conservation

country:	Sri Lanka
departures:	Sample tour: 16 days/15 nightsColombo, Kandy, Watagoda, Uda Walawa National Park, Sinharaja Forest Reserve and southern coast
price:	All tours are customised. Costs vary according to the type of accommodation, as a guide for standard accommodation £80 - £120 per day
vouchers:	Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday

the amazing things you'll be doing

The train journey to the hill country takes us through lush mountain vegetation, open plains and waterfalls. Our destination is an eco-lodge, situated in 65 acres of forest garden, surrounded by paddy fields. The setting is both simple and luxurious. The food is organic and fair-trade – much of it grown on the estate.From the mountains, most of our tours turn to the golden beaches of southern coast where you can swim, sunbath and relax. In this traditional Sinhalese country, lies a network of cooperatives, formed by low-income rural families and supported by the Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation - marshland reserves, turtle conservation projects, elephant conservation, toddy-tappers, a traditional dance school - the projects span 150 miles to Colombo, linked by the southern railway line.

We use the car, trains, buses and boats, to meet the pioneering individuals behind these projects. We visit local homes, eat their tasty cuisines, and still find plenty of time to relax along the way

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1-2:	Is your arrival in Colombo - colourful and bustling. You can either relax, or we'll take you on our off-the-beaten track tour of Colombo with its whirl of sights, smells and tastes. Much under-stated by the conventional tourist crowd, the tour will take you to the city's more intriguing neighborhoods. You can see the colorful bazaars and back streets of Pettah and visit the city's hauntingly beautiful temples and churches.Overnight: (2 nights), Galle Face Hotel. Inside the grand four-story colonial building, the sweeping staircase and threadbare red carpet bear witness to a glittering past. You can spend evenings on the marble-tiled veranda taking tea at sunset or wandering along the public promenade.
Day 3:	We'll take the spectacular train journey to Kandy in the hill country - passing through forests, waterfalls and paddy fields. You'll have the chance to explore the back streets of the city – options include the market, backstreet shops, temples and botanical gardens etc.By late afternoon we'll start preparations for an evening feast, cooked at uncle Ragu's house. With aunty and uncle's expert guidance, we'll get the chance to cook and sample the best of Sri Lankan cuisine - string hoppers, coconut sambol - as well as an amazing array of locally harvested fruit.Overnight: (1 night), Hotel Swisse. The hotel dates back to 1840s - secluded, quiet, swimming pool, fine garden.
Day 4-7:	From Kandy, we'll take the morning train to Watagoda – then a car to the ecolodge. The eco lodge is in a forest garden, surrounded by paddy fields and mountains. The setting is both simple and luxurious - forest, open plains and waterfalls. The food is organic and fair-trade – much of it grown on the estate.Over the next couple of days, our guide will take you around the area. We'll visit Pusulpitya temple and take lunch in a villager's house. After lunch we can visit a nearby tea estate, visit the school and join the line pickers for a cup of tea. We can take an evening walk around the village through the paddy fields, and across the hanging bridges.Other options include bathing in spout baths and waterfalls, visiting temples, hiking and taking a picnic lunch. There is traditional ayurveda treatment available in the near by town (Pundaloya). We can also take a day trip to Horton Plains (an undulating plateau more than 2000m high – "beautiful, silent, strange").Overnight: (4 nights), Ecolanka Villa.
Day 8-10:	We'll make our way to Udawalawa national park for camping. The park's 30,821 hectares centre on the large Uda Walawe Reservoir, fed by the Walawe Ganga. Of all Sri Lanka's national parks, this is thought to be the best, with herds of elephants, wild buffalo, sambar deer and leopards. The reserve has recently been listed by NORAD (a Norwegian funding agency), as a priority area for ecotourism. Our partner – Palitha – will be working with them on this work. Overnight: (3 nights) at the national park campsite.
Day 11:	From Udawalawa, we'll make our way down to the southern coast via Sinharaja Forest Reserve, staying overnight in a simple ecolodge run by a member of the local community and serving the best home-cooked vegetarian meal one could imagine. (note that the eco lodge is very basic, but offers you a once-in–a-lifetime opportunity to sleep and wake up in the rainforest).The forest is totally isolated from the wider world. With the help of an expert guide, we'll explore the rainforest and surrounding villages. No vehicles are allowed in the reserve, so we can take easy walks in relative solitude. The giant canopy trees reach heights of up to 45 m, with nearly all the sub-canopy trees found being rare or endangered. Mammals include the leopard, sambar, barking deer and wild boar, and there are 45 species of reptiles, 21 of which are endemic. Overnight: (1 night), Sinharaja Forest Ecolodge.
Day 12-15 :	We'll make our way to the southern coast where you can visit a range of local community projects – from wetland reserves, to turtle conservation, mask making, southern traditional dance school, and toddy tapping.The Kiralakelle Wetlands Project lies 2 miles outside Matara and is the SLEF's most developed community conservation project. The 1,630 hectare nature reserve consists of marshlands, canals, scrub forest, paddy lands homesteads and a belt of mangroves. The area is home to rich marsh flora and fauna including 68 species of birds, 9 species of snake and 47 species of butterfly.From the outset, local people have been involved in the process, from planning to management. As the project develops, the aim is to diversify incomes by building ecolodges, a restaurant, visitor center and sales of local handicrafts. As guests to this emerging project, you will have the chance to meet the people involved, and take a walk in the countryside.The turtle hatchery and the research project in the village of Kosgoda is run by the Victor Hassal Blad Institute in Sweden, with the support of the local community. Several species of turtles are endangered. Most vulnerable of all are their eggs, which are left uncovered on beaches all around the coast. The goodwill of neighboring fishermen who bring these eggs to the hatchery, has led to the hatching and release of thousands of young turtles. We can take a gentle river safari down the Madhu Ganga Estuary (also adopted by NORAD as a priority ecotourism project), famous for its richness in biodiversity of fauna and flora, and have lunch on an island restaurant. On our way back, we can visit the mask makers in Ambalangoda. (The Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation has worked with most of these projects as part of their programme supporting rural development).Overnight: (4 nights), Koggala Beach Hotel, or in guest house (one of our homestays).
Day 16 :	We'll make our way back to Colombo. After a farewell meal, we'll take you to the airport for your flight home.

