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Mullaitivu Tourist Places And The Coastline That Taught Me How Silence Speaks
BY Sibashree Jul 22, 2026
My trip to Sri Lanka crossed many dramatic turns, especially in the Northern part of the country. With Vavuniya feeling like a crossroads rather than a stopover and Mannar being a high point where the wind never stops, the next stop was Mullaitivu. Mullaitivu was a name that I had only read about in the news archives. Mullaitivu is even in the news today as the people of Keppapilavu have been protesting for days now for the return of their ancestral lands. Thurairasa Ravikaran and Sivagnanam Shritharan, two Tamil parliamentarians, have shown their support and solidarity to this protest. Nevertheless, while Trincomalee beaches and the rich culture of Jaffna dominate the conversations about Northern Sri Lanka, Mullaitivu surfaced as a place talking about the past. In this article, I will talk about my two days in Mullaitivu, from the drive in to the lagoon that ended a war, and why I think this coastline deserves more than a passing mention on a map. Why Mullaitivu Almost Stayed Off My List The day I spent at Vavuniya, the guesthouse caretaker there, a soft-spoken man named Selvam, was the one who first brought up Mullaitivu. About Mullaitivu, he mentioned, “The beaches were empty, the lagoon was calm, and the town had not yet learned how to perform for tourists.” This stirred me, as most travel forums I had checked mentioned Mullaitivu as a former war zone with a nice coastline and not much infrastructure. While this is not false, this is only a fragmented picture of Mullaitivu. How I Reached Mullaitivu From Vavuniya, I took A34 to reach Mullaitivu. It was a distance of around 54 kilometers, and I reached within an hour and a half. The road narrowed past Puthukkudiyiruppu, cutting through scrubland, paddy fields, and the occasional stretch of forest before the land flattens out toward the coast. How Mullaitivu Felt At First Sight? Mullaitivu was once a small fishing harbor. It was a small fishing harbor and a stop for sailing vessels moving goods between Colombo and Jaffna in the early twentieth century. Today, it also remains a fishing town, unbothered and unhurried by outsiders. As I entered the town, my driver, Ravi, pointed out the old lighthouse. It was built in 1896, and it has lost its original iron frame. So, when you visit the lighthouse today, you can only find a faded signboard. Nevertheless, I spent my first evening walking along Mullaitivu Beach. Fishing boats had gathered there, forming neat rows, and the nets were drying on the sand. Also, it was most delightful to find children playing cricket on the sand with a tennis ball. Being from the country where cricket is a religion, I joined them. We bonded big time talking over big names such as Kumar Sangakkara and Kusal Mendis. A few meters away from them, an elderly woman was mending a fishing net. It felt like a scene from a Sanjeewa Pushpakumara movie. Like his films, Flying Fish and The Venishing, it was like a scene depicting the raw portrayal of survival. What Are The Places To Visit In Mullaitivu? I was not prepared for the amount of Civil War history Mullaitivu offered me. Also, the birds and the sanctuary where the beach and lagoon meet allowed me to unwind with so many things going on in my head about life during and after the Civil War in Sri Lanka. Nanthikadal Lagoon: Where The War Ended At a glance, the Nanthikadal Lagoon looks like a shallow, sand-fringed body of water. It is on the northeastern edge of the district. Small rivers feed it, and it finally opens into the Indian Ocean. When I reached the lagoon, I found some egrets standing motionless in the shallows. Then, a kingfisher dropped into the water and came up empty. Ravi then took me to an old man, a local school teacher called Rajan. He narrated the entire story of the Nanthikadal Lagoon to me. What Happened At Nanthikadal Lagoon The 26-year Civil War of Sri Lanka ended at Nanthikadal Lagoon in May 2009. Here, the government forces cornered the last LTTE fighters. The group's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was also killed. In the weeks before that, civilians had been pushed into a shrinking strip of land along this same lagoon. They were between the fighting lines. In a report published on 17th January 2009, The Guardian wrote, “International concern is intensifying over the fate of around 350,000 civilians trapped in a rapidly shrinking rebel-controlled pocket of