‘AMAARA FOREST’
Luxury in the lap of the wild
Since of late, ‘Sigiriya Rock’ is widely tagged as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, as Sri Lanka Tourism promotes Sigiriya as a major lure destination. Every traveller visiting the area wanted to climb the rock and Pidurangala was not in the picture as it was less known to visitors to the area some two decades ago.
Sigiriya and Pidurangala rocks, the double attraction of the ancient kingdom, never experienced a dull moment even with the lowest ever foreign tourist arrivals recorded in the country. The twin rocks reflect all adventurous, cultural and historical magnetism together. Since lately, the Sri Lankan travellers to this great heritage have doubled the number due to educational and knowledge expansion of the local community. The unbelievable domestic traveller inflow was witnessed during the last holiday season giving ‘Sigiriya and Pidurangala’ the number one destination status in the Cultural Triangle.
To accommodate the inflow of travellers to the area, more and more hotels and resorts are being added to the local folder, chasing all wildlife mainly the much sought-after magnificent pachyderm from the area. ‘Amaara Forest Hotel’ in Habarana is now back in the saddle after the much sickening pandemic period. Located in a rural forest village of Indigahawewa off Sigiriya – Habarana main road on 21 acres of natural landscape, Amaara Forest Hotel is
built with environmentally friendly methods to preserve the natural environmental surroundings. It celebrated its fifth anniversary on 3rd of December, Amaara Forest Hotel is located in a dense jungle that gives guests a close connection with nature.
‘When building the hotel five years ago, we didn’t want to remove trees unnecessarily. Our main aim was to get the total green coverage to the
Resort with fully grown jungle cover.
I think we have achieved our target now as most of the hotel buildings including rooms, main restaurant and public areas are almost covered with large trees in keeping with the hotel’s theme’ said MD Ahintha Amerasinghe.
The hotel only occupying 11 acres of the land, the rest is a thick forest that signifies the hotel’s overall theme of
‘nature’. Owned and managed by veteran hotelier and travel consultant Ahintha Amerasinghe, Amaara Forest Hotel is the second resort in the Amaara Hotels portfolio. Spread over eleven acres, the resort comprises 44 very generously proportioned luxury rooms with en-suite bathrooms with all modern amenities in line with their eco-friendly theme. While some of the rooms overlook the pool and forest beyond, the others are amidst the shrubs and trees giving visitors an authentic experience of living amongst nature.
‘Out of 44 rooms, 24 are king size double bedded spacious rooms and the rest are twin bedded large rooms equipped with all modern conveniences including a flat-screen TV with satellite channels, DVD player, tea coffee making facilities and free Wifi’ said Ravi Perera, the General Manager of Amaara Forest. The culinary is a new kind of experience at Amaara Forest. The hotel offers meals of ‘any sort, at any time, at the convenience of the guest.
The main open air restaurant is called ‘Kaya’, offers yet another great view of the surrounding landscape. It offers a great selection of wholesome and tasty both Eastern and Western cuisine for breakfast, dinner and lunch is usually an a la carte affair as most guests are out on excursions.
‘Though we are running under staffed at the kitchen and the restaurant due to health guidelines, we didn’t want to cut down on any regular dishes or popular culinary favourites.
Our services are as usual and we are ready to fulfil any kind of culinary requirement of the guests’ Ravi added.
‘Amaara Forest is a popular domestic destination so we are specialised in
Sri Lankan cuisine. Our range is from authentic rural dishes to western delicacies and global cuisine’ said the Executive Chef Ranga Dharmapala.
The air conditioned fine dining restaurant ‘Thimbilri’ overlooking the pool serves French, continental and Italian cuisine. Kumbuk Bar and Illuk pool bar are popular attraction amongst the guest during the sun down time, which has a variety of cocktails and mocktails.
Popular Tree Top Restaurant is currently not in use as it was closed for a long period of time. ‘Currently it is under repair and will be adding to the folder soon. Tree Top Restaurant truly offers a unique dining experience that every guest must experience. It is very popular with foreign travellers’ said Danukh Amerasinghe, the Director of Amaara Hotels, who is now looking after the operations of the property.
‘Things are falling into the places slowly and we hope the overseas arrivals will be back to normal towards the latter part of the year. Overseas market will improve, if the pandemic situation improves there. Soon we will be reviving our old Honeymoon Deck and Araliya
Spa’ said Danukh Amerasinghe.
Amaara Forest has the best stateof-the-art Conference Hall and Meeting Rooms in the Cultural Triangle with all modern amenities. ‘Milla’ conference room makes Amaara Forest an ideal location to hold corporate events too. The Amaara Forest Hotel is built on an elephant roaming forest between the Minneriya and Sigiriya National Parks, approximately five kms away from the historical Sigiriya Rock Fortress and Pidurangala.
Apart from the national parks, excursions to Sigiriya and Dambulla, Pidurangala rock climbing, village trails and trekking are popular with the guests to the hotel. There is a network of cycling and walking paths which can be used by those who wish to explore the property which is teeming with birdlife. Both adults and children’s bikes are available for those who wish to cycle around and explore further. PIX BY Shan Bandu Weerasinghe
Amaara Forest room rates range from Rs. 36,000/-, -HBD to Rs. 40,000/- FBD with 40% to 50 % discounted offer on bank cards till end of February.