The peninsula has a natural heart that throbs wildly, and you can discover it at its pristine best at Chundikulam. The name may ring a bell only for a few people. But Chundikulam National Park became a bird sanctuary as far as 1938. It is the best place to capture birds in their most unguarded, spontaneous, intimate or dramatic moments. Throw in some rare and elusive mammals like the fishing cat, the sloth bear and the jungle cat, and you will agree it is a naturalist’s paradise. Chundikulam sits in the middle of the strip of land that joins the Jaffna peninsula to the rest of the island. At its east is the Indian Ocean and at its west the Jaffna lagoon. In this arid, wild land, many kinds of habitats have evolved: beaches with sand-dunes, salt marshes, wetlands, thorny scrublands, dry forests, tanks, mangroves and of course the lagoon. This means that a great number of birds, favouring a great number of terrains, can flock and thrive within the area. District : Mullaitivu Location : Tamil Eelam History : Chundikkulam Lagoon and its surrounding area was designated as a bird sanctuary on 25 February 1938 under the Fauna and Flora. In January 2009 the Sri Lanka Army's 55 Division, advancing from Nagar Kovil, re-captured the area around Chundikkulam sanctuary from the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Subsequently the Sri Lankan military started building military bases in the sanctuary and barred local fishermen from using the sanctuary and local residents from returning to their homes.