Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th largest city This northernmost city is an ideal base for trips along the coastline and lagoons of the surrounding peninsula, where Hindu tradition, art and creative culture can be seen in abundance. Isolated from main-stream tourism by Sri Lanka’s 30-year
Mannar Island is a beautiful, eerily dry near-peninsula with lots of white sand and palm trees, gulls and terns, wild donkeys, and little lanes and fishing boats. Jutting out into the Palk Strait, the island is only about 30km from India. Because of its location, Mannar Island was hard hit by the war: it was a major exit and entry point to and from India, and became a key host of refugees. The island’s large Muslim population was driven out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil E