What’s Happening In Hambantota
The owner of Flamingo Safari, on his land in Weerawila
Hambantota is the deep south. It’s hot, dry and really weird looking in parts. You can hammer down the roads at 100 km and see for miles. Paddy fields, tanks, tropical deserts. Driving through Sri Lanka you mostly see a bunch of trees and the same Nestomalt dealer boards. In Hambantota you can see a lot of nature, and the roads are pretty fast. I don’t recommend the town at all, but the district is quite cool. For Yala and Kataragama alone, it’s well worth a visit.
a local traffic jam
District Not Town
One misconception I had was that Hambantota was a town. Hambantota town is tiny and there’s nothing to do there. You can get a passable rice and curry at the guest house and see a decent view of the old Hambantota Port. That’s at the top of the only hill. Leonard Wolff used to be government agent up there, but there isn’t even a plaque to his name. The town itself is mostly Muslim and kinda like a min, crappy Pettah. The Peacock Hotel is off there and it’s decidedly mediocre. There’s beach but it’s quite rough and I’d never swim in it. The town kinda sucks.
Hambantota District, however, is quite cool. On the surface there’s Yala National Park (with leopards and elephants and stuff), Kataragama (temples), and Tangalle (beaches). Below the surface (of my knowledge) is diving (including the Great and Little Basses lighthouses off the coast), some tanks, and I’m sure other stuff. The roads are now good so you can get there from Colombo fast (I think 4 hours is possible via the Ratnapura Road). You can also get around fast, so it’s possible to visit Yala, Udawalawe and Bundara in one trip. In terms of sheer quantity and availability of nature it’s quite cool.
a donation, interestingly, from Taiwan and not China
The Future Of
The reason Hambantota gets so much attention now is because of it’s mega projects, the port and the airport. The latter, while it takes place nominally in Hambantota won’t really benefit the town (in my opinion). The port actually detours the main Galle Road away from the town entirely. I personally think that the Hambantota Port will benefit Tangalle, Galle and Colombo more than Hambantota town itself.
The airport as well is set for Mattala, way outside of the town. That will probably serve Yala, Bandarawella, and Buttala in tourist terms and Colombo and Galle in terms of cargo.
I don’t know anything about the airport, but it seems like the port is on schedule. There are a ton of shipping lines running across the south, so I do think having a port there is a good idea. Everything from Singapore/Hong Kong to the MidEast/Europe runs across here, so we might as well get a taste. I personally like Galle as a tourist destination, so developing Hambantota might be a good idea. The Chinese, of course, are doing it for their own reasons, including messing with India and keeping warships here. That doesn’t bother me too much.
Stuff To Do
I generally like Hambantota. It’s beautiful and the roads are good and Yala and Kataragama alone make it worthwhile. The former has a ton of wild animals and the latter is a spiritual mecca. As it develops, however, Uda Walawe national park and Tangalle beaches should become more accessible, plus it’s really close to Arugam Bay (great beaches) and Bandarawela/Nuwara Eliya (great, cold climate). All in all it seems like stuff is happening down there. I look forward to it.
Is the airport work going on ? However I do not think they will be able to finish it on schedule. The unfortune is that, whoever the designer is, hasn’t thought of a second phase of its development. Single runway and aging-style single terminal. Since they are planning a 4000m runway, at least around $125m will be required for the runway. The best bet would have been to incorporate all into a single Logistics Zone. There is an added advantage that there is the HAMBA entry waypoint ( connecting Australia, Indonesia and Singapore flightpaths ), but they should think of utilising it more.
There are also overgrown old airstrips in junglereserves between lagoon and sea and strange red eath craters by the sea, hidden passageways to Lankapura and a fountain of fertility ontop of a monolith.
The “deep south” as they like to be known is full of mysteries.
They’re apparently going to build a stadium there as well for the World Cup ’11…doesn’t seem like a realistic prospect! :(
It is essential for Sri Lanka to have a well established alternative to Colombo. Trinco could have been a nice place, but Hambanthota is not bad either. History also in the side of Hambanthota. I’m look forward to it too.
It does seem as things are happening in Hambantota. Personally I think the port is a really good idea. The airport, not so much. The port does seem to have riled up some Indians though, it’s been in quite a few articles. The latest one being “China builds a pearl in Sri Lanka” but the Hindustan Times. Funnily enough, it was originally offered to the Indians who rejected it, and then Mahinda went to China and sealed the deal. If you want to follow the progress, try the following site and thread: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=948562 — the pics are cool.
Dutch Hangmans Pole: Hambanthota
People were hanged off this metal column. There is an air of mystery around this metal monument as it does not appear to corrode even though its right by the ocean.
Was it metallurgy like this Iron Pillar in Delhi
The daily news just carried a feature on Hambantota titled “Hambantota – the new hub of development ” with quite a few articles: http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/09/23/fea20.asp … I just hope they are also taking steps to protect the environment and plan the constructions well.