Enquire

    The Enchanting Waterways of Negombo

    A Boat Tour through Negombo’s Landscapes

    A popular Negombo couple activity, a canal, lagoon, and wetland boat tour showcase the waterways of Negombo, Hamilton Canal, Negombo Lagoon, and Muthurajawela Wetland Sanctuary.

    This immersive tour explores the sights and sounds of Negombo’s fishing community living along the Hamilton Canal. It also offers a chance to explore the local fauna and flora at Muthurajawela Sanctuary and glides along the serene Negombo lagoon landscape.

    The perfect tour for a slice of Negombo’s vivid birdlife, diverse marine habitats, and fishing culture, it is best done with an early start at dawn.

    Highlights
    • Explore the Hamilton Canal fishing communities
    • Watch Shrimp, Lobster and Crab fisherman of the Lagoon
    • Bird watching at Muthurajawela
    • Learn about all the different types of boats that ply the canals

    The Hamilton Canal is named after Gavin Hamilton, the British builder who expanded the Dutch canal in 1804. The Dutch were the original builders of the island’s canal network, obviously with a deep knowledge of the craft from their homeland. Built to facilitate the trade of Cinnamon and other spices, the canal is an impressive series of waterways expanding all the way up to Puttalam, 19 km to the North.

    The Negombo Lagoon boasts the island’s best crabs and shrimp. Negombo Crab Curry is a popular seafood dish hailing originally from this area. The Lagoon is a 32-acre estuary that is a hotspot of marine life, supporting the region’s fishing communities.

    The Muthurajawela Wetlands supports over 192 species of flora and 209 species of fauna, including Slender Loris and another 102 species of birds. Some of the identified species are indigenous to this beautiful marshland.

    Our Favourites

    Hamilton Canal

    Hamilton-Canal

    Hamilton Canal

    Explore and appreciate the canal banks’ vibrant fishing communities and their dependence on the canal for fishing, tourism and other trade activities. The canal is a hive of colour and activity, with various types of boats, from small row boats to more modern motorboats parked on the canal banks. Overhanging Trees, local bridges, water monitors, kingfishers, and other birdlife all add their presence to the bustling symphony of life along the Hamilton Canal.

    The Negombo Lagoon

    The-Negombo-Lagoon

    The Negombo Lagoon

    Witness the larger multi-day vessels head off on the lagoon towards the East African coast on an arduous fishing expedition on the high seas. At the same time, the local fisherman prepares to bring back the day's catch on their small one-person outriggers. If you see two outriggers with a small, thatched roof in between them, that’s a live-in lagoon fisherman who plies their craft overnight in search of or to protect their crab or shrimp nets cast over areas in the lagoon. The lagoon is also famous for water sports, with tourists going for jet skiing and windsurfing.

    Muthurajawela Wetland Sanctuary

    Muthurajawela Wetland

    Muthurajawela Wetland Sanctuary

    The last part of the boat tour takes you to Muthurajawela, a protected urban wetland with narrow canals and crisscrossing marshlands. A verdant landscape of marshes and mangroves, Muthurajawela has a diverse mix of endemic and exotic birdlife. Home to cormorants, ducks, egrets, herons, storks, eagles, terns, swallows, swifts, and kingfishers, you will also see other resident birds such as ducks, egrets, herons, and storks.

    In addition to birds, you may see the elusive water and land monitors gliding by and Toque Macaques along the riverbanks.

    Arranging your Tour

    Your Hotel Concierge can easily arrange the tour of your choice. All three explorations usually take 5-6 hours. If you wish, you can choose the boat ride from the 3 for a shorter journey. Negombo has plenty of private operators who engage in the tour, and they are easily found online. The tour usually includes a hotel pick up, water on board, a stop by a lagoon side café for refreshment, and a drop off back to the hotel.

    Speak to Our Concierge
    Telephone
    +94 76 757 8865
    whatsapp
    +94 76 757 8865
    Address
    2D,
    Inner Bagatalle Road,
    Colombo 03,
    Sri Lanka.

      instagram-1.svg
      @slhoneymoonguide
      Enquire

      Error: Contact form not found.