Sri Lanka Tourism Blog

Nature, Culture, Luxury… a Lifestyle!

The newest and most ambitious project of Jetwing Hotels, located within 5km of the ‘8th Wonder of the World’-Sigiriya- is the creation of a truly ‘Lifestyle Hotel’. Sigiriya, located within the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka is famous for its rich history and Sri Lankan heritage. Vil Uyana situated within view of Sigiriya rock, on the flatlands that stretch to the west, integrates into an ancient plan - a plan to irrigate, in the tradition of the Sinhala kings.

The introduction of a wetland on reclaimed agricultural lands within the Dry Zone, provides the unique backdrop for this exciting new property. Inspired from local and rural traditions.

A private nature reserve provides a haven for wildlife and a setting of peace and tranquility. The hotel is possibly the first in the world to construct a wetland system with lakes and reed beds to form a private nature reserve.

This has allowed for the first time in Sri Lanka for rooms to be built over water. Centered around water bodies are parklands and woodlands, designed for leisure; an extension of the ancient practice of planning gardens for pleasure.

A challenge has been overcome, for the conversion of Dry Zone chena lands formed by slash & burn agriculture, to a seasonal wetland (land that is inundated by water for part of the year). The colonization of the new habitats by local fauna and flora has been accelerated by the planting of reed beds and groves of trees.

5 acres of land was used to re-grow paddy using traditional methods of farming and harvesting, providing a new and exciting feature. Rooms have been placed within the paddy fields, thereby giving the guest a unique opportunity of participating in both the farming and harvesting if they wished; yet another first in Sri Lanka! The regeneration of the forested groves create a feeling of ultimate privacy and seclusion in the Forest Lodges, the largest of the Chalets.

The tastefully designed rooms boast space as its hallmark of luxury. Dine in the privacy of your room or ‘under the stars’ or simply relax and pamper yourself at the Island Spa with a range of treatments to choose from.

The many components of the ecosystem will be subject to continuous monitoring. The hotel is unique in building a research facility from inception. Comfortable accommodation will be provided to researchers locally and internationally, overcoming one of the key logistics hurdles to field work. The research center also has a library, a room for laboratory based work and a computer room. The guest will be a participant in the metamorphosis of tourism as a champion of conservation. The environmental awareness will be an important aspect of a new ethos.

As part of Jetwing’s responsibility towards local communities an English teaching program is being held in two Buddhist temples located near Vil Uyana. Namely, Rotawewa and Kimbissa. Unemployed youth now attend these classes where they are trained to read, write and speak English. Halfway through their 6 months training they will receive hotel craft training in a field selected from Hotel Housekeeping, Reception, Restaurant & Bar and Cookery. The objective of the initiative is to make them gainfully employable. Some of them will have the opportunity to join Jetwing while others can look for employment in other companies in Sri Lanka or even overseas.

Whether it is the nature lover in you or the task of ‘finding yourself again’ treat yourself to an experience…come be part of the lifestyle!

This prestigious property is scheduled to be opened in Autumn 2006.

25 Tastefully appointed Chalets set in 3 distinct ‘habitats’:

7 Water Pavilions 1030 Sq. Ft (Dining Deck 200 Sq. Ft)

6 Paddy Field Villas 1030 Sq. Ft (Dining Deck 200 Sq. Ft and Plunge Pool 200 Sq.Ft)

2 Marsh Villas 1030 Sq. Ft (Dining Deck 200 Sq. Ft and Plunge Pool 200 Sq. Ft)

10 Forest Lodges 2100 Sq. Ft (Private Pool)

Spread Over 24 Acres of Land

Location:

169 km from Colombo (About a 4 ½ hr drive)

153 km from the International Airport (About a 4 hour drive)

Tree of Life Hotel, is a place where nature takes pride of place. Set in 64 acres of idyllic surroundings at Yahalatenna, Kandy the draw of nature’s tranquility is hard to resist.The mere sight of the splendid location will put your mind and body instantly at ease, wiping out the stress and strain of the life and the day to day rat race.

The Tree of Life is an eco friendly hotel worthy of its nature. The hotel has a unique architectural style, a fusion of colonial features and an openness to nature married in surrounding that are untouched by artificial landscaping.

Surrounded by 700 acres, of land the hotel has a rich history. The old wing was once an estate bungalow built during the colonial era, over 100 years ago.

The hotel is covered by a green carpet of vegetation with the ‘Knuckles’ mountain range providing a magnificent backdrop adding to the beauty and serenity of the scene.

