Indika De Silva Archives

In Sri Lanka,This Centuries – Old Spirit Is Shaking up The Local Cocktail Scene- By Zinara Ratnayake More and more mixologists in Sri Lanka are using coconut arrack to make cocktails And being served in trendy bars from London to Cologne Source:Island At an 18-acre coconut garden of Rockland Distilleries in Nattandiya, just north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, Roy Jayalath begins his work early in the morning. Jayalath climbs tall, swaying coconut trees to collect the white, milky sap of their flowers. Balancing on two coir ropes, he walks across these tightropes from tree to tree until he collects enough sap to fill a pot. Coconut sap is the raw material for coconut arrack, an alcoholic beverage unique to Sri Lanka. Although this method of collecting sap, known as toddy tapping, has existed in Sri Lanka for about 2,000 years, arrack has only recently begun to reach trendy bars ...

Oceanic Sound Pollution: Hazardous Threat to Marine Mammals-by Kamanthi Wickramasinghe Source:Dailymirror Whale stranding along Panadura Coast SL Navy officer engaged in the rescue operation. Pic credits – SL Navy Wildlife Conservation Department says no abnormalities observed in post mortem report High tech cargo vessels and use of high-grade fuels should be encouraged High-frequency sonar used to detect oil deposits On November 2, a little after daybreak, photos of a pod of short-finned pilot whales stranded along the Panadura coastal stretch started flooding social media newsfeeds. What followed was an approximately 18-hour operation to tackle the charismatic marine mammals, safely back into the waters. In no time, residents, volunteer groups, Sri Lanka Navy, emergency response teams and many other individuals joined hands in the rescue operation. While around 120 of them safely returned home, six pilot whales and one dolphin succumbed to injuries. However, the incident once again puts the spotlight on the ...