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Tourism in Sri Lanka
Where to stay
:: Tree Tops, Wellawaya Sri Lanka ::
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Rustic retreat with a combo of mud-huts and tree-huts is located in the forgotten valley of Weliara and wilderness, north of Yala National Park, for a real jungle experience on a journey back to basics. |
More about Tree Tops |
Facts
Tree Tops Facts at a glance
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Please Note : Some of the facilities described above may not be available in all rooms. |
Things to do
Activities at Tree Tops
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AccommodationAccommodation Low Impact on Environment
The central idea of TreeTops Jungle Lodge is living close to nature with a minimal infrastructure and huts made from natural materials found at the place. ’Just enough facilities to make life reasonably comfortable – no more’. Out of this concept of minimalism comes a lodge bang in the middle of the jungle with nature kept extremely in focus.
The principle of low impact is implemented through these ideas:
1) Simple mud-huts and tree-huts make us almost invisible.
2) We fell no trees.
3) We never hunt animals in the forest.
4) The lodge is not fenced but integrated in the forest.
5) We are not aggressive towards elephants (or other animals) but leave them alone if they don’t cause any trouble.
FactsFacts The human-elephant conflict
A characteristic feature of the area is the so called ’human-elephant’ conflict – the violent clash between villagers and elephants raiding cultivated plots. This problem which is the main threat to the endangered Asian elephant is due to deforestation and habitat fragmentation. We frequently get reports of a village house that was smashed by an elephant; they always push down walls to kitchens as they are looking for vegetables, rice grains, or salt.
During the months of June-September, many elephant herds come into the area. All these herds come in from Yala National Park into the Weliara lake area. From this point, they take different routes into the areas inhabited by humans. The village folk shoot at many elephants in a bid to chase them away. The hunters too, shoot at them mainly to keep them away from the area, so they could hunt without the fear of an elephant attack. Many elephants are wounded in this exercise, some killed.
Eco PolicyEco Policy Philosophy of coexistence with wild elephants
It’s the policy of the lodge that peaceful coexistence with elephants is possible by using the animals’ intelligence; trying to let them understand our ’friendly intentions’. Unlike closer to human settlements, at Tree Tops elephants are not chased away, or shouted at in aggressive ways. In a few cases we had minor incidents with an elephant touching our main house with the kitchen but we always try to talk them away and so far this method has been successful. In any case of emergency we have a stock of powerful ’elephant crackers’ to scare them away. With this ’friendship attitude’ our presence in the jungle has an element of communication experiment with wild elephants.
Benefiting local community
The local people (about 25 families) have no alternative to hunting animals and illegal logging to survive at least six months when no farming is going on due to drought. The villagers are extremely poor, in the dry zone only one crop can be cultivated per year. The crop is mainly rice which is (the last month of ripening) the most delicious thing an elephant can imagine. Instead of rice we will try to experiment and seek advice and consultancy, hoping to find alternative crops, less attractive for elephants. A combination of agro-forestry and replanting of jungle may be the best long term solution. Buying up land and let it grow wild may also be a way forward. In that case we need back up - coordination and cooperation with the local community.
Except the English speaking manager, only locals are employed as trekking guides, night watchers, cooks, etc. All are highly experienced in the ways of the jungle. Sustainable tourism is part of the solution to the problems of the area as small scale responsible tourism will generate an income among the local community and thereby reduce their need of hunting and logging. At the same time the management of Tree Tops depend on the villager’s local knowledge of the jungle. Unfortunately the locals do not speak English but lessons are now offered those who are interested. They will later be more involved in interpretation programs.
Future perspective
We believe that tourism, properly managed, can be very beneficial to the village folk of the area in many ways, and by extension the nature. Once the village folk start to realise that visitors come to enjoy nature and wildlife, and their income depends on the beauty of nature and not in its’ destruction, the village folk will help protect the environment with more
Things To DoThings To Do Reality tourism
Visitors are not isolated from but introduced to real life including some problems of Sri Lanka. Compared to the onesided romantic image of nature on a traditional jeep ’safari’ a stay at Tree Tops Jungle Lodge involves an alternative perspective on Sri Lankan eco-systems and insight into todays interaction between wildlife and humans in a remote area.
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