Khiri Travel have launched a fourteen-day itinerary that is a carbon-neutral eco-trip through Sri Lanka where guests stay in eco lodges or tented camps, and get around in hybrid cars – great news for the environmentally conscious. The journey allows travellers opportunities to see elephants, leopards and blue whales, as well as meeting villagers and forest tribesmen. While emissions on this specific tour are already low, Khiri does detailed calculations and arranges for all carbon emissions that result from the trip to be offset. Throughout the trip all accommodation is ‘green’ accredited, guests plant trees, and principles of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ are strongly embraced.
There are many highlights on the trip, such as Wilpattu National Park for big cat spotting, staying in a tree house at Thalakotewawa, taking a boat safari at Gal Oya (where elephants swim from island to island), and walking with the chief of the Veddas forest dwellers to see medicinal plants, ancient hunting grounds and former cave dwellings.
In Udawalawe National Park, famed for its Sri Lankan elephant population, guests stay at the Banyan Camp Eco Lodge which has mortar floors and walls and was built with bio-degradable materials, harvested timber from sustainable sources, and Palmyra leaf roofs.
