Jaffna

Jaffna sits at the northern point of Sri Lanka, approx 40km from India. The Northern region was off limits to visitors during the civil war (1983-2009) and for a period after, only beginning to open to travellers shortly before the pandemic. It has taken many years to clear the land mines, work which remains on-going and is heavily militarised.

Colombo to Jaffna takes at least nine hours by car or 70 minutes by internal flight. We chose to fly not realising that we would be on one of the first flights since early 2020 and the only passengers. On arrival at Jaffna we were met by 20 people including the airport director and treated as celebrities.

The north of the island is mainly Hindu and is still recovering from the effects of the 2004 Tsunami as well as the civil war. The pandemic has hampered the recovery and many capital projects have been put on hold due to the resulting economic issues.

We visited the Dutch Fort (built in 1680), the Public Library (burnt down in the lead up to the civil war and a catalyst for violence), Hindu and Buddhist temples and the northern coast.