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Sri Lanka and India Day 5: Stilt Fishermen and Galle Fort

21 February 2016 • 70 km / 44 mi (map)

  • Added to Eric Scouten :: Travel on 18 June 2026
  • Sri Lanka 6

We backtracked a bit today to see some of the sights along the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, including the famous stilt fishermen and the historic fort at Galle.

A lone fisherman in a teal shirt and red cap stands on dark rocks at the water’s edge, casting into rough, foaming surf that fills most of the frame with churning blue-green sea.
A fisherman just outside our hotel early this morning. · Cinnamon Hikka Tranz, Hikkaduwa, Southern Province, Sri Lanka

A little sample of what it’s like to drive in Sri Lanka:

Nayagoda, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Pedestrians walk along a street in front of a Buddhist shrine in Galle, Sri Lanka, where a glass-fronted pavilion with a tiled roof displays a large colorful painting of a seated Buddha. A spreading bodhi tree shades a white wall topped with decorative swan-shaped balusters, and people pass by including women in white and a woman holding a pink umbrella.
Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka · by Tara Scouten
A busy street scene in Galle, Sri Lanka, with green, red, and white auto rickshaws (tuk-tuks), a motorcyclist, and a parked silver van moving across a wide paved junction. The roadside is lined with weathered buildings, shop signs in Sinhala, a Samsung billboard, and an open-air fruit and vegetable stall with hanging bananas under a clear blue sky.
Random street scene in Galle. · Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka

The stilt fishermen are among the most photographed sights on Sri Lanka’s south coast — a fisherman perched on a pole above the shallows, rod in hand. The tradition is real, born in the lean years after WWII when crowded beaches pushed fishermen out over the water. These days it’s as much performance as livelihood, the poses held for the cameras and a small fee. Knowing that didn’t make them any less striking to watch.

A stilt fisherman in Koggala, Sri Lanka, perched on a thin wooden pole driven into the shallow sea, balancing with his feet on a crossbar and holding a fishing rod. He is bare-chested, wearing a red and green sarong and a blue head wrap, facing the turquoise water with breaking white waves and a hazy horizon behind him.
Koggala, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Two stilt fishermen perched on tall wooden poles set into shallow turquoise water along a rocky coastline, each holding a slender fishing rod, with breaking waves and a hazy sea horizon behind them. One man stands wearing a blue head wrap and a pink wrap, while the other sits on a crossbar wearing a colorful headscarf and orange shorts.
Koggala, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Two women sit on a raised platform beside a closed blue and green corrugated-metal shopfront at an open-air street market, with bananas, papayas, citrus, jackfruit, leafy greens and other produce laid out on the ground and pavement in front of them. Further down the street, signs in Sinhala script and other vendors and shops are visible.
Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka

On our way back from Koggala, we stopped for a while at the historic fort at Galle. Originally constructed by the Dutch, it was later rebuilt by the British and is now a popular tourist destination.

Numerous small wooden fishing boats pulled up onto a grassy shore beside a calm harbor, with tall thin masts and wooden rigging poles rising into a bright blue sky dotted with clouds. A red and black boat marked ‘OFRP-A-0174-GLE’ sits in the foreground, with palm trees, rocky breakwater, and distant buildings visible across the water.
Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
A weathered white and yellow fishing boat marked “NEIL MARINE” and “R.G.16” rests on grassy ground in front of a row of rustic wooden sheds with tiled roofs, beneath leafy trees. A ginger-and-white cat sits in the grass in the foreground.
Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
A weathered interior space at Galle Fort with ochre-colored, mottled plaster walls, a wooden-railed staircase rising to the right beneath a brick archway, and a stone-paved floor. A metal lantern is mounted on the left wall, and the ceiling is made of dark wooden beams and planks.
Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
A weathered round “no honking” traffic sign with a black trumpet symbol crossed out, its faded orange-red border rusted and peeling, mounted on a concrete post wrapped with green wire. A blue plastic bin sits on a sunlit stone pavement in the background, with a planter of greenery nearby.
Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
A pair of arched black wooden shutters with iron hinges and diagonal braces set into a weathered ochre-yellow plaster wall, the two arches together forming a heart-like shape, with a strip of grass below at Galle Fort in Sri Lanka.
Part of the historic fort at Galle. Originally constructed by the Dutch and later taken over by the British. · Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
A trilingual street sign reading “Hospital Street” in English, Sinhala, and Tamil mounted on a weathered yellow-ochre wall with peeling plaster, beneath a terracotta tiled roof. A dark doorway opens to the right in the colonial-era building in Galle Fort, Sri Lanka.
Hospital Street · Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
An old single-story garage with a yellow-ochre stucco facade and red tiled gable roof, its front gable wall painted with an emblem and the words “The Police Garage Built 1917” above a padlocked pair of dark metal doors. Lush green trees and grass surround the weathered building under bright daylight.
Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
The dimly lit interior of a restaurant with a long row of tables flanked by grey cushioned bench seating along an exposed brick and chalkboard wall, with wine bottles stored in a wall rack, black pendant lamps hanging from a high wooden-beamed ceiling, and tall barred windows letting in daylight.
Restaurant in Galle Fort. (We didn’t try it, but it looked inviting.) · Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
A weathered stone gravestone with a carved coat of arms at the top and a skull-and-crossbones emblem below, surrounded by a rope-like decorative border. The Dutch inscription commemorates Nicolaas Brasser van Heuvel, born in Trincomalee in 1701 and died in Galle in 1721.
Gravestones in the Dutch Reformed Church in Galle. · Galle Fort, Galle, Southern Province, Sri Lanka

Last stop for today was a fishing harbor in Dodanduwa, where we enjoyed the colorful boats parked along the shore.

Numerous traditional wooden fishing boats with blue and white hulls beached on the sand under a clear blue sky, their tall wooden poles, rigging, and orange life vests rising into the air, with fishing nets piled in the foreground and palm trees on the right horizon.
Ceylon Fishery Harbor, Dodanduwa, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Colorful wooden fishing boats pulled up on a sandy beach, with a bright blue boat bearing a painted dolphin and the name “Maumi Duwa” in the foreground beside a green boat with an outboard motor. Behind them, rows of moored boats fly red flags amid wooden masts, fishing nets, and palm trees under a bright blue sky.
Ceylon Fishery Harbor, Dodanduwa, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Colorful wooden outrigger fishing boats with tall wooden masts, rigging, flags, and nets, hauled up on a sandy beach beside calm turquoise sea under a clear blue sky at Ceylon Fishery Harbor in Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka.
Ceylon Fishery Harbor, Dodanduwa, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
Brightly painted wooden outrigger fishing boats with tall bamboo masts and rigging rest on a sandy beach beside the turquoise sea, one bearing the name “MAHEESHA” in yellow lettering. A small Sri Lankan flag and colorful flower garlands hang from the rigging, with cast nets and a blue bucket aboard, under a clear blue sky.
Ceylon Fishery Harbor, Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka
Hikkaduwa to Koggala, Sri Lanka, and back` · 70 km / 44 mi
(Mouse over or tap on the markers to see the photos there. Use the button to adjust the map’s position and zoom.)

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