This particular day happened to be a special Buddhist celebration day for the full moon and many of the shops were closed. The traffic was much lighter and a good deal less chaotic than might have been expected for our trip along the south west coast of Sri Lanka.
Our first stop was at the Bhamian Buddha Statue just north of Hikkaduwa. This 24 m tall statue of Buddha was built to commemorate the terrible loss of life that occurred as a consequence of the tsunami that hit the coast of Sri Lanka on December 26th2004. This is the biggest natural disaster in the recorded history of Asia and the deadliest tsunami ever, killing an estimated 230 000 people across fourteen countries with around 37 000 deaths in Sri Lanka.
Tsunami memorial near Hikkaduwa
Tsunami memorial near Hikkaduwa
Tsunami memorial near Hikkaduwa
It began when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the northern coast of Sumatra. The height of the Buddha statue here on the coast corresponds to the height of the wave that passed through this area and the huge number of deaths is accountable in that there is no high ground for seeking refuge in this coastal zone.
The village towns in this area suffered as much as 98% destruction as this killer wave passed. The tsunami is also responsible for having caused the greatest tragedy in the world’s rail history. All 1700 people on board a passenger train died when this gigantic wall of water submerged the train for an estimated ten minutes.
Despite this horrific event there is little evidence today of the destruction that occurred in December 2004.
A number of other tsunami memorials were dotted along the coastline seen on our way north.
This revelation and the enormity of the Boxing Day event needed some time for us to contemplate and made us even more conscious of the other disasters that these peace loving people have endured over the past forty years.
We continued on our journey northwards and then stopped at Kosgoda to view a turtle research and conservation operation.
The adjacent kilometre or so of beach and associated dunes is a nesting ground for green turtles and an average of two females per night come ashore to lay their 90 or more eggs. Many of the eggs are retrieved from the sand dunes and stored in a secure and labelled sand area at the research facility. The temperature of the sand determines the gender of the hatchlings which appear on the surface after 48 days normally.
Beach at Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center, Kosgoda
Turtle hatchery, Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center, Kosgoda
After hatching, the baby turtles are kept for three or four days before being released into the ocean, usually at dusk to minimise bird predation. This delay in return to the ocean is to ensure that the umbilical has healed over making the turtles less prone to fish attack.
Baby turtle still with ambilical cord, Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center, Kosgoda
Baby turtle, Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center, Kosgoda
Baby turtles, Sea Turtle Research & Conservation Center, Kosgoda
In the facility there were hundreds of tiny turtles at the one, two and three day stages post hatching, with each day’s stage in separate tanks.
Any blind or deformed baby turtles are retained and not released. They are fed on mashed fish, sponge and algae.
Several adult turtles with missing flippers or other physical issues were visible in other nearby tanks. Some of these unfortunate turtles had been injured through entanglement in nets, ingesting fish-hooks, choking on plastic rubbish or by being hit by motor-boat propellers.
Of particular interest were three or four very rare albino green turtles. These reptiles are not released as their white colour makes them highly visible and offers them little protection from predators.
This turtle conservation project commenced in 1978 and has since been sponsored by the Victor Hasselblad Foundation from Germany. Since its inception, there have been over 3.5 million baby turtles released back to the ocean.
The remaining part of our northern journey was mostly on the four lane freeway, partially bypassing Colombo and eventually arriving at our final Sri Lankan destination, the Negombo Jetwing Blue Hotel.
Drinks in our room at Jetwing Blue Hotel, Negombo
Tomorrow we have a final get-together and dinner on a river-boat and then our group begins to progressively dissociate as we commence our homeward travels.