Negombo
Negombo the beautiful beach resort located
on the western coast of Sri Lanka, just 35 kilometers
away from Colombo was earlier known as the town
of Spices. It is a believe among the Sinhalese
local community that this name Negombo was derived
from Meegamuwa, meaning “the village of
honey,” and the story attached to this
states it originated from the story of a swarm
of bees settling in a boat, which had been hauled
ashore there while the Tamils, contend that
it comes from Nihumbala, referring to Nihumba,
a nephew of Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka
from the great epic of India the Ramayana.
This destination is only an hour drive away
from the Colombo city and lies half an hour
away from the International Airport in Katunayake.
You can relax on beautiful beaches, view incredible
sunsets and enjoy western and Sri Lankan food.
Negombo is also a major tourist resort whose
proximity to the gateway to the island makes
it an ideal first-night or last-night stopover.
In earlier times, Negombo was ruled by the Portugese,
Dutch, and the British. You can see evidence
of the influence of these colonial rulers in
many places, such as the beautiful canals built
by the Dutch and the churches built by the Portugese.
The history of Negombo began with spices, especially
cinnamon, which grew wild in the nearby jungle.
It was the Moors who set up a trading system
by cutting and transporting the cinnamon to
Negombo. Towards the end of the 16th century,
however, the Portuguese ousted the Moors, built
a fort, and took over the trade. The Dutch captured
the town from the Portuguese in 1640, but it
was recaptured the same year, only to fall finally
in 1644. Today, Sri Lanka’s cinnamon groves
lie exclusively in its western and southwestern
regions, north and south of Colombo while the
sweetest, most prized variety grows in the so-called
“silver sand” belt of this town.
Over 500 edible species of fish inhabit the
sea around the island, ranging from small anchovies
to large sharks, rays and swordfishes. Some
of the more popular edible species are salaya,
soodaya, parawa, hurulla, thalpatha, thora or
seer and etawalla. Today, the fishing industry
in Sri Lanka provides employment to some 750,000
people. The west coast port of Negombo is the
country’s main fishing centre, producing
16% of the total national catch of 160,000 tons.
Not surprisingly, 36% of Negombo’s inhabitants
are involved in the industry. Take a turn towards
the coast just beyond the fifth milepost, travel
down a little used back road to Negombo, follow
the old Dutch canal for a few kilometres and
you come upon the southern end of the Negombo
Lagoon. So successful was the conversion of
the inhabitants to Catholicism by the Portuguese
that the town is known as “Little Rome.”
A short way up a narrow neck of land there are
colonies of Roman Catholic fisher families who
claim to be descendants of the Karava, the North
Indian warrior caste who first migrated to Sri
Lanka around 1,000 years ago.
Many of these fishermen have retained their
traditional methods of fishing, in particular
the use of the oruwa - the catamaran of the
west - and the teppam - the catamaran of the
east. The oruwa, whose evolution can be traced
from the Comoro Islands off Mozambique to the
South Seas, has been in use in Negombo for a
very long time. The departure and arrival of
these outrigger canoes, their brown sails like
a mosaic in the sky, is a wonderful sight to
behold.
Water sports predominate at Negombo, and good
for swimming, however, as well as surfing, skin-diving,
and windsurfing and in the near past this town
has also hosted many national and international
windsurfing championships.
The Dutch built a fine canal from Colombo in
the south through Negombo to Puttalam in the
north, which can be explored either by boat
or hired bicycle. The island of Duwa, a fishing
colony and boat-building centre, is connected
to the mainland by a causeway at the mouth of
the lagoon.
On the north of the town 10 kilometers away
is Marawila with a string of batik factories
and a few kilometres away is Madampe, where
you will find the temple known as Tanniyan-Valla
Bahu Devale, the statue of a rearing, riderless
horse. It is said that a citizen of the town
rode his horse past the temple without paying
respect. The horse bolted, throwing the rider
to the ground, and he vowed to erect a statue
of the animal at the spot. The fishing town
of Chilaw is another few meters from Madampe
and good stop by for its scrumptious sea food.
With its beaches, lagoon, marshes and mangroves
- which are all part of a complex eco-system
- Negombo is an environmentally sensitive town.
The fortunes of the fishermen of Negombo, especially
those who fish the lagoon, depend on the sustainability
of this eco-system. Conserving the mangroves
is of prime importance since they help to preserve
the diversity of fish species. It was once the
island’s premier spice town. It then evolved
into the biggest fishing port, a centre of Roman
Catholicism and one of the original tourist
resorts. The town exhibits plenty of old world
charm, yet along the beach there is a complex
tourist infrastructure of hotels, guesthouses,
restaurants and cafés. This distinctive
town is not be missed while you land on this
beautiful island paradise.
