INTRODUCTION Come with us - on a journey back to basics, living with nature. We believe in basic comfort and offer a nature retreat extremely well integrated in our wonderful surroundings; the virgin forest, the rocky hills, and the wildlife. Via the dirt track to the lodge you leave the world behind and end up in elephant country. This jungle, the Weliara forest, is hidden between Yala National Park and the Arahat Kanda mountains – a 15 km long chain of steep rocky hills, seperating civilisation from wilderness. Situated in uninhabited jungle bordering Sri Lanka’s largest protected area, the 1300 km2 Yala NP, we live amidst the whole range of animals found in the neighboring sanctuary. Most prominent among our wild visitors are the elephants. Nights in the jungle is an experience of darkness and strange sounds. When elephants pass by they are usually very silent but sometimes heard breaking branches or trumpeting. The lucky ones will hear the ’song of elephants’ – herds long distance communicating with sound wawes, like whales. Birders need no luck. 161 species are recorded in our area. A few of them are: Sri Lankan Hanging Parrot, Alexandrine Parakeet, Sri Lankan Jungle Fowl, Grey- and Malabar Pied Hornbill, Green Bee-eater, and Baya Weawer. View complete birdlist Jungle life Living at Tree Tops is an extraordinary trip, back to nature. You’ll bath at a freshwater well, there’s no electricity, and meals are cooked native on wood fire. The basicness is balanced by spotless service and a staff eager to create greaet experiences for visitors – be it tasty meals, jungle treks, or wild elephant spotting escorted by local trackers. We do offer a true jungle experience – but not a safari park or zoo. Observing wild animals isn’t easy. Yet - it might be there… We expect that guests respect the wild nature of our place and contribute to own safety, behaving responsible and using basic instincts. Living at an unfenced lodge in an awesome landscape in the really wilds, among wildlife, is the element of adventure at Tree Tops. Even without actually seeing animals you will experience a unique athmoshere – feel the soul of the jungle. Safe sleeping is secured by vigilant night watchers who are well qualified guards. Grown up as hunters these native guys are experienced in the jungle, highly skilled in interpreting nature’s signs. The huts Our clay huts are simple and rustic, quite similar to traditional huts of the local area. We combine traditional building methods with fresh ideas about design, strength, and function. The architectural style is based on a radical principle of being integrated with environment. Materials used for the huts are very local: an inner wooden structure (from fallen trees found in the surrounding forest) plastered with a thick layer of clay dug from our land. Walls and floors are polished with a mix of clay and cow dung to make a soft look and prevent insects from finding a place to live inside our walls. The tree huts are made with inspiration from the traditional 'chena tree huts'. From these huts farmers watch their cultivated plots in safety from wild animals, especially elephants. History Since 1997 the lodge was a private nature reatreat and base for environmental activism with the intention of observing and trying to help protect and preserve the remaining forest and its wildlife. From 2002 we opened for tourists. Our jungle hide out is situated in the middle of main elephant tracks and also on paths earlier used by illegal hunters and loggers. We try to function as an added obstacle for those people who are destructing the environment, while we at the same time hope to generate alternative means of income by employing local staff. Meals Morning – bed tea or coffee. A choice is organic highland grown Sri Lankan coffee made french press style. The menu is native style. For breakfast usually ’rotties’ – flat bread baked on wood fire. Another traditional dish is ’string-hoppers’; a spaghetti-like pasta made from rice flour. Both rotty and hoppers are usually served with ’dhal’ (spicy lentil soup) and grinded coconut. If the hot stuff is too much for breakfast, there is a selection of fruit and delicious waterbuffalo yougurt which goes very well with kitul-palm syrup. The youghurt is homemade first quality, produced by a villager who is the owner of the herd of waterbuffaloes often roaming the scrub outside the lodge. Lunch is served early afternoon about 1.30 pm and dinner between 8-9 pm. It’s all flexible and depending on treks and individual preferences. Manager Kushan – who is also the cheff - prepares delicious traditional Sri Lankan vegetable curries using exotic ingredients such as banana flower, manioc, green bananas, jack nut and fruits, as well as herbs and spices often found in the jungle. You can also experience well known vegetables (grown in the cool climate of the mountains) as potato, carrots, beetroot, pumpkin, and leeks, prepared Sri Lankan curry-style. Kushan arrange colorful displays of the variety of fruit vegetables used so that you can see the raw version of the curries you eat. The menu is flexible: meat and fish dishes can be prepared upon request and Kushan could fulfill a wide range of individual wishes. LOOK HERE! BOOKING BY E-MAIL Information/contact/bookings/questions by e-mail:treetopsjunglelodge@gmail.com Mobile phone: +94 (0)777 036 554

©Copyright 2003-07 Tree Tops Jungle Lodge