Zed “This river used to give jobs for so many people.”
“The underwater light attracts the prawns, they swim in and get trapped in the nets.”
“You are the first group we’ve had for a boat ride, for the whole of this week.”
“Yes – that Sir is the boss. It’s just him and some of us locals from the village working the boats now.”
“Don’t put me in the photograph – we are not supposed to handle crocodiles on the river. Even small ones.”
“I can’t lie Sir, this animal is my livelihood. I can’t kill it… when it grows to about one year old, I will let it go back into the river.”
“Shall I explain about the temple, in English? I learnt to explain in English, because we used to have a lot of foreign tourists. In those days.”
“Let me give you a pirith nula before you leave.”
“When the tsunami came, the wave went right over that bridge. But the mangroves protected us.”
“In the old days, the villagers used to cut the mangroves for firewood. We didn’t know the importance of these trees in the river.”
“Watch your head Miss, we’re going under the bridge. Villagers from the islands used to travel across on motorcycles, but now the bridge is also breaking.”
“That’s the place where the river joins the sea. In the high tide the sea comes into the river.”
“Yes, it is beautiful.”