Know the world: Akurala Beach - A natural beach like a swimming pool.

Akurala Beach - Southern Province, Sri Lanka

I can swear nobody can get an experience which you can gain in a man – made swimming pool in a sea which is a natural water resource. But, you all can get this fantastic real experience in Akurala beach in the Southern part of Sri Lanka which located on the route A2 along the Galle road, about 25 kilometers away from Galle town. You may wonder why I boast about a swimming pool, but you cannot deny, it is the place where we get training for swimming without the fear of the force which is made by the moving ocean waves and enjoy hours of swimming to soothe our mind and have a good exercise.

As you all know Sri Lanka is a beautiful island in the Indian Ocean which is known as ‘The Pearl of the Indian Ocean’. So there is no doubt that it has plenty of golden sandy beaches. However, some beaches have their unique specialties and stand alone with their own pride. In this way ‘Akurala Beach’ has its own pride with its natural swimming pool like nature. It is spread about one kilometer area along the Galle road in the shape of an open mouth of a crocodile. Further you can get the pleasure of golden sandy seashore along the beach. Here and there you can feed your eyes with patches of purples flowers among the green leaves, which are called ‘Beach Morning Glory’.

As you see in the map, from your left to right when you face the beach, there is a rock bench like a chain which is 3 to 6 feet width. From the sea shore it gradually goes inside the sea and separate the seashore from the big tidal waves. It spreads about 1 kilometers and the depth of the water area between the seashore and the rock bed also gradually goes deep from our foot level to 4 feet near the rock bed. The over flown sea water in this area again flows back to the sea via the open area of this natural pool. So you can feel the force near this opened area and it is better to keep small children away from this area.

It is nearly 90 kilometers from Colombo along the Galle road and takes two hours for travelling. If you go by the Southern expressway, it is 106 kilometers and it takes less than one and half hours. You can reach this place by train also which is nearly 100 meters away from the beach.

Here, if you are adults, you can rent out air filled lorry tubes for practicing swimming. There are air inflated animals and birds shaped toys for youngsters to get training for swimming and enjoying the pleasure of being in a pool. If you have enough courage you can walk along the rock bed on the side of the natural pool area, because the water level above the rock is nearly zero. But always it is sunk under water which is nearly 20 centimeters with the fresh tidal waves.