As for the creature comforts of Tree of Life there are 40 luxurious rooms, equipped with TV/Hot, Cold water bath plus private balcony, which offers a guest a panoramic view of the encircling hills. To many this is indeed a romantic setting among the foliage and is ideal for both honeymooners and nature lovers. The hotel has two restaurants, adjacent to the large and beautiful swimming pool. They offer exquisite Sri Lankan and Western cuisine.

A plunge into the crystal clear water of the hotel’s swimming pool which commands a breathtaking view of the surrounding landscape is sure to invigorate anyone.

You can chill out in the billiard room or party the night away at the in-house disco or emerge yourself in Ayurvedic herbal treatment the last work in luxury. The hotel’s experienced masseurs will sooth your stress and tension away.

There are mountain bike outings or you may join a trained hiking guide. And that not all, the songs of the wide varieties of birds might tempt you to go bird watching at the Tree of Life.

Conference and workshop groups will find the fully equipped conference hall just the place for brain storming. Manager Timothy Paldano takes care of every individual guest to make his/her stay at Tree of Life memorable. The latest addition to Hotel Tree of Life is four modern Villas.

‘Magul Maduwa’ overlooking the hotel’s beautiful swimming pool is also another addition to Tree of Life. This has become extremely popular for weddings due to its beautiful setting.

Tree of Life is certainly a honey mooner’s paradise due to its romantic setting, Managing Director Tree of Life Shelly Tehenuwara said.

At a time when tourist arrivals are low, we are thankful to the local clientele who have always patronised Tree of Life. We have a large honeymoon market through word of Mouth’. Manager, Timothy Paldano said. Their recommendation of the hotel is highly accepted because the hotel runs to ‘Packed Houses’ on Nekath Days.

Hotel staff have been trained at Tree of Life and posted to the restaurants and Ayurvedic Centre in Japan, thereby giving employees and opportunity to work in Japan Thenuwara said.

Tree of Life is a Japan/Sri Lanka venture and is a Green Globe certified hotel.It won the prestigious President’s Environment Award. – 2005

The Cinnamon Lodge and Nature Odyssey in collaboration with the John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation recently opened a Butterfly Garden at the Cinnamon Lodge, Habarana. The objective of the project is to develop an ecologically rich plot of land as an ideal habitat to attract butterflies; simultaneously creating awareness among guests, schoolchildren and other visitors about butterflies and biodiversity.The garden currently comprises about 300 plants that attract a wide variety of butterflies. Situated on a ten acre block of land at the Cinnamon Lodge farm, the Butterfly Garden was declared open by Director, John Keells Holdings PLC, Sumithra Gunesekera in the presence of renowned butterfly specialist Dr. Michael van der Poorten, Head of IUCN Asia’s Business and Biodiversity programme Shiranee Yasaratne, staff of the Cinnamon Lodge, schoolchildren from the area and other guests. The consultant on the project is the renowned butterfly specialist Dr. Michael van der Poorten, who has been studying butterflies in Sri Lanka for many years.

He recently discovered a species of butterfly that is new to Sri Lanka, the Orange Migrant (Catopsilia Scylla), which is found in Asia but has never been recorded in Sri Lanka before.“We are trying to promote the development of habitats in which butterflies can live and sustain stable populations”, said Dr. Van der Poorten. “It is important to make people aware of the resources that butterflies require in different habitats.

Two of the most important resources are food for the caterpillars (larval host plants) and food for the adults (usually nectar plants).”A total of 244 species of butterflies are are found in Sri Lanka, including the recently discovered Orange Migrant by Dr. van der Poorten. Among them, 20 species are endemic to Sri Lanka. A total of 66 butterfly species are considered as nationally threatened, according to the IUCN 2007 National Red List.

Among the native butterflies of Sri Lanka, one in four species is believed to be nationally threatened, due to loss of natural habitat, decline of food plants and environmental pollution. “We are encouraged that corporate entities such as John Keells are engaged in the conservation of threatened species to help save Sri Lanka’s vanishing biological heritage. Retaining viable populations of species in their native habitats is an essential conservation response for ensuring the long-term survival of these species. John Keells is doing just that, and IUCN is privileged to be a partner in this process,” said Head of IUCN Asia’s Business and Biodiversity Programme, Shiranee Yasaratne.The project will be sustained by Nature Odyssey (a member of the John Keells Group and an inbound tour operator specialising in nature and adventure) and the Cinnamon Lodge under the guidance of Dr. van der Poorten, while IUCN will collaborate in its development by means of advice and literature.Director, John Keells Holdings, Sumithra Gunesekera said, “My congratulations to Nature Odyssey and Cinnamon Lodge for such an original, yet simple way of making a difference to our environment. We often take butterflies for granted, never realising the part they play in our ecology. Dr. van der Poorten’s contribution has been priceless. My sincere appreciation to him for the effort and passion he has put into this work. I also hope that all visitors to the butterfly garden will come away more enlightened and interested in these amazing creatures. Conservation, we believe, begins with awareness and education, and this is exactly what we hope to achieve through this project.”

