The Rainforest Eco Lodge

Can you hear it? It’s the sound of the rain forest’s gushing waterfalls, birds chirping and frogs croaking.

The Rainforest Eco Lodge is a completely unique place with a unique location amidst the lush nature of the Enselwatta tea plantation, bordering the Sinharaja Rainforest.

The lodge consists of 20 cabins dotted throughout the green tea plantation. All are built using recycled materials. The cabins themselves are built from old shipping containers, the walls and ceilings are built from bamboo and the terraces are built from railway sleepers.

Each cabin consists of a bedroom, bathroom and terrace, and offers tea and coffee making facilities, a safe, free bottled water, a telephone and a hair dryer. The bathroom has a shower and both hot and cold water. The cabins also have large windows, allowing you to enjoy the breathtaking view of the tea plantation, the rainforest and the green mountains, no matter where you are in the cabin. In the morning, you can sit out on the terrace with a steaming hot cup of tea or coffee and enjoy the sounds of the rainforest and its wildlife. When the mist clears, you may be lucky enough to meet the curious squirrels that live in the area.

The lodge also has its own restaurant, and the food is fantastic! It is made from fresh, organic vegetables and fruit from the local village, while meat, fish and shellfish are transported from Galle a few times a week.

Green energy and eco-friendly solutions are a major focus for The Rainforest Eco Lodge, which helps to reduce the environmental footprint through cleaning wastewater and the emission of carbon with the help of solar panels.

The Rainforest Eco Lodge is moreover the only LEED platinum-certified accommodation in Sri Lanka, the 4th in Asia and the 5th in the World. The lodge has thus been built according to special sustainable guidelines that have ensured that its construction has not destroyed or disturbed the rainforest habitat and the local community, which consists of 30 families who all work in the tea plantation.

Before the construction of The Rainforest Eco Lodge, the local community lived in extremely poor conditions. The hotel management decided that, for the lodge to be a success, it was necessary to improve the living conditions of the local people and give them access to better and more opportunities. The decision was therefore made to build them a new village near the old one, with improved housing with sanitary facilities, electricity, and access to clean drinking water, which is financed by The Rainforest Eco Lodge. A new school was also built for the village’s children, where the teachers are paid by The Rainforest Eco Lodge. Every Monday, the pupils are given a free lunch, and every Wednesday, the children are taught English by the hotel management.

The Rainforest Eco Lodge’s ambition is for the “community outreach” programme to develop over time and expand to include even more focus areas to improve the living conditions of the local community.

A stay here is, in other words, a totally unique experience!