Saraii Village : Experience The Essence Of Sri Lanka 

Lavish lifestyles in concrete jungles are not always welcome. Sri Lankans do love to coexist with nature and experience the true beauty of their surroundings. If one happens to travel around the country, there may be many destinations awaiting your presence. Hambantota, a district quite often considered to be cloaked with a brighter sunshine is often a favourite destination among tourists. Amidst dense outgrowths and parched roads towards Weerawila lies ‘Saraii Village’, an eco-tourism resort setup to deliver a novel experience for its guests. 

 

‘Saraii’, a Hebrew word which translates to ‘The Essence’, is the brainchild of Charitha Abeyratne, who had had a passion to startup a sustainable tourism business with her husband. This is quite evident because as soon as you enter the premises, for once you would forget that you are actually visiting a resort.

 

 

Mud chalets and tree houses can be seen all over the 3 acre expanse of land setup amidst hardwood and fruit trees. The tree houses are named as Loft, Nest, Crib and Skye to go in line with their themes and structure. For example, the Nest is designed like a bird’s nest and therefore it was named as ‘Nest’ etc. the mud chalets are designed in such a way so as to give the guests an experience of living in a ‘gami gedara’; a house built from mud with a thatched roof which can be found in remote areas of the country. However, they are equipped with modern amenities such as WiFi, tea/coffee making facilities, hot/cold water baths etc. 

A fresh farm lunch awaits guests who would like to taste some traditional cuisine at the Sky Lounge. Lunch will include delicacies such as pol sambol, dhal, greens, fish curry and of course a healthy serving of traditional rice. A heavenly dessert follows and this could be curd and treacle, fruits or even ice cream if you crave for something chilled.

One could enjoy a good lunch with some soothing background music and soft caressing winds blowing every now and then. Saraii upholds the value of the ‘Slow Food’ philosophy where they believe that good, clean and fair food should be catered to guests to experience the taste of traditional Sri Lankan cuisine. The produce is sourced locally, harvested in a sustainable manner, ensuring a revenue source to the community. 

Visit Saraii to step in to an aura of timeless oneness with nature, discover true peace, immerse in the splendour and enjoy the thrill of discovery. 

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe 
Photographs by Kithsiri De Mel