http://davidsbeenhere.com/ In this episode David starts out on a short 3 hour road trip from Galle to Yala where they plan on visiting the largest and richest national park in Sri Lanka. On the way to Yala David stops to visit the fishing village of Weligama where he checks out the traditional fishing methods of using stilts. While making a stop in Mirissa David checks out the many different types of fishing boats in the Harbor before making his way back on the road to Yala. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RihGYK2z2g0
About Me: My name is David Hoffmann and for the last decade I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food and history! Since starting Davidsbeenhere in 2008, I have traveled to 71 countries and over 1,000 destinations, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube Channel, blog and social medias.
I focus a great deal on food and historic sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, whether it’s casual Street food or gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning the local history and culture.
This video is brought to you in part by the Sri Lanka Tourism Board.
Good morning everyone so today is day four and we're on our way to Yala. Yala is the second
largest national park here in Sri Lanka and it is the most popular. It is home to the most
leopards in the world. They have crocodiles, they have I think 42 species of mammals and
they have elephants and they have it's famous for bird watching.
And right now we're also going to Walegama right to see the still fishing.
But the still fishing at the moment is not what it used to be because when they introduced small
fishing boats everybody started going small fishing boats. So they used to do still fishing
you know 100-200 years ago and now you can probably see one or two people out there but
they have like 20 or 30 sticks still out there. Yeah. And what's the other town that we're going
to see where the whale watching is? Whale watching boats, Merissa. Merissa. Yes. And then we're also
going to pass Matara. Matara. And Matara what is there? Matara is the second biggest city of the
south after Gaul. And it takes about three hours on the road to get from Gaul to Yala. As you can
see the road is just like this. It's just a road. It's not a highway you know. It's just a you know
town after town after town after town all the way till you get there. I mean this is how it is around
the entire country. So if you're circling the country along the sea or along the coastline
this is what you'll see. Okay so see you in two minutes in Walegama. Okay so we're here.
Hello. Morning. So we're here on the way to Walegama and I just saw some guy on a stilt right here.
It's the guy fishing right there. This is what they used to do back in the day to get fish.
Your brother. Okay okay. Alright so be aware that every time you see somebody on a stilt fishing
they're not really fishing. They're just doing it for show so they can make some money.
Just uh right now I was out there you know taking pictures filming and the lady next to me said hey
that's my brother you know he's doing this to make money can you please give us a donation
and you know just be aware of that and you know give two dollars three dollars whatever you can
afford so that you know they could be happy. You know this is this is like a part-time job for them.
They're not really fishing right. They could catch some fish but not for not for selling.
Okay so for themselves. For themselves. But really they're doing it to make some money on the side
so people take pictures they make some money. Okay. Alright so be aware of that. We literally
just passed Walegama and now we're entering Marisa. Now we're entering Marisa yes. Marisa and this is
where people go to see whale watching. You um you go on a tour they take you out to the middle of
the sea and you see the whales but this time of the year August it's not the best time. What's
the best time of the year to go whale watching? January, February, March. January, February, March. April is not a good month.
Okay so right here whale and dolphin watching club Marisa. Yeah. Okay this will be on the guide of
Galle as a day trip. No people. Look at that. Almost a car crash right there. Tutu crash. These things are called
tuk-tuks. Marisa water sport dolphin and whale watching. This is the company that you need to
use if you want to go see whales. There are some smaller companies as well inside. There's smaller
companies inside. Not one person. But this is the main uh company. This is the main place if you want to do it in
in uh I mean private like. Private okay. Here we are Marisa in the fishing harbor. Okay so every
morning you can come here and get cheap fish that they bring in. As you can see it's a little bad
day the weather but here are the fishing boats. At least 100 boats here. Here to the right we have
the biggest boats produced in Sri Lanka that go deep sea fishing and they go off for about two
months out to sea. They have the bottom full of ice and they fill up. They fill up every day until
they're done. They're full and they come back. And right here what we have is whale watching boats.
Right now there's three different boats here. They leave at 7 a.m. They provide breakfast.
They stay out there for about four or five hours to see whales and dolphins and then they come back.
And right here we have a very cool fishing boat. What type of fishing boat is that? It's one they're on.
Oh this is like a catamaran. I mean it's different. Never seen a boat like that.
Very cool. All right so I guess that's Marissa.
