A little bit of wilderness at Kingdom Ecolodge
Hidden away, at the border of Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, lies a (mostly) selfsustaining lodge, where you sleep in treehouses and experience sunset sunrise with the elephants strutting through the area.
Dim, the creator and owner of Kingdom Ecolodge, started it all back in [?]. Now he ownes several hectares of land, where he and his team take care of several accommodations and provide in their own fruites, vegetables and legumes.
To reach the lodge, you have a cab, tuktuk, or bus drop you off in Thelulla, where you will then be picked up by the team of Kingdom Lodge in a very big and impressive jeep. After a bumpy ride of about 30 minutes on the backroads, you will reach Dim's oasis of peace in the middle of nature.
The tree hut in which we stayed
Dim's Kingdom Ecolodge holds a communal approach. All the accommodations are designed for two, or a multiply of two, and all activities are undertaken as a group. The first day we arrived, the group was small. There was only six of us joining the afternoon safari. Which stood in stark contrast to the 14 people that joined us on the second day. And I do have to admit that the smaller group was more my fancy.
After arrival at the lodge you will be served a small lunch. Consequently you have a little bit of time yourself before you have to be back at the communal area for the afternoon safari.
And altough the lodge is located on the edge of Yala National Park, during the safari you will not enter the park. And that is not necessary. Dim knows the area and the animals that move through it. Together with his colleagues they will set out to have you see the elephants. And so we did!
The whole outing made us extremely happy, and with a card full of photo's and the best of memories of this afternoon, we had a lovely dinner back at the lodge.
A must know is that the accommodation is extremely popular among Dutch people. From the 18 people we encountered, only two had a different nationality. Kingdom Ecolodge was also referred to me by another Dutchie, and I have, again, referred others to it.