Where can you find oruwas?

There are plenty of traditional craft in use in Sri Lanka but most of them are paddling canoes. The only place where there is still extensive use of sail is in:

- Negombe, Western Sri Lanka

- Ambalangoda, Southern Sri Lanka

- Hikkaduwa, Southern Sri Lanka

- Dodonduwa, Southern Sri Lanka

Negombe, approximately fifty kilometres north of the capital Colombo, has a huge and shallow lagoon with an exit to open sea. Here the bala-oru are still fishing for prawns using a drag-net. The only place where there is still extensive use of sail is here in Negombo. Sailing oru also operate from the beach in front of the hotels to the north of the lagoon. Until recently the sailing palu-oru were fishing from villages further south such as Ambalangoda, Hikkaduwa and Dodonduwa, but it is uncertain to what extent this is still done. You still might be able to find oru here, although on a much smaller scale than in Negombe.