land in Sri Lanka's north east, as the military steps up its campaign to end the civil war by crushing the Tamil Tiger forces. There is no specific count of the number of human casualties in these final months. A 2011 UN Panel of Experts report stated that credible sources estimated as many as 40,000 civilian deaths. Another report, published by The Times (UK) on 29th May 2009 based on confidential UN documents the paper obtained, reported that civilian deaths in the no-fire zone rose sharply from late April. The deaths averaged around 1,000 killed per day until May 19, 2009. Thus, it had put the total civilian death toll at over 20,000. (Source: Al Jazeera). The Sri Lankan Government has shown a much lower figure. However, in the UN Rights Council: Act on Sri Lanka Report published on 13th September 2011, Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, mentioned, “When a UN Panel of Experts report concludes up to 40,000 civilians died amid war crimes, the Human Rights Council should feel compelled to act. The council should order a full international investigation – anything less would be a shameful abdication of responsibility.” How Nanthikadal Lagoon Looks Back At Those Days Every Year Tamil families gather at Mullivaikkal, close to the lagoon, on 19th May every year to remember relatives lost in the final days. They light lamps and plant coconut saplings in their memory. Standing at the water's edge, with fishermen casting nets a short distance away, I found it hard to reconcile the stillness in front of me with what this ground had witnessed. The Victory Monument, The Museum, And The Submarines The Puthukkudiyiruppu Victory Monument was on the Paranthan-Mullaitivu road, which was a short drive from the lagoon. It was unveiled in 2019, and it depicts a soldier carrying the national flag. Furthermore, the surrounding pond and lilies represent the ocean around the island and the nation itself. An adjoining war museum displays weapons, vehicles, and vessels used during the conflict's final phase. Entry to the museum was free, and it remains open from 8 AM to 5 PM. Also nearby, there were rusted hulls, and it was the site where the government troops discovered an abandoned Sea Tiger boatyard in 2009. It is where the LTTE's naval wing used to build improvised submarines and semi-submersible craft. I want to be honest about something here. This is a site that different communities in Sri Lanka read very differently, and I do not think a two-day visit qualifies anyone to settle that. What I can say is that visiting both the lagoon and the monument on the same day gave me a fuller, more uncomfortable picture than either would have alone. The Kokkilai Lagoon: Where The Coastline Turns Peaceful Again On the second afternoon, I drove out to Kokkilai Lagoon. It was a wetland sanctuary around 25 kilometers southeast of town. It has been a protected bird sanctuary since 1951, and I could spot pelicans, herons, and occasional flamingos moving along the shallows. The crowd of birdwatchers was small, and the overall ambiance was quiet. Chundikulam Further along the coast, Chundikulam allowed me to relax. It was a sanctuary with no visitors. I quietly cherished the view of the beach and lagoon blurring into one uninterrupted stretch of sand and water. Coming back from Chundikulam, I had some spicy crab curry and rice at a roadside stall. It was similar to what I had in Jaffna, but it tasted even better. Ravi said, “It was the only reason to end the day here.” My Two Days In Mullaitivu: The Itinerary Day TimeActivities/Places to VisitDay 1MorningDrive from Vavuniya via the A34MiddayCheck-in and Walk through Mullaitivu TownAfternoonNanthikadal Lagoon and the CausewayEveningMullaitivu Beach at SunsetDay 2MorningPuthukkudiyiruppu Victory Monument and War MuseumMiddaySea Tiger Submarine YardAfternoonKokkilai Lagoon BirdwatchingEveningChundikulam Coastline and Seafood Dinner Mullaitivu: A Quiet Place That Asks You To Listen Away from the grandeur of Kandy and Colombo, Mullaitivu is a place that simply exists. It tells the stories of human survival, and it is still recovering and fishing despite the stains and the lives lost in the Civil War. So, if you are already tracing the north of Sri Lanka through Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, or Mannar, I would not leave Mullaitivu off the route. Just go with the understanding that this is not a beach add-on. It is a place that holds two very different stories at once, and it does not owe you a tidy conclusion to either.
