About this experience
This is a full-day private tour that follows the south-western Sri Lankan coastline from Beruwala down to Galle, taking in a river safari through the Madu Ganga wetland, time at the Kosgoda turtle hatchery, a stretch of beach at Unawatuna, and a walk through the stone-walled streets of Galle Fort. The tour runs for nine hours in a private, air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking chauffeur guide, and hotel collection is from Beruwala or Aluthgama.
The morning begins on the water. By around a quarter to nine your boat is moving into the Madu Ganga, a Ramsar-designated wetland south of Balapitiya that broadens into a lake before reaching the sea. Fourteen of Sri Lanka's mangrove species grow here, and the river channels run narrow enough in places that the canopy closes overhead, turning the waterway into a green tunnel. The one-hour safari passes small islands — one holds a Buddhist temple, another is given over to cinnamon cultivation, where you can watch the bark being stripped and buy fresh cinnamon from the people who grow it. There is also a stilt structure over the water where the boat may stop briefly. Cormorants and pelicans work the river alongside a good range of other waterbirds.
From the river the route continues south to Unawatuna, where there is an hour on the beach before lunch at a hotel of your own choosing — seafood is well represented along this stretch of coast, and the cost falls to you. The afternoon is given over to Galle. The fort occupies a rocky promontory with sea on three sides, its outer walls built from coral and granite by the Dutch after they took the town in 1640. The enclosure has been continuously inhabited for more than four centuries and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. Walking the cobbled streets inside, you will pass the Galle Lighthouse at the south-eastern tip of the fort — the white cylindrical tower that has marked this headland since the present structure was built in 1939 — along with the National Maritime Museum and the Dutch Reformed Church.
Late afternoon brings a stop at a turtle hatchery in Kosgoda, where eggs collected from nearby beaches are incubated in protected sandy pits and hatchlings are kept in shallow indoor pools before release into the ocean. Five of the world's seven sea turtle species come ashore on Sri Lankan beaches to nest; all five face serious conservation pressure. The hatchery also takes in injured adult turtles while they recover. Depending on timing, you may be able to see hatchlings that are shortly due to be returned to the sea. The tour is back in Beruwala by six in the evening.
Children aged five and above are welcome on the tour. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended, particularly for the time spent inside Galle Fort. Entrance fees to the Madu River safari and the turtle hatchery, lunch, all other food and drink, gratuities, and personal expenses are arranged and paid for independently on the day.
