The ice-cold sip of ginger beer, a local ginger-based lemonade, cools off while the sun is at its highest. A light and welcome breeze passes through the large open hut, carrying scents of curry and spices coming from the buffet. An artificial pond, covered with water lilies and lotus, where harmless fish, frogs and snakes coexist, reinforces the feeling of tranquillity. A few dozen metres from Jungle Beach, behind a curtain of emerald green vegetation, stretch the ochre beaches of the Indian Ocean, lined with fishing villages. And, scattered under the trees, a group of luxurious bungalows, terrace facing the sea, for the residents of the hotel. The décor is set, conducive to a serenity that seems, here, to have always existed. Yet the existence of Jungle Beach, the jewel of a hotel in Kumpurupiddi, north-east Sri Lanka, would have been unthinkable only five or six years ago. For this region has been at the heart of two tragedies. The most spectacular was on December 26, 2004, when the tsunami sweeping through all of Asia destroyed the island’s eastern coastline, infuriating 38,000 people. If Sri Lankans manage to rebuild very quickly and wipe out most traces of the cataclysm, it will have taken decades to overcome another tragedy that shook the region. When it, all along the coast, up to the northern tip and Jaffna, including inland, housed the famous Tamil Tigers, or, in official terminology, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This peaceful land was then a war zone, where Tamil fighters took refuge in the jungle. A conflict that began in the 1970s and left hundreds of thousands dead. Since then, the country has been regularly bereaved by suicide attacks and commando operations. Extensive military offensives by the SLA, the Sri Lankan army, and negotiations alternated, before the government regained control of the north and eliminated the leader of the LTTE, in 2009. Since then, the country hopes to be done with the guerrillas. In fact, peace now seems to be well established, and the whole island is now open to visitors.
