Koggala Beach Hotel

The longest in South Asia

Many wouldn't know that Sri Lanka has the longest hotel in South Asia (Frankly, I didn't). Koggala Beach Hotel situated in the Galle district which is 121 km in distance and a three and half hour journey from Colombo is one of the much looked forward to hotels due to it's close proximity to the sea.

Consisting of 102 rooms and positioned with a magnificent sea view, Koggala beach is considered one of the best beaches in Sri Lanka. To those occupying rooms close to the sea (located a hundred metres away) stilt fishermen are a unique sight. In fact, Koggala beach is very famous for stilt fishing and people who come to spend their holidays at this hotel are fascinated by these fishermen.

Other places of interest that visitors to this hotel can enjoy are the Galle Fort, Martin Wickramasinghe museum, Gintota Silk Factory, Thelijjawila (snake farm), Madol Duwa and the other seven islands on Pol Oya. "Our staff can speak German and we did special German programs for them because we have a very good demand from the German market.

Apart from the usual clientele for weddings and conference, we have two banquet halls which can accommodate 350 pax", Manager of Koggala Beach Hotel, Pathmasiri Liyanage said.

Mr and Mrs Ernst Striepe from Germany have come to this hotel over fifty times, and they expressed their glee. "We love this hotel because of the lovely staff and the peaceful environment; on our next visit to Sri Lanka too we will select this hotel".

Koggala Beach Hotel is situated at the point of Koggala airport, railway and the Galle road. "This hotel was inaugurated in1976 with 63 rooms. Then we added 15 rooms in 1977, 52 in 1978 and again added 59 rooms and a swimming pool in 1979," said its Managing Director Mohan Saparamadu.

The Club Koggala Village is the sister hotel of Koggala Beach Hotel and is situated at the same premises. Visitors can use both hotel facilities.

The restaurant was on the upper floor, facing the sea, and in comparison with other hotels the food was good Sri Lankan flavour.

Sitting under the vetakeiya trees, on the sea shore facing the lovely sea was real cool!. (GP)

Koggala beach is very famous for stilt fishing and people who come to spend their holidays at this hotel are fascinated by these fishermen

New hotel opened at Katunayake

Hotel Ramada Katunayake a 4 star Hotel comprising 68 rooms opened yesterday (11) at Negombo Road Seeduwa, a 10 minutes drive from the airport on the Negombo - Colombo highway.

Being in the vicinity of the airport, it is ideally suited for airline crews and transit passengers for restful stay before they embark on their next journey. Being in close proximity to the free trade zone and the investment promotion zones of Ekala and Biyagama, factories can utilise this hotel for their expatriates accommodation and get-togethers.

Rooms are equipped with high speed internet, flat screen T.V, mini bar, as standard features. They also have a pool, gym, business centre, banquet halls, travel desk, a bar and a 24 hour coffee shop.

Pol Oya - its lure and charm by Ganga PRADEEPA

The morning was bright and pleasant in Koggala and a two-hour boat ride along Pol Oya was ideal to start off the day. Pol Oya is considered as Sri Lanka’s largest natural lake consisting of eight islands including the famous island named Madolduwa.

Madolduwa, is a popular island because of the novel “Madolduwa” by Martin Wickramasinghe. I remembered the heroes of that interesting novel Jinna, Upali, Siripala, Dangadasa and Ranadewa and could remember how they became the heroes of my childhood.

There are so many places from where people can start their boat ride on Pol Oya.

When you reach Koggala sign boards indicating “Madol Duwa” are in more than a few places. Sadly, most people visit Madol Duwa only, because of its distinctive popularity but they lack the knowledge about the other seven islands.

But on your boat ride to Madol Duwa, you can see the other islands as well.

Kathduwa was the first island that comes into view. “This became a famous island in the Second World War because the Japanese used this island to land sea planes. Kathduwa is one place that we can land a sea plane on. Other places include Marawila and Nuwara Eliya,” the animator accompanying me P.G. Sarath said.

Birds

Madin Duwa (Kurulu Duwa) was next. This was an island where you can see hundreds of birds on. If you want to watch the birds there the best time is the evening, because the birds come to roost at that time, I was told.

We went along the Pol Oya. In just a few minutes I could see the biggest island on the lake Thala Thuduwa Duwa. According to Sarath, it has a Sylvan (wilderness).

Then there is another island named Koth Duwa which has four water bungalows owned by private owners. People can’t enter this island because it is private property. But we could see it while moving.

The first island that we could set foot on was Ganduwa which was a cinnamon island. There were many cinnamon trees on this island with a small house and a family living there.

This family shows how the cinnamon product comes out for our meal and the process of clearing the cinnamon sticks, rolled and dried it on the roof. A woman put the dry cinnamon into the grinding stone and ground it. Their final process is to packet the cinnamon. Visitors can buy fresh cinnamon from them. And also they can enjoy the cinnamon tea (like I did!).

We returned to the boat again. I saw the next island Diyamera Dupatha which has many towering trees. We did not enter this island but passed it and reached Madolduwa where we got off. I went around Madol Duwa and saw the well, Sekku gala still there. I could imagine how Upali and Jinna lived in this island. But now it is an ugly state of affairs that are taking place here such as people throwing their litter about and empty bottles being thrown after consumption of liquor, I was told.

Temple

We already saw the seven islands. The last on my journey was Weduwa. It was a temple where nearly 25 monks resided. I entered this island which had a dagoba and some dwellings. “There are many people who come to this place to observe sil on poya days,” said D.H.Somasiri a tour guide. It was a serene location. This island was ideal for meditation, as was now being used as.

We returned to terra firma again with pleasant memories...and with new experiences for me also. Like many others, when I came on the journey to Pol Oya I had in mind only Madol Duwa. But apart from Madol Duwa there are seven other islands too providing us equal fascination...