By Tahnee Hopman, Pic by Vimukthi Weeratunga, Dilup Chandranimal & Naalin Perera (IUCN)

How much of Sri Lanka’s celebrated wildlife will we have left 25 years hence? Today, a herd of wild elephants coming to drink at a tank is a common sight in Yala, Minneriya and many such places in the island. However, if the dangerous trend of encroaching on the natural habitat of these animals continues, the next few decades could see some of Sri Lanka’s most majestic animal species becoming extinct.

The elephant (Elaphas maximus) is listed as ‘vulnerable’ and it comes as no surprise given that the death of a wild elephant is reported every two days. Also in the ‘vulnerable’ category are the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus) and the wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee), while the sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is listed as ‘endangered’. One in every two species of mammals and amphibians, one in every three species of reptiles and freshwater fish and one in every five species of birds in the country are currently facing the risk of becoming threatened in the wild.

The alarming statistics are revealed in the 2007 National Red List of Threatened Plants and Animals in Sri Lanka compiled by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), in collaboration with the Biodiversity Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The list was prepared by gathering information on the indigenous flora and fauna of Sri Lanka and assessing their conservation status, taking into consideration the Global Red List criteria developed by the IUCN.

“The Red List is both an important and powerful tool in the conservation cause,” says Dr. Channa Bambaradeniya, Coordinator, Regional Species Conservation Program, IUCN Asia. “It is a good indicator of the current status of wildlife, and it focuses our attention on the seriousness of the threats to the unique and rich biodiversity of Sri Lanka.”

Species were considered as nationally threatened when evaluated as one of the following: Critically Endangered (CE), Endangered (EN), or Vulnerable (VU). The state of indigenous species in Sri Lanka was determined by the rate of population reduction, restricted geographic range, small population size and very small or restricted population. Most species were evaluated using their geographic range (Extent of Occurrence-EOO and Area of Occupancy-AOO).

The National Red List was presented to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Champika Ranawaka on Wednesday. Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister stressed the importance of a concerted effort on the part of every citizen. “The National Red List is without doubt the most important environmental document; it sounds alarm bells as to what is happening, and tells us that we all need to act now, to save what is left of our precious wildlife,” he said.

The process of compiling the National Red List began in 2004. Facts were assembled selecting certain taxonomic groups for evaluation. Species information was then fed to a digital database, and the distribution of each species plotted in a 5×5 km² grid map using GIS technology. The result is what is considered the most comprehensive document concerning the environment and its conservation.

“The previous National Red List was compiled in 1999, and the findings of the current assessments suggest that although steps have been taken to mitigate the threat of extinction, this effort is far from enough,” explained Ms. Shiranee Yasaratne, the country representative of IUCN.

Sadly, the animals on the previous Red List are in much the same or in a worse situation than they were eight years ago. Climate change induced by rapid global warming, deforestation and pollution are some of the main threats to wildlife. Poaching is also a serious threat, and although steps have been taken towards restricting this activity, it continues regardless.

Aquatic habitats and endemic fish species are in grave danger due to excessive use of agrochemicals- Sri Lanka ranks high among the top ten countries that make use of these chemicals. Deforestation, mining of minerals, improper land use etc have led to heavy siltation in streams and rivers affecting aquatic life.

According to the National Red List, 223 (33%) inland indigenous vertebrate species are classified as nationally threatened. Of these, as many as 138 species (62%) are endemic to Sri Lanka. Local extinction has already been happening due to urbanization. 84 vertebrates and 74 invertebrates have been classed in the near threatened category. Many of these reside in the wet zone of Sri Lanka. Only 4% of the wet zone is forested, and these forests too are severely fragmented.

The implication of habitat loss, particularly in the wet zone, is that 21 species of endemic amphibians and 72 species of plants have become extinct over the past two centuries. In the past fifty years, we have lost approximately half of the country’s total forested area. As of now, only 23.5% of the island’s forests remain. The loss of forests averages as much as 30,000 hectares per year.

Plant life in Sri Lanka too faces similar dangers. Of the island’s total number of plant species (1099) evaluated, a staggering 61% are threatened. Of these, a further 61% are endemic to Sri Lanka. Thirty-seven percent of these endemic plants are in the critically endangered category.

