Hikkaduwa Sri Lanka

by reallyboring

Article by Sanjeewa Padmal Punchihewa

Hikkaduwa is one of the most popular beach holiday destinations in the island of Sri Lanka. It is well known for its beautiful underwater world with coral reefs and beautiful beaches. But some of the corals in the seas of Hikkaduwa have been destroyed through lanina effect, the Global phenomenon in which the sea water was warmed. Still the sea of Hikkaduwa considered being one of the best diving spots in Sri Lanka due to its richness of underwater fauna and flora. Hikkaduwa was badly damaged from the Tsunami in 2004 and most of the beach hotels were severely damaged. Today they are back to normal and most of the properties were upgraded during the renovation. Unlike most of the beaches in Sri Lanka several areas in Hikkaduwa can be used for all year round sea bathing.

Glass bottom boat ride

One can have a nice view over sea bed through the shallow waters of Hikkaduwa during a glass bottom boat ride. Apart from the coral reefs, the waters of Hikkaduwa are inhabited by large number of exotic fish species as well as sea turtle species. Apart from the wide sandy beaches Hikkaduwa claims to have well grown thick vegetation in the area it can be observed few hundred meters towards the land side from the beach.

Attractions of Hikkaduwa

North of Hikkaduwa town is the lagoon which can be used for a relaxing boat ride. Well known Sinigama Devala is located about two kilometers from the city of Hikkaduwa. It is one of the two temples where the God Suniyam is venerated.

Purana thotagama vihara is a Buddhist temple with a valuable historical back ground, is situated in the village called Telwatta in north of Hikkaduwa. Even though the present temple was built in 1805, beginning of the site goes way back of 1805. The temple was inhabited by popular scholar monk Sri Rahula in the 1500's. The Makara thorana at the entrance of the temple is believed to be one of the best craftsmanship of the Kandyan period. What noteworthy is the god figures with arrows that have blood on tip of it. T! he wall painting of the image house shows the scenes from the life of Buddha.

Dodanduwa which is inhabited by fisher folk is situated between Rathgama and Hikkaduwa. Rathgama oya is another attraction in the area that has number of islands. The area around Rathgama is popular for the cinnamon plantations in the south Sri Lanka.

Kumarakanda temple with large number of beautiful religious paintings and footprint of Buddha is also situated in Rathgama due to the popularity of Buddhism. It is believed that the first Buddhist school in Sri Lanka was started here with a training school for Buddhist monks.

One popular island of the Rathgama tank is the Polgasduwa, which can be reached by boat. Monk who was born in Wiesbaden in Germany had built a monastery here in 1878. He had contributed to the Buddhist literature by translating many Pali Buddhist publications, Visuddi Magga and Anguttara-Nkaya are among the translations. Last four years of his life was spent in a forest monastery in Kandy and the monk was died in 1957 in Colombo after an operation.

How to get there

Hikkaduwa can be reached by bus or taxi which lies on the A2 main road from Colombo to Galle. The distance form Colombo to Hikkaduwa is 98 kilometers. If one comes from Galle to Hikkaduwa the distance around 19 kilometers. The train is also can be used to travel to Hikkaduwa and the station is located few meters away from the city.

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