how this holiday makes a difference

Our aim is to provide:

You with a personalized and authentic tour that give you the opportunity to spend time with local people, absorb yourself in their cultures, and visit their homes.
Tours that support specific projects in Sri Lanka - homestays, conservation projects, community managed cooperatives - providing people with respect for their culture, and an income that helps support it.

When you take a tour with us, 70% of your money stays in Sri Lanka – supporting the social/environmental work of our partners and the projects they support. Tour guides/drivers are local. We also use local hosts to provide personal insight into a specific area eg when trekking in forest we use local trekkers

The relationships we have with the people who travel with us are personal and are based on a mutual understanding of what we are aiming to achieve. We learn from your experiences and use these to improve future tours.

We minimise car travel, by structuring tours around one or two regions and taking optional day trips via local transport. As a result, you travel less, have greater flexibility, and more time to relax and absorb the local culture. Tour guides/drivers are local. We also use local hosts to provide personal insight into a specific area. For example, when trekking in forest we use local trekkers

The emphasis is on introducing you to the local culture and landscape - a stroll through a village and a cup of tea in one of the homes; helping to cook a dinner, or a train or boating expedition. We aim to benefit conservation and community projects that follow best practice.

For each tour, we aim to offer at least one opportunity to travel by public transport (e.g. bus or train), and at least one opportunity to travel using other alternatives to the car (e.g. three-wheelers, bicycle, horse, boat, or bullock cart).

Accommodation is selected to be small-scale, fit the character of the local area and owned by local people. Where possible, food is sourced locally, and cooked on the premises. Organic food is an added bonus. We offer at least one opportunity (preferably several) for you to visit and eat at the homes of local people

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.