Unfortunately, the full implications of the extinction threat are unknown. In the case of plant life, only 30% of indigenous plants have been evaluated due to problems related to the lack of access to recent taxonomic publications and inconsistency in published data to name a few. Thus, some species have been put into the Data Deficient category. It is possible that many of these species are already threatened and in need of conservation action.

The 2007 National Red List, along with the new digital database launched by IUCN should be of some help to conservationists. With these tools, conservation planning and monitoring of protected areas, the creation of more public awareness and finally minimizing the threat of extinction could be achieved. Much remains to be done, both by the public and environmental organizations.

In a bid to enlarge the size of wildlife reserves, efforts are being made to regenerate forests and link protected areas together by way of what are known as habitat corridors. “So far, these steps have been undertaken on a small scale, but even a small effort is a significant contribution to this cause,” said Dr. Bambaradeniya.

We all want the promise of a better tomorrow. For a large section of our wildlife, there could well be no tomorrow. Children in the 2020’s may have to look up encyclopedias and visit museums to see animals that we are familiar with today. It is time to put things right. Not too far from now, it could be too late.

By Alvin Powell
Harvard News Office

In the dark of the Sri Lankan cloud forest, the researchers’ only guide was the headlamps they used to light up the night, illuminating the cold, gray mist that drifted through the trees.They looked carefully as they walked among the trunks, the beams from their headlamps casting left and right, up and down. They examined rocks and branches, leaf litter and shrubs, tree trunks, and leaves high in the canopy. By and by, they found one, then another — small tree frogs that froze in the light and went suddenly silent.

The frogs are a bit of living scientific gold. With amphibians declining around the world in what experts fear is a mass extinction crisis, these recently discovered tree frogs are strangely abundant and incredibly varied, an overlooked yet amazing display of biological diversity in a part of the world where British and Sri Lankan naturalists had worked for a century.

For the next two years, Sri Lankan biologist Madhava Meegaskumbura will be working at the Harvard University Center for the Environment to understand more about these frogs, studying how they evolved, why they go extinct, and how to prevent that fate for those that still exist.

“Sri Lanka is on the front lines of the global biodiversity crisis,” said Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and Museum of Comparative Zoology Director James Hanken, with whom Meegaskumbura is working. “It is among the hottest of global biodiversity hotspots, even though less than 5 percent of original forest cover remains. This is true for the island’s amphibians, and especially tree frogs, which have undergone a unique and explosive adaptive radiation numbering hundreds of species.”

Meegaskumbura, a Ziff Environmental Fellow at the Center for the Environment, is planning a trip back to Sri Lanka in December to further his work in the field, which has already astonished amphibian experts around the world.

In 2002, Meegaskumbura, together with other Sri Lankan scientists and researchers from Boston University, told the world what they found: as many as 100 new species of tree frogs in the high cloud forests and lowland rainforests of Sri Lanka. The new frog species, most belonging to the genus Philautus, were found in remnant forests in a part of the island nation that had been largely deforested by British colonial planters to make room for plantations of tea, rubber, and cinchona, a tree whose bark is used to make the malaria treatment quinine.

“I was just completely blown away,” said Boston University associate professor of biology and herpetologist Christopher Schneider. “I was completely stunned by the finding. It was clear that there was this enormous radiation of frogs in Sri Lanka that nobody had recognized. … I don’t know when the last such discovery was made.”

The work was initially done under the auspices of a Sri Lankan nonprofit organization called the Wildlife Heritage Trust. Meegaskumbura joined the effort in 1998 and, together with Sri Lankan colleagues, helped confirm the unprecedented diversity using DNA techniques, examining museum specimens, observing behavior of living specimens brought back to the lab, and logging hours and hours in Sri Lanka’s high remnant forests.

“There’s obviously so much left to discover; that’s what’s exciting about Madhava’s discovery,” said Wildlife Heritage Trust founder Rohan Pethiyagoda.

In 1998, Meegaskumbura contacted Schneider, who became his doctoral adviser and helped guide several more years of work on the frogs. Meegaskumbura completed his doctoral degree at Boston University in 2007.

For two and a half years, Meegaskumbura, mainly together with colleague Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, collected frogs and other relevant data in the forests. The work had to be done at night, when the frogs were active, and Meegaskumbura worked in the forests from 7 p.m. until 1 a.m. four or five nights a week, logging hundreds of hours.

Researchers exhaustively detailed what they found, recording frog calls and noting where each was found, what type of surface it was on, elevation, humidity, temperature, and other variables that, as they accumulated, painted a picture of the different species’ habits.

