A real eco lodge and jungle experience in the forgotten valley of Weliara, living and walking with a team of native, local trackers and naturalists. Accommodation in simple tree- and mud huts discretely blending with bush, virgin forest and wildlife. Remote and non-touristic wilderness in Southeast Sri Lanka, few kilometres north of Yala National Park.

Our mission is twofold and goes hand in hand.

* We want to live in harmony with nature and wildlife, with a minimum of infrastructure and nature kept in focus.
* We want to generate new ways of income in the local community, alternatives to illegal hunting and logging for survival. At the same time, the management depend on local staff as they are highly experienced in jungle life.

Low impact - The central idea of Tree Tops 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 clay 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 make any troubles.

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. The month of August 2003 was very sad in this regard; on the 20th August we called Department of Wildlife after finding an elephant in the forest. It was shot dead a few days before. When the Wildlife People came, they told us 8 elephants had been killed in Yala NP's northern area and borders - just during the first three weeks of August. The total wild elephant population of Sri Lanka is about 2500 animals. Minimum 150 are killed every year.

Philosophy of coexistence with wild elephants... It's the policy of the lodge that peaceful co-existence 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.

Reality tourism... Visitors are not isolated from but introduced to real life including some problems of Sri Lanka. Compared to the one-sided 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 today's interaction between wildlife and humans in a remote area.

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.

Problems of the area... The bottom line towards all the destruction of nature is poverty. From around the month of March onwards there is no cultivation in the area. During the months of July-September, the jungle is so dry that a tiny flame would set fire to a whole region. Most wells in the area run dry and villagers have to trek distances for the most valuable resource in life - water. This is the time where the jungle, which is full of beautiful and invaluable trees as well as a wide variety of medicinal herbs and plants are destroyed by fires. The timber merchants make maximum use of the dry weather, because the terrain is bone-dry, enabling their illicit cargoes to be transported without getting stuck in the mud.

The jungle is mostly set ablaze by hunters as this makes it easier for them to spot game. The hunters could be divided into two categories, the hard-core hunter and the poor villager who hunts out of necessity - for survival. The poor village farmer has a necessity to hunt for their survival, as during the dry season they have no choice but to live off nature whichever way possible. The hard-core hunters are the dangerous crowd. These are people with money and influence, the unscrupulous crowd who hunt with automatic weapons. They slaughter any kind of game that would cross their path, for skins, tusks and meat. Whatever, these ruthless timber merchants and hunters need the assistance of the local villagers to carry out their destructive activities in the area.

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 it's destruction, the village folk will help protect the environment with more determination. Jungle life: Living at Tree Tops is an extraordinary trip, back to nature. You will bathe at a freshwater well, there's no electricity, and meals are cooked native on wood fire. The basic-ness is balanced by spotless service and a staff eager to create great 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 atmosphere - 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 retreat 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'; 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 water-buffaloes 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.