Ambalangoda ෴ අම්බලන්ගොඩ

Location: Ambalangoda is located 94km south of Colombo, in the south western coastal belt of Sri Lanka.

Reaching Ambalangoda: Ambalangoda can be reached by Colombo-Galle main motor road as well as by southern railway line.

Setting: Ambalangoda is a fishing village in the south western coastal belt of Sri Lanka, located 25 km south of Bentota National Holiday Resort.

Ambalangoda Beach: Ambalangoda has its own fine swathe of pristine beach. However Ambalangoda beach is overshadowed by the stretches of beaches with superior hotels to the north as well as to the south.

Handicrafts at Ambalangoda: Ambalangoda is Sri Lanka's prime production center of vibrant and colorful wooden masks, some comical, others ferocious, carved off light and soft balsa wood called "Kaduru" in Sri Lanka. In the bygone days those wooden masks were used in ceremonies of exorcism. Today those masks are produced mainly as souvenirs for the tourists.

About Galle District

Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo.Galle is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in south and Southeast Asia, showing the interaction between European architectural styles and south Asian traditions. The Galle fort is a world heritage site and the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers.

Galle is a sizeable town, bySri Lankan standards, and has a population of 91,000, the majority of whom are of Sinhalese ethnicity. There is also a large Sri Lankan Moor minority, particularly in the fort area, which descend from Arab merchants that settled in the ancient port of Galle.

About Southern Province

The Southern Province of Sri Lanka is a small geographic area consisting of the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota. Subsistence farming and fishing is the main source of income for the vast majority of the people of this region.

Important landmarks of the Southern Province include the wildlife sanctuaries of the Yala and Udawalawe National Parks, the holy city of Kataragama, and the ancient cities of Tissamaharama, Kirinda and Galle. (Although Galle is an ancient city, almost nothing survives from before the Portuguese invasion.) During the Portuguese period there were two famous Sinhalese poets called Andare who was from Dickwella and Gajaman Nona who was from Denipitiya in Matara District, composing poems on common man.