Vankalai

Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka

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Vankalai (also spelled Vangalai or Vangkaalai) is a predominantly fishing and farming village in the Mannar District of Sri Lanka's Northern Province, located along Naanaattan Road with the Indian Ocean on its west coast.

The village is home to over 8,000 residents, mostly Roman Catholics (more than 99%) from the Bharatha community, and features a huge ancient Catholic church called Our Lady of St. Anne's Church at its center. Vankalai is most famous for the Vankalai Sanctuary, a 4,839-hectare protected wetland area declared Sri Lanka's 4th Ramsar site in July 2010, which includes diverse ecosystems ranging from mangroves, salt marshes, lagoons, and tidal flats to arid-zone scrubland, sand dunes, and shallow marine areas.

This sanctuary supports more than 120,000 waterbirds annually, including 20,000+ during migratory seasons, and provides critical habitat for threatened species like green turtles, dugongs, saltwater crocodiles, Greater Flamingos, and Northern Pintails, while also serving as important spawning grounds for over 60 fish species.

The shores from Vankalai south to Kudiramalai were historically the world's most famous pearl fishing banks in classical and medieval periods, and today the village remains primarily engaged in fisheries and farming with a strong educational and professional tradition producing teachers, government officials, and clergymen.