Mannar Island

Discover the Dry Zone

Mannar Island is located 325 kilometres north of Colombo in the far Northwest of Sri Lanka in the dry zone. Though called the largest islet in the country, it is in fact a peninsula formed in the shape of a tongue. Talaimannar, the westernmost tip of the island, is almost connected to the Dhanuskodi, the easternmost tip of the peninsula of Southern India by a reef of corals submerged in the Palk Straits. Mannar Island has been referred to by names such as “Manthei”, “Mathota”, Mahathiththa”, “Mahaputu” and “Mawatuthota”. The landscape in Mannar district varies from wooded jungles to paddy fields and swaying palm trees and it is one of the few places in Sri Lanka where Baobab trees thrive.