“The diversity of habitats you have to sample is amazing, places normally you wouldn’t expect frogs,” Meegaskumbura said.

Researchers also took tissue samples for DNA analysis and, in some cases, took the whole frog, either to be preserved as part of a research collection or to observe breeding behavior in a captive setting.

The forests were often difficult to traverse. The reason the forests survived is that they are perched on steep terrain unsuitable for farming. They held hidden dangers, some natural, some not. Leeches and snakes call the forests home and Meegaskumbura said he once had a notebook knocked out of his hand only to turn and see the open, white mouth of the pit viper draped in a nearby shrub. The snake had struck but hit only the book.

Researchers also had to be alert for manmade dangers. Hunters sometimes set up guns triggered by trip wires to catch wild pigs and other game. A wrong step could blow away a knee or a hip, depending on the height of the hunters’ quarry, Meegaskumbura said.

With the conflict between the government and Tamil separatists having ravaged Sri Lanka for the past 30 years, armed personnel could be another nighttime hazard. Meegaskumbura recalled one night when trucks full of men began shooting in the researchers’ direction from a road. He doesn’t know whether they were shooting live ammunition or not, whether they were hoping to hit something or just training, but he and his colleagues took cover behind the trees until the trucks passed, just to be sure.

The research so far has done more than bring to light the new frog species, Meegaskumbura said. The DNA work on the frogs has informed science’s understanding of their relationships to each other, reducing the number of main genera of Sri Lankan tree frogs from four to two, even though it increases the number of species within those groups. By searching museums for specimens of Sri Lankan frogs collected since the late 1800s, they have identified 19 species that are no longer found on the island and presumed to be extinct.

“These early reference collections that are now housed in reputed natural history museums worldwide were instrumental in highlighting the extinction of species in Sri Lanka,” Meegaskumbura said.

Their studies have shown that most of the frogs are terrestrial direct developers, Meegaskumbura said. Instead of laying eggs in the water, most of the new species lay eggs on land, skipping over the aquatic tadpole phase and hatching as juvenile frogs right from the eggs. Meegaskumbura said he believes this trait may be a key to their amazing diversity. Being able to have young independent of water, these frogs were able to venture far from streams and ponds and exploit a whole host of environmental niches unavailable to frogs whose reproductive needs tie them to water.

“It gives them ecological opportunity to diversify,” Meegaskumbura said.

Though the frogs don’t need water to breed, they still need moisture. The misty forests provide a damp environment for these direct breeders to lay eggs in. While one type of direct breeder buries their eggs in the forest floor, protecting them from fluctuations in temperature and humidity, another type sticks their eggs to foliage and is very vulnerable to drops in humidity.

That characteristic may make them sensitive to changes in the forest, Meegaksumbura said, either forest fragmentation that dries the interior out, or to a global warming that might raise temperatures and lower humidity.

“Global warming could have a devastating effect on these frogs. These are mountain isolates restricted to small areas,” Meegaskumbura said. “They could go extinct quite quickly.”

As part of his work at Harvard, Meegaskumbura wants to develop computer models that might help predict what kinds of changes the forests and frogs might face under different environmental circumstances, to help design conservation policies.

“The Environmental Fellows program was created to support the professional development of outstanding young scholars tackling complex environmental problems,” said Harvard University Center for the Environment Managing Director James Clem. “Madhava’s extraordinary field research as a graduate student has laid the foundation for exciting new insights to come as an Environmental Fellow.”

By: kirthi hulangamuwa

While crossing the Yoda Ela on a narrow bridge to the precincts of Minneri Devalaya a devotee is awe-inspiring with reverential sentiment -triggered by anticipation.A stone’s throw from Elahera town nestled on a picturesque setting over a vast stretch of paddy fields and bewitching Ambanganga, there stands a shrine room dedicated to Minneri devio. The deity is supposed to be the deified form of king Mahasen, builder of many tanks among which Minneriya ranks foremost. Legend has it the king held his council with the ministers and yodayas (giants) on the very spot where the devalaya stands to day on the bank of the Yoda ela. Power of the overlord reverberates in valleys and plains, forests and households of the district of Polonnaruwa.

An archaic Bo tree that is believed to have sheltered the king and his retinue stands beside the shrine. Though not a huge edifice with pomp and ceremony this solitary monument unfolds volumes of lore and legend. For illness, dispute, distress and the like this simple yet magnanimous place of worship proved a panacea, they say. An offering is made to the deity soon after the harvest with the participation of the whole farming community. It is a fulfilling of a vow made to their protector and benefactor for granting the favours of a bountiful harvest sans famine, disease and drought.

