Puttalam

A busy lagoon-side town on Sri Lanka's north-western coast, ringed by salt pans and prawn farms and the main gateway to Wilpattu National Park.

Overview

Puttalam is the district capital, spread along the eastern shore of the vast Puttalam Lagoon in the dry north-western coastal belt. It is a working town of fishing, salt production and prawn farming, with a large Muslim community whose mosques and eateries give the centre a distinct character. Most travellers use Puttalam as a base or staging point for safaris into Wilpattu National Park to the north, birdwatching at the Anawilundawa wetlands to the south, and the Hindu shrines around Chilaw. The lagoon, its salterns and the flat scrub jungle around town teem with waterbirds.

History

Puttalam has been a port and trading settlement for centuries, drawing Arab and Indian traders to its sheltered lagoon and giving rise to one of the island's oldest Muslim communities. The surrounding coast was contested by the Portuguese and Dutch, who valued its salt and its access to the pearl banks off the north-west coast. In modern times the town became the administrative centre of Puttalam District in the North Western Province and a hub for salt, fisheries and, more recently, coal power and cement industries.