#5: [15-Apr-12]

#4: [13-Apr-07]

#2: [31-Dec-01]

#1: [24-Nov-02] (incomplete)

27-Feb-2007 -- 7N – 80E Sri Lanka

Line Hunting Date: February 27, 2007

Another visit to the most popular confluence point of Sri Lanka

Among the five land-based Confluence Point of Sri Lanka, this is the one had the most visits thus far – two successful visits. Located about 20 km from the Capital City – Colombo – clearly made it the most accessible one. We added another visit to this point at the very end of our holiday.

Our holiday tour covered the Southwestern quarter of Sri Lanka including a fun day hunting for 7N 81E in the Hill Countries. Our last stop was Negombo, a peaceful beach town near the Colombo International Airport. We had a whole day to wait for the midnight flight to Singapore. After plenty of sun and beach, we hired a car to hunt for this point around 3 pm.

From our hotel, the GPS distance to this confluence point was 37 km. The drive was straight forward and took us through three good size towns. Weliweriya was the last big town we drove through , about 4 km from the point. We found a turn off from the main road which brought us to a dirt road 680 meters from the confluence point where we started the little hike.

The dirt path following the edge of a large dried up rice field brought us within 150 meters of the confluence point. At which point, we entered a small gate into a very large yard with banana and coconut trees. We found the confluence point near a house but we were kept 10 meters away from the all-zeros point by a barbed wire fence. At other side of the fence there was a fellow busy digging a hole. We got his attention and permission to enter his yard by going around another house nearby.

We met up with Mr. Banwardana the owner of this confluence point and explained the purpose of our visit and the significance of owning one of the five Confluence Point of Sri Lanka. Needless to say, Mr. Banwardana was both surprised to see two strange people showing up on his property and very pleased he now the owner of 7N 80E. Twenty meters from the confluence point, a new home is near completion which is for his daughter’s family. Mr. Banwardana escorted us to the rice field through another gate which we have overlooked on the way in.

We got back to Negombo beach just as sun was setting. Another swim in the ocean wrapped a great holiday in Sri Lanka.

Rating of this hunt :

Degree of Challenge:

1 – Easy drive and a pleasant hike, nothing complicated (1= very easy - drive to the point; to 5= a death march – glad it is over)

Scenery:

3 – Typical low land farming areas with plenty of palm trees with a real tropical feel (Scale: 1= not interesting at all; 5= take your breath away)

Culture-social factors:

43– Rural low land farming community of Sri Lanka (Scale: 1=dull; 5= most stimulating)