Things to Do in Galle

Now I’m sure that fort over there is plenty for anybody to look at and all, but what can you really do in Galle? We spent two days there and discovered a few nooks and crannies. Granted most of these nooks were in the Galle Literary Festival, which none of us really took much notice of. As such, the next post is probably going to be a contribution by someone who did take part in a few of the events at the famed GLF. Don’t worry, we haven’t gone soft; this post is about “Jungle Beach”. The name itself screams adventure does it not?

Jungle Beach

So after we rode around the fort for a while and soaked up all the magnificent architecture we could without feeling like constructing the Parthenon with our tent at night, we decided to venture out of the protective walls of the great fort and actually do something. We had heard of a place called Jungle Beach, supposedly an amazing spot to take a dip and just a few minutes out of Galle.

Getting There

Head towards Matara from Galle for a few kilometers(sadly we could not find out the exact number) and you will reach the Ruhunu Cement Factory, technically in Unawatuna. A few meters past this, you will see a road to the right, ask the locals and they will direct you to this turnoff. Everyone in the area seems to recognize the name “Jungle Beach”. Head straight along this road. About a hundred meters in you will face a steep climb going on for a few hundred meters. Dragging bicycles up this makes it feel like a few kilometers. A brave few might try to ride up this steep gradient on a low gear but will give up approximately sixty seconds into this excruciatingly difficult exercise.

This hill turned out to be none other than the Rumassala mountain, supposedly dropped from the grocery bag by Hanuman on his way to a great big continental kitchen.

After a while, the climb becomes less steep and you come to a point on the road where you get a spectacular view overlooking the two stretches of beach that make up Jungle Beach. This is the point where you realize that when they say Jungle, they mean jungle. Not just any jungle either. This is thick jungle on the side of a mountain which requires a man-made path to make headway in. The entire thing is covered in thick greenery like a green afro.

You will end up at a Buddhist temple built with Japanese aid. From here, there will be a little path into the jungle on the right side of the road directly in front of the temple. Head into this path. It is rocky and slippery and in some places overgrown with bushes. You won’t come across snakes or leopards but you will occasionally come across a couple or two making their way on to a lonely rock overseeing the ocean for some “quality time”.

Keep on this path, and you will finally arrive at Jungle Beach. After you confirm that it was indeed worth the trek down the scratchy path, you may take a dip in the cool blue waters. Be warned though, it is only shallow for a distance of about twenty meters out to sea. After that it gets quite deep and choppy. When we got there a German expat who owned a local guest house and was taking a dip in the sea himself gave us some information on the place. Apart from a Navy boat hanging about a hundred meters out, there was nobody else there.

In and Around the Fort

The Galle fort is a fascinating place. It is a functioning part of the Galle city enclosed within the great walls of an old Dutch fort. It is littered with remnants of that era such as the crumbling ramparts themselves and various other buildings dotting the place. Nearly all the buildings in the fort look like they were built by people wearing wooden clogs, but most are relatively new and just made to look like that.

Camping in the Fort

We asked around for places to camp in the fort and were mostly met with blank looks. Most people just didn’t know if it was okay to camp out there. Since we weren’t told not to do it either, we decided to see what happens and just set up the tent on the eastern ramparts. Now that’s one morning view you won’t soon forget. There doesn’t seem to be any opposition to camping around the fort as we did so on two consecutive nights and nobody said anything.

Transport to Galle

If you want to cycle around Galle but are not too fond of sunburn from cycling a hundred odd kilometers from Colombo, you can get the bikes sent via train for a fee of around Rs. 300. Just go to the Colombo Fort railway station’s parcel building(The one towards Pettah, behind the Manning Market) and hand it in. Make sure you have a license for it though, as they are required and quite easy to get at your local Grama Niladhari’s office. They cost a pittance.

The same can be done for bikes being sent from Galle to Colombo. Just try your best to get a license for your bike.

There’s probably more to Galle than Jungle Beach, but we are yet to discover it. Maybe a later trip. For now, have fun at Jungle Beach.