Ambalangoda is a coastal town located in the Galle District and is a preferred beach travel destination for tourists especially those who are looking for a quiet and tranquil experience. The town is renowned for the manufacture of wooden masks and puppets. The traditional masks are carved from light Balsa like Kaduru wood (Nux vomica). Kaduru trees grow in the marshy lands bordering paddy fields. The wood is smoke dried for a week in preparation. The hand carved and hand painted masks in traditional dance dramas are both vibrant and colorful. Masks are created for three different types of dancing rituals: 'Kolam', which tell mocking stories of traditional Sri Lankan colonial life; 'Sanni', or devil dancing masks, used in a type of exorcism ceremony to heal people of persisting illnesses believed to be inflicted by demons; and 'Raksha' masks, which are used in festivals and processions. The Naga Raksha (Cobra demon) mask of the 'Raksha Kolama' (demon dance), consists of a ferocious face with bulging, popping & staring eyes, a bloodthirsty carnivorous tongue lolling out of wide mouth armoured and armed to the hilt with set of fanglike teeth, all topped by a set of cobra hoods.
ATTRACTIONS
- Tukkawadu Gunadasa Ancestral Home (Traditional Mask & Dance)
- Ambalangoda Mask Museum
- Bandu Wijesooriya School of Dancing
- Galgoda Sailatalaramaya Maha Vihara Temple - South Asia’s longest sleeping Buddha (35 metres (115 ft))
- Sunandaramaya Mahavihara - one of the earliest Buddhist temples on the south coast, with the largest thorana (gateway) in Sri Lanka
- Madu Ganga Wetlands - the 915-hectare Madu Ganga Estuary is connected by two narrow channels to the Randombe Lake, forming a complex wetland system encompassing 64 mangrove islets. It is a RAMSAR classified wetland.
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