sri-lanka-13-full-pdf-ebook.pdf

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and accommodation is much better value
here than around the northern Kudawa
entrance.

Deniyaya
Deniyaya Rest House HOTEl $
(%041-227 3600; r Rs 2000) Like most former
government rest houses in Sri Lanka, this
place has the best location in town, with
great views over the countryside. The large,
good-value rooms are ageing gracefully, and
there’s a bar-restaurant where you can tally
up your leech bites over a stiff drink. It’s just
off the main road in the town of Deniyaya.

Sinharaja Rest g UESTHOUSE $
(%041-227 3368; [email protected]; Te m-
ple Rd; r incl breakfast Rs 3500-4000; W) Brothers
Palitha and Bandula Rathnayaka are both
certified forest guides, so staying here makes
it easy to maximise your time. The six rooms
at their home are fairly basic, but there’s good
home-cooking and a lovely private garden.
Day trips to the Sinharaja Forest Reserve
cost Rs 4000 per person and include trans-
port, guiding and lunch (but exclude park
entrance fees).
Trips are also open to nonguests. If you
give the brothers a week’s notice, they can
arrange overnight stays in forest bungalows.
The same family also have some smarter cot-
tages a short way up the road that sleep four
(US$90 to $100 including breakfast).

Rainforest Lodge HOTEl $$
(%041-492 0444; http://www.rainforestlodge-srilanka.
de; s €25-49, d €44-61, incl breakfast; W) Locat-
ed in perfect isolation in a tea plantation a
few minutes’ walk from the road, Rainforest
Lodge has sparkling and spacious rooms with
high-quality bathrooms. The views include a
green trifecta of rainforest, rice paddies and
tea gardens, and good food is served.
Forest trips cost Rs 4500 for one person or
Rs 6500 for two people, including food, trans-
port and guiding fees.

The Rainforest BOUTiQUE HOTEl $$$
(%Colombo 011-558 8714; http://www.rainforest-ecolodge.

org; s/d incl breakfast US$170/205) (^) S Seventeen
and a half rather tortuous kilometres north of
Deniyaya, and at the very top of a mountain,
is this luxury hideaway, which might well be
the remotest hotel in Sri Lanka. Highly orig-
inal rooms with stupendous views have been
created out of metal shipping containers and
recycled railway sleepers. It is tucked away in
a jungle-hemmed valley.
Wa ter comes from nearby springs and
is solar heated. There’s also an impressive
re cycling scheme. It sits right on the edge
of Sinharaja reserve; good forest tours are
available.
Kudawa
Rock View Motel HOTEl $$
(%045-567 7990; http://www.rockviewmotel.com; Wedda-
gala; s/d incl breakfast Rs 4750/6500) Functional
an d airy rooms with views over rolling hills
of forest and tea bushes. It’s 2km east of Wed-
dagala and about the best value deal in these
parts. It can be noisy at weekends when it of-
ten hosts wedding parties.
Blue Magpie Lodge g UESTHOUSE $$
(%077 320 6203; http://www.bluemagpie.lk; Kudawa;
s/d incl breakfast US$75/88) Just a short walk
fr om the park entrances this friendly lodge
has clean and basic rooms. Electricity is only
av ailable by generator in the evenings and
early mornings. It’s expensive, even consider-
ing the remote location. There are good forest
and birding guides available.
Boulder Garden BOUTiQUE HOTEl $$$
(%045-225 5812; http://www.bouldergarden.com; Sin-
ha raja Rd, Koswatta; s/d US$146/259; s) This
br illiantly designed but somewhat damp
an d down-at-heel ecoresort offers 10 rustic
rooms – two of them in actual caves – built
among boulders and streams.
Me als are available in a beautiful garden
restaurant, but be aware that their ‘Western’
breakfast costs an astronomical US$62 for a
single traveller.
Rainforest Edge lODgE $$$
(%045-567 9238; http://www.rainforestedge.com;
Ba lwatukanda, Weddagala; s/d incl breakfast
US $136/199; s) Tucked into the hills a few
hundred metres from Weddagala, these sev-
en rustic huts are a bit too rustic for the high
pr ices they charge. Still, the views from the
terrace are stunning. At the time of research
it was about to close for a major refurbish-
me nt, which might make it a very different
beast altogether.

8 Information

Tickets are sold at the main Forest Department

office at Kudawa and at Deodawa, 5km from

Deniyaya on the matara road.

i n Deniyaya, the Commercial Bank has an ATm

and exchange facilities, and internet access is

also available in the village.