<::CURRENT NEWS::>

Visit Of Her Excellency Ambassador For Switzerland And Family To Ranweli Holiday Village

The photograph shows Her Excellency Ruth Flint (centre) with her daughter and husband enjoying fresh garden salad after the nature trail.

Our resident Botanist conducts the nature trail where selected shrubs and trees by guests are described.

The programme also includes the boardwalk where the mangroves and their eco-system could be observed from a higher elevation. The site contains a very rich mangrove forest of rhizophora a true mangrove. The guests have a rest at our bio-vegetable plot after the long walk and enjoy fresh salad of their choice (plucked by them) with a dressing made in situ by one of our Chefs.

Ranweli's business partners include tour operators in Europe, U.K. Switzerland etc. at the high end.

In our continuous effort to source partners to improve our portfolio of niche operators in our special segment of eco-tourism, we are happy to inform you that The Classic Traveller, a division of the award-winning Titan Travel, a prestigious upmarket tour operator in U.K. will market our property from January 2008.

The picture shows Mr. Hugh Clayson, Director of Titan Travels, Surrey, England, (web.www.titantravel.co.uk), E'mail. hclayson@titantravels.co.uk with Mr. Chandra de Silva, CEO of Ranweli Holiday Village in London.
In an E'mail to Mr. De Silva, Mr. Clayson states "You were clearly streets ahead of global thinking on eco-tourism ......there are many exciting areas we can discuss which could involve Ranweli

Visit of the World’s leading Ecolodge architect – ARQ. HITESH MEHTA

From 30th September to 4th October 2007 Hitesh Mehta stayed at the Holiday Village to research material and takes photographs for his book “Leading Ecolodges of the World”. Ranweli Holiday Village will be among 35 around the world and the only one from Sri Lanka to be included in this publication by Harper Collings.

The picture shows - left to right Messrs. Chandra de Silva, Director/CEO, Hitesh Mehta and R. S. Wijewardene, Chairman.

Hitesh Mehta is a Landscape Architect, Environmental Planner and worked at EDSA (Edward D Stone Jr. and Associates), Florida, a leading ecotourism planning and landscape architectural firm in the world. .

Hitesh has consulted on the design of several ecolodges in Eastern Africa including Lobolo Lodge, on the western shores of Lake Turkana. Other consultancies inter alia include ecolodges in Guyana, West Indies, Panama, Egypt, Kerala and Florida. He also has consulted with the European Union on the diversification of tourism in Kenya and with USAID on the development of ecolodge guidelines for the Read Sea, Egypt. .

Hitesh Mehta is a Senior Director of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) Washington DC, and Adjunct Professor at Florida International University and teaches a class on “Sustainable Tourism.” .

Hitesh is one of the leading professionals in the field of planning and design of ecolodges, has written several papers on the subject and speaks regularly at conferences around the world. His web site on ecolodges is www.eco-mon.com the only one of its kind on the internet.

CEO/Director of Ranweli Holiday Village was invited to make a presentation at the University of Applied Sciences, Eberswalde in Berlin.

On 30th July 2007 our Director/CEO Mr. Chandra de Silva was invited by the University of Applied Sciences, Eberswalde in Berlin to deliver a presentation for Post Graduate Students in Sustainable Tourism Management. The participants included students from London Metropolitan University. The presentation was based on “ a case study on Ranweli Holiday Village as an Ecotourism facility and implementation of Sustainable Tourism Principles”. The photograph depicts Mr. Chandra de Silva along with Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Strasdas and a section of the students.

MANGROVE REHABILITATION PROJECT

Ranweli Holiday Village initiated a project for the rehabilitation of Mangroves with the assistance of the local community and all stakeholders i.e. Provincial Government Authority, the University of Peradeniya and the media.

Photograph No. 1 - Mr. Chandra de Silva, CEO together with Prof. Mangala de Silva of the University of Peradeniya who recently released a book on mangroves authored by him, and the Provincial Government Authority personnel addressing the stakeholders before commencement of the project.

Photograph Nos. 2 & 3 - Planting of the first mangrove sapling by the Chairman of the Pradesiya Sabah (Local Council).

HECTOR CABELLOS - LASCURIN AND MR. CHANDRA DE SILVA CEO DURING A VISIT TO RANWELI

Mr. Hector Ceballos-Lascurain is an architect, environmentalist and ecotourism and cultural tourism expert.
In 1983 he coined the term “ecotourism”. He is a special advisor on Ecotourism to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and World Tourism Organization (WTO). In 2004 he was awarded the Colibri Lifetime Achievement Ecotourism Award, granted by planeta.com and Canyon Travel.

Observation of his visit:
“As an international Ecotourism Consultant and environmental architect, I have been impressed with the Ranweli Resort. Your orientation to ecotourism activities, including bird watching, is a very appropriate one. I loved the boardwalk, the river, birding tour (with excellent guide Mahinda) and the environmentally-friendly approach to many of your facilities. Keep up the good work!

ARQ. Hector Ceballos-Lascurain
Ecotourism Consultant, Architect
Mexico.”

Cottage

At the request of one of our long staying guests, we have converted two rooms to a cottage containing a bedroom, sitting room and a pantry with a spacious verandah.

The furniture and the cottage are designed in period style and the ambience of the mangrove forest, the river and the sea front has been captured in the design enhancing the tranquility.

Our philosophy is to reduce the number of rooms in the long term, further enhancing the spatial dimension and tranquility.