ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

An eco-lodge in the heart of Ceylon

Updated on December 6, 2015

Enthralling Kandalma

A Kandalma facade
A Kandalma facade
A green side of the Five-Star ecolodge
A green side of the Five-Star ecolodge
An ecolodge amidst foilage
An ecolodge amidst foilage

An echo-lodge of wounder

By Marwan Asmar

It displays elegance and superiority, a majestic setting in the middle of a vast green that stretches as far as your imaginations and horizons, playing on your mind with you constantly asking “am I really here?”

Heritance Kandalama in Sri Lanka is a beauty of awesomeness, environmentally referred to as an eco-lodge but it is also a prodigious Five-Star hotel that has all the trappings of hospitality, congeniality and dazzling brilliance.

In Heritance Kandalama one can combine business with pleasure, a time to meet and discuss through its different style meeting rooms (U, Tiered, Theater, Class Room and Board Room styles). The palatial surroundings are there for high-powered businessmen to unwind, relax, produce the creativity and innovation to generate business because what you seen is out of this world.

Heritance Kandalama is a one-kilometer establishment that was originally and horizontally carved out of a large rock one of whose small remains was incorporated in one of the corridors of the hotel to reflect the artistic scenery  represented in the diversity and bio-diversity of the country.

From Colombo, Kandalama is 100 kilometers, north east. I was told helicopters can be hired to get there, but many should definitely go by hired car or mini-bus to express the beautiful lush green surroundings of the country that makes your heart pulsates with awe, wonder and excitement at the ecological existence of the places nearly always characterized by rich foliage and coconut, jackfruit, banana, mango and papaya trees and much more.

It’s an amazement of dazzle and triumphant green that the businessman, politician, decision-maker, and the plenty of ordinary people who visit the place, can’t get over. I was bewitched, mesmerized.  

Before reaching Heritance Kandalama, our bus turned to a long path of green with trees almost covering the sky in arches-like fashion with their branches spewing green in different shapes, and elegance.

Sri Lanka is famous for its constant rains and showers that is why the trees, shrubberies and foliage are amazingly beautiful for the eye. You are constantly attacked by the rains that can drench you from the tip of your head to the bottoms of your feet—it’s a delight, a heavenly feeling that one is floating on thin air.

In Heritance Kandalama, we were rushed off to its restaurant perfectly positioned to add yet another aura to what has now become a selfless body tied between the material world and to the fields, woods and forests surroundings this overwhelming structure.

 It was high-powered cuisine, making your mouth water and wonder with delight at every-single taste on offer from the starters and soups to the main course and the delicious deserts. It was all go, stretching and tearing at your imagination that your were actually in dreamland because in front of you on the horizons is the Sigiriya rock fortress, a UNESCO world heritage site built in the 5th century but still stands with natural reverence to its surroundings

The rooms in Heritance Kandalama, all 152 of them, are luxurious but with different categories. Although all are top-of-the-range, from the Royal, Luxury and Spa suits, to the Deluxe, Panoramic and the superior.  These offer state-of-the-art ambiance with Jacuzzi’s frequently fitted to allow its guests to unwind.

With balconies for the morning coffee, monkeys are a constant prey, jumping playfully up and down around you but part of the scenery, offering delight and amazement, cajoling your mind to the famous Jungle Book movie originally written by Rudyard Kippling in 1894.

We were told that the hotel won many international awards, marked as a top international treasure and visited by famous international dignitaries like the current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor Kofi Annan as well as presidents, prime ministers, ministers as well as politicians.

For a good holiday, the management of the hotel has put on for its guest different eco-trails to experience nature first hand. These can last to as many hours needed ranging from bird watching, butter fly and Dragon fly watching to jungle trekking as well as elephant safaris which you can actually see in different parts of the country.

Rates are very competitive. The hotel has an interactive website at http://www.heritancehotels.com/kandalama/ or res.kandalama@ heritancehotels.com. As in all places visited in Sri Lanka, the hospitality and the personal touch are alluring making you feel very special.

 

 

 

 

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)