnight stopover at Habarana
Lodge and Chaaya Village in the heart of
the Cultural Triangle the road journey is
by far the more
interesting.
Or take the overnight AC Avro Travels AC
coach from Colombo. A third route for
those built of sterner stuff is
the overnight Sri Lanka Railways train
from Colombo Fort. It is not the Orient
Express. We tried the Night Mail on our return
journey from Trincomalee to
Colombo. The Railway. Never again. |
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On arrival you soon discover why Trinco
on the East Coast boasts some of the best beaches in the island of Sri Lanka at Nilaveli beach (with the natural bird sanctuary of Pigeon island offshore)
where
you can wade knee deep into the sea and at Uppuveli north of the city. The Nilaveli Beach Hotel, damaged in the Tsunami of 2004, has been reconstructed. The Keells
owned Club Oceanic |
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which we last visited in 2003 has
been renovated as Chaaya Blu. The Pigeon Island Resort
is another
deluxe accommodation option.
Near the town of Trinco is Fort Frederick and higher up the volcanic Swami Rock is the Koneswaram temple. Inscriptions found in Trinco area speak of Indian Chola kings making contributions to the upkeep of the this major religious shrine indicating an origin over 2500 years ago. After 1505 A.D, the temple was destroyed by Portuguese colonialists (along with countless Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim places of worship around the island. The Portuguese fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction.
The huge building block ruins of the destroyed temples, thrown over the cliff by the Portuguese, can be see just under the water surface. The site is often visited by scuba divers Fascinating to see is Lovers Leap , a sheer drop down to the sea from the face of Swami Rock at the temple. The hill face up Swamee rock is rugged. As Trinco is full of seismic and volcanic activity as seen in Kanniya Hot Springs area, this rugged face of rock is a reminder of the movement of Earth's crust in this area. There are many other ancient ruins in the Trincomalee area including a 1000 year old Buddhist Vihara.
The one not to be missed, once inacessible behind LTTE
rebel lines at Thiriyaya and site of a terrorist camp,
is Girihandu Seya,
the oldest Buddhist Vihara in the world. Beaches
alongside history, ancient and modern is Trinco's offer |
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| Girihandu Seya
Thiriyaya the
first Stuppa in Sri Lanka, the oldest Buddhist
temple in the world |
Lovers Leap
Swamee Rock at Koneswaram Hindu Temple or Kovil, destroyed by
Portuguese in 1624 |
Naval Museum Trincomalee. Hoods
Tower with a commanding view of the Harbour, the
finest natural harbour in Asia and HQ of the
British Far East |
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| The East
Coast between Nilaveli in the North,
Trincomalee and Batticoloa boasts the finest
beaches in Sri Lanka |
Ancient
Buddhist Viharas in the Trincomalee area |
Hot Springs
and the rugged face of Swamee Rock are
evidence of volcanic activity |
The road
up fort Frederick and
Koneswaram Temple, magnificent views over
Trincomalee harbour |
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