Centara: Base for unexplored jungle at door step
Passikudah Bay in the Batticaloa District is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. It is famous for its golden bay and clear, shallow waters in which anyone can wade nearly100m out to sea. The literary meaning in Tamil for Paasikudah is ‘Green-Algae-Bay’. Since the end of the civil war in 2009 and the completion of Tsunami rehabilitation projects, Pasikudah has become a popular tourist destination amongst locals and foreigners alike. This is because Pasikudah is known to have one of the longest stretches of shallow coastline in the world.
Apart from the bay, beach and the other water sports in Passikudah, Batticaloa district has unexplored inheritance of wildlife, archeological sites and nature. The well kept secret of the area is this unexplored wildlife which, can be reached, within just 20 to 30 minute drive from the Bay. One time battle ground, Thoppigala(original name is Kudumbimalai), Artickkadu, Tharavei, Palamadu, Avaddaveli and Iralakkulam areas are now the best unprotected sanctuaries for wild elephants, sloth bears, wild boars and other animals.
I had the first hand experience in exploring the interior of Thoppigala area with our experienced guide Tharan.Centara Resort and Spa is the best place in Passikudah to be based to explore this wild district. Ten months old Centara Passikudah Resort & Spa is one of the latest additions to the star class accomodation that is coming up in the beautiful Passikudah Bay, a long stretch of coastline renowned for its calm and shallow waters, ideal for swimming and water sports. The outer bay has an extensive coral reef and there are scattered coral communities within the bay, together forming one of the best-known reef systems in the Indian Ocean.
During the pre conflict era of the seventies, a popular Resort in Passikudah ‘Sun Tan Beach Resorts’, the owning company of Centara Passikudah Resort and Spa, who pioneered in establishing the international brand ‘Centara’ in the East Coast of Sri Lanka. It is also the largest property on the famed Passikudah bay comprising of 125 rooms. Being the largest resort on the East coast offering six categories of rooms, including suites, it is built on an area of three acres with a total land expanse of over ten acres. Apart from the many archaeological and wildlife attractions and the myriad of features the property itself has to offer, the oceans around Passikudah are famous for diving and offer some of the most sought after dive sites such the US Aircraft carrier HMS Hermes which was sunk by the Japanese during World War II. Many dive enthusiast and underwater excavation specialists have travelled to Passikudah to explore these famous sites.
From here travellers can visit Batticaloa, which is home to a historic Dutch Fort and a lagoon that reportedly has singing fish in it.Travelling to Passikudah on road takes a ‘seven hour drive’, even via the newly done Habarana, Polonnaruwa road. I always wanted to try out ‘off the beaten track’ for long journeys, even though it takes extra time. Last week I hit the road to Passikudah via Kandy, Mahiyangana, Padiyathalawa, Mahaoya and Chenkaladi. It was a rustic drive through a one time war torn Batticaloa District through the jungles of Toppigala to the famous Passikudah Bay.
Passikudah is easily accessible from Trincomalee (110kms) and Batticaloa (32kms). For those who prefer to enjoy more time at the resort with less travel time, Helitours offers scheduled flights operated three times a week from Ratmalana to China Bay Airport and transfers to and from the airport can be arranged by the hotel.
For more details call 0652050200, 0112472397/9 or log onto www.centarahotelsresorts.com
Pix by Shan Bandu Weerasinghe