In distress - be it prejudice or prudence - peasant farmers make a vow at the shrine in the simplest form of tying a ‘pandura’ on the trident (thrishula) believed to have been used since Polonnaruwa era. Coincidence or not, mere chance or otherwise several incidents of assistance by the deity are recorded. Incurable diseases, family disputes, long overdue law suits, drinking habits etc. are made good. Wisdom and tradition twist interminably with phenomenal results granted for the benefit of the peasantry. In my ramblings in the wilderness over thirty years, mostly alone, I have stumbled upon few similar hallowed shrines that attract veneration.

Kapuralas

Inhabitants of the area fled following the invasion of Maga, the disreputable South Indian prince who brought destruction and misery to the monarchy of Polonnaruwa in 1214. Jungle tide rose over the sovereignty. There are few families who braved atrocities perpetrated by the aggressor. A long line of kapuralas are hailing from one such family being the hereditary heirs to the devalaya.

Elephants

Leaving the authenticity of the divine power at bay and rendering it more tantalizing, I shall guide the weary traveller to a more promising I territory to watch pachyderms of elephants.

The place: Ihakuluwewa. You travel down the tarred bund of Yoda ela for twenty miles and at Diyabeduma a weather beaten track will take the traveller to the upper reaches of Minneriya tank- where all it happens.

I am meticulously avoiding main thoroughfares which the ignorant travellers use. He goes, probably sees or not and returns crestfallen, mostly. All big games are there: elephants, wild buffalos spotted deer sambur and the like. Approximate habitats are shrouded by a vast canopy of tree tops. Golden sandy beds of dry streams planked by thick foliage on either side create a cool rendezvous for the denizens of Minneriya. They commence their promenade here at the glorious sunset that would leave a nature lover speechless2Assortments of water birds congregate on shallow end while large wings festoon the sky over the glassy liquid.

Wildlife enthusiast is tempted to scan around probably with untrained eyes out of sheer curiosity. Nervous, he may look here, there and sees nothing. You are advised to look into the jungle and not at it as impending dangers appear from nowhere. It had happened to me when I confronted a wild buffalo, the most formidable animal when provoked.

Elahera canal

The canal that replenishes thirsty Minneriya tank is the brainchild of King Wasaba (77 AD). Ambanganga was intercepted at Elahera with hewn stones and earth embankment rendering the imprisoned waters gush through a narrow stone gap ensuring the outflow is incessant and persistent.

Galloping water crashes into the canal below and travels twenty four miles along the foot of Sudu Kanda while irrigating paddy fields below. The gradient of the waterway is said to be one inch to one mile. The canal was navigable during the epic period of King Mahasen. The monarch had sailed up to Oru-Bendi which literally means tamarind tree which boats moored. He is said to have had overtures on a village damsel.

The antiquated tree withstood all weathers till recently. It had seen the rise and fall of many a monarch, prosperity and calamity alternatively until the whole region was succumbed by the irrepressible jungle eight centuries ago. In the 1930s revival dawned owing to the genius of one Man. His name is D.S. Senanayaka.

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Look for all inclusive resorts when looking for cheap cruises deal. You can later worry about getting cheap flights to the place and interim stay at a hotel. Usually there are a few running offers on airline tickets.

courtesy : travel+leasure

This article was first published on September 2006 hence, many things might be changed as for the now, But I see much of the infrmation and contents valid for even today, hence I publish the article as it is.

A hard-headed Bhutanese monk once gave me some advice about rainbows: Don’t trust them. Do not get conned by all that evanescent beauty into thinking of their existence as real. Images in mirrors and rain-refracted sunlight make an impression upon the mind, said the monk, but looked at closely, reveal themselves to be, in essence, not quite what they seem.

“Examine the world and you will see a magician’s dream,” remarked this man whom I met in surroundings that themselves were dreamlike—a cliff-hung temple founded by a lama supposed to have flown there on a tiger’s back.

The monk, I later learned, was cribbing his philosophy from yet another sage, an 18th-century holy man known as the Seventh Dalai Lama. In any case, his advice had a familiar sound. The world is an illusion. Hadn’t I heard that before—chapter two in Buddhism for Dummies, perhaps, or in a lyric from an old Tin Pan Alley tune?

Still, his words filtered through my thoughts in late November of 2004 as I picked up a car and began the drive upland from Colombo, the coastal capital of Sri Lanka, to the rain-misted interior of that gorgeous, benighted island. There are trips that you instinctively know will be important to you, somehow. This was one of them.

