Hambantota

Hambantota is a much-changed place since the tsunami. Now, to the eastern part of town, empty spaces and random buildings dot the dry, flat expanse that bridges the gap between the mangrove-fringed ocean and the Karagan lewaya - a beautiful expanse of lagoon populated by migrant birds and flamingos. It was once a busy residential area; now the people who used to live here have been relocated further inland.

 
The sloping western part of town is still a busy and colourful place where you often see goats sunning themselves in doorways and market stalls selling fish and vegetables. An old clocktower stands in the centre of town. In addition to its chimes, the Muslim call to prayer can be heard at regular times throughout the day. The bay is full of colourful catamarans – representing the livelihood of the majority of Hambantota’s inhabitants – and no wonder since it’s a rich fishing ground for prawns, lobsters, and crabs.
 

To the east of Hambantota, in the foreground of silent windmills, are large swathes of flat land used for salt production. Salt has been produced in Hambantota for centuries. Making it is a fairly straightforward process if conditions are right – low rainfall, strong sunlight, flat ground and clay soil. During the colonial era, the Dutch quickly realised the value of Hambantota’s salterns as a bargaining tool against the Kandyan kingdom, which acquired its vital supplies of salt from there. Today, with companies employing a large proportion of the local population – both men and women – the industry is vital to this dry region and provides 70% of the country’s salt requirements.
 
(Content Source  : Travel Sri Lanka Magazine)
(Image Source    : travellingbirder.com,wiki.worldflicks.org )