For starters, there were rainbows everywhere on that journey—singles and even a double, rainbows stretching from paddy fields to hilltops, arcs that bowed across the horizon. Their appearance was thrilling and also farcical, as if I were at play in some kind of celestial video game. Far from underscoring the contingent nature of reality, however, the rainbows seemed to me like auguries, solid proof that I was where I ought to be. This was a feeling, I should add, quite different from that of a day or two before. Read More »

In the latest edition of the travel+leasur
magazine has selected Sri Lanka’s Heritance Kandalama Hotel among the best 15 eco hotels (Green Hotels) of the world. Heritance Kandalama has been among the best ten-twenty from the inception and it is good to see they are maintaining their quality even during the hard times.
More about Heritance Kandalama : http://www.heritancehotels.com/HK/index.php

“Indulge yourself with a healthy sunrise breakfast on the shores of the lake” urged the welcome letter from Sarath Wickremasinghe, general manager of Cinnamon Lodge.
After a five hour drive from Colombo to Habarana, we had been guided to our suite by a young man introduced to us as our butler, Nuwan. Instead of Jeeves’s bow tie and tails he wore an orange tunic and an equally vivid sarong. Monkeys gambolled in the vast parkland setting while birds - including a hornbill - chortled in surprise as we walked to our suite. Tall Roystonea palm trees, my favourite of course, guarded the swimming pool that itself adjoined a mini-lake where a small rowing boat was moored by the bank.
We were staying in one of the four Master Suites in the 142-unit resort. My first experience of suites was during my youthful rock ‘n’ roll years when I toured the USA with a band and we had bedrooms with parlours attached. Since then I have stayed in so-called suites that are no more than a standard bedroom partitioned off from an alcove with a curtain. The suites at Cinnnamon Lodge are not those kind; they are more like private villas.

Entrance is from a veranda with chairs for lazing while watching wild birds flitting in the trees and tame tourists strolling to their rooms. The door of our suite, number 73, the Cedar, opened into a hall with stairs of polished coconut wood and an umbrella stand, with four umbrellas. Ahead was the parlour, a symphony of polished wood and a club-like atmosphere of which the real Jeeves would have approved.

A wooden, silk upholstered chaise longue guarded the approach to the French windows opening onto another veranda, this one overlooking the park and lake. A huge cement chaise longue, heavily cushioned, defined one end of the room, while solid wooden furniture with mini-bar and pantry cupboard marked the other end. A guest bathroom was beyond. In the middle was a massive dining table for eight guests, and there were books on the shelves and apples in bowls as décor.

Off the hallway was a bedroom for two, with ensuite bathroom and its own TV, while the master bedroom was up the stairs. Entering it was to be transported to the elegance of a Bangkok five-star hotel: an enormous, deep bed piled high with silk cushions and spread with crisp, Egyptian cotton sheets. French windows opened onto a broad balcony, an ideal spot for sundowners. In the bathroom there was a Jacuzzi with lake view, a separate vanity table and twin stand-alone wash basins, and a rain shower.

The Cinnamon Lodge suites seem designed for permanent residence, not for an over-night stay. Unfortunately tourists on a round-trip, racing around Sri Lanka, have no time to stay long at the resort. Sri Lankans are luckier in being able to settle there for a few days while sightseeing in the Cultural Triangle, or simply enjoying the tranquillity of the countryside.

In a way, Cinnamon Lodge is like a resort in the Maldives since it is horizontal and secluded and self-contained. For a holiday it offers much more than a Maldives resort, at much less cost, because of the attractions - elephants instead of fish, jungle instead of sand - as well as privacy and individual attention from a tropical Jeeves.
Ours attended us on demand throughout our stay. He served us when we dined in the restaurant on an eclectic table d’hote menu of innovative cuisine (executive chef, Senaka, even gave us his recipe for Tomato Crystal Consomme). Butler Nuwan also delivered the promised “healthy breakfast” on a table set up especially for us on the lake shore. Hearty is a better word to describe the omelette, bacon, sausages and two baskets of bread all washed down with fresh wood apple juice. Perhaps the healthy touch was the exercise of the walk to get to it.

Cinnamon Lodge is remarkable in retaining an unspoilt character despite its years of existence (it was previously known simply as Habarana Lodge) while, with its manorial suites, positioning itself as an upmarket sophisticated retreat for the cultured and discerning. www.cinnamonhotels.com
more photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nishannthe/

Catherine Leech was a career-minded singleton – until a yoga retreat in Huzur Vadisi, Turkey, turned her life upside down

As one of 22 strangers on a week’s yoga holiday, I dreaded my turn when our teacher, Simon Low, asked us to “share with the group” why we had come to the Turkish mountains. I had no idea what to say, but when the moment came a few choked words tumbled out involuntarily: “I sense change in my life, but I have no idea what. I’m looking for some clarity.”

Four days later, I was contorted in a pigeon pose, a challenging position for any yoga novice. As the blood-red sun set over the vine-covered yoga complex every part of my body was flooded with a red-hot wave as years of pent-up, unfamiliar emotion spilt out. The experience was both terrifying and a release.

During that week in June 2004, I found clarity: the light came on for this forty-something child-free singleton with a great career, an overdeveloped sense of duty and an overcrowded diary. Here, in the label-free peace of Huzur Vadisi, nobody was judging me. I wasn’t there to impress, nurture others, or be the life and soul. It gave me the space to realise that my sense of change wasn’t about finding a new job or moving out of London; my life felt shallow, materialistic and unfulfilling, and only I could change it.

Five months later, at the age of 46 and after 23 years relishing a varied career in the travel industry, with a well-used passport, I resigned as managing director of Caribtours, the London-based luxury Caribbean tour operator. I intended to teach English in a Sri Lankan orphanage for reasons that I cannot fathom. I had never even been there. I was still working out my notice when the tsunami struck. On that terrible Boxing Day morning, my father was the first to say: “Think what you could do using your experience in tourism.”

I arrived in Sri Lanka in late April, 2005, after six weeks travelling in Thailand and Cambodia – the first ten days on another yoga holiday, followed by three days in and out of a recompression chamber after getting the bends while scuba-diving. I was armed with someone’s name and the possibility of “doing something to do with tourism” for six months with something called Sarvodaya.

Established in 1958, Sarvodaya aims to alleviate rural poverty through the sustainable development of village communities. Its work spans social, spiritual and technological empowerment, with specialist units at the headquarters supporting a network of 15,000 villages.

I was a square peg in a round hole, a commercially minded “doer” working for a grassroots movement based on Buddhist principles and without a commercial bone in its body. But somehow, especially in the posttsunami maelstrom of overstretched management and challenging donor relations, it worked – and I quickly felt part of the Sarvodaya “family”.

I volunteered for the first eight months and secured funding to stay for another year. I developed a Community Tourism Initiative with various community-managed projects now operating. Each is designed to develop sustainable livelihoods by offering tourists authentic experiences, such as Sri Lankan cookery demonstrations and cultural performances.

My role was to find out the villagers’ needs, assess the tourism potential, develop project plans and funding and provide skills training and marketing assistance. I trained a Sri Lankan assistant, Jagath, who is now managing the CTI.

Living and working in Sri Lanka was not an instant transition, however. Ten days after arriving, I wrote in my diary: “My life has undergone a seismic shift. Colombo is quite unlike any city I’ve been to. It’s intense, steaming hot, chaotic, charming, ramshackle and endearing with psy-chotic driving and choking fumes. It’s a long story with fibbing estate agents, freaky old family retainers, armed security guards and nosy landladies, but I’ve found a small one-bed annexe, which is reasonably secure, clean and only ten minutes from the office by three-wheeler. London feels a million miles away.”

I quickly grew to love this beguilingly beautiful island, especially the multi-culturalism, ironic in a country racked by ethnic conflict. I looked around the table one birthday to take in the smorgasbord of Israeli, British, Australian, Canadian, Sri Lankan, American and Indian friends – Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus and an atheist.

I returned to the UK for Christmas last year with no desire to live in London again. I rented a cottage in southwest Dorset, trusting the same gut feeling that led me to Sri Lanka. By the end of April I had moved in to my new home, a thatched cottage in the picturesque village of Stoke Abbott. I feel roots spreading, possibly for the first time in my life. I am building up some part-time consultancy work that will allow me to keep the logs on the fire, write a book about my experiences in Sri Lanka, spend time with friends and my parents, go on rambling walks, get involved in the local community, pick apples from my garden – and perhaps even fall in love.

At the time, friends and colleagues variously called me brave, foolhardy, mad, inspired, lucky, virtuous or clearly depressed. To me, it always felt like the most natural thing in the world. Risk or no risk, brave or foolhardy, I felt a driving force to plunge into the unknown. My experiences in Sri Lanka were enlightening, sobering, often hilarious, challenging, never dull and filled with fascinating characters. I have regained a sense of curiosity, a hunger to learn and a happy sense of spirituality, liberation and humility. I am proud to have left a legacy in the shape of the Community Tourism Initiative. I will return to Sri Lanka from time to time – I left a piece of my heart there and found my soul