Travel

Kitulgala to be adventure destination

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

The Kitulgala area is being transformed into a adventure destination and one of the key players in this regard is Adventure Base Camp.

The Managing Director of Adventure Base Camp, Upul Nayanajith said that in 2004 he started his operations by setting up six tents in a two acre land with the assistance of Best Life International.

Subsequently he together with English Adventure sports specialist, Peter Block introduced white water rafting to Kitulgala. "Since it was a new kind of adventure it was well received by both locals and foreigners and due to the demand we built additional dormitories," he said.

Nayanajith said that today many five star hotels in the city and leading tour operators have singed contracts with them to send their guests for white water rafting excursions.

The Adventure Base camp in a bid to provide additional services, hired two ex army trainers, Udaya Kumara and Premasiri Wanasinghe to introduce Outward bound training.

"Developed to extract the hidden leadership and the extra ordinary capabilities of participants, these specialized training programmes are result oriented and offer soft and hard adventure according to the capacity of the individuals participating. Main characteristics of Outward Bound Training would be to bring out leadership qualities, team spirit and team work, discipline, punctuality while adhering to most important safety and life saving techniques," he said.

The management also built additional seven luxury air conditioned rooms overlooking the river in a bid to meet the growing demand of up market travelers. "With these rooms and new dormitories today we could accommodate over 200 guests. We also upgraded the restaurant," he said.

He said that today many people are engaged providing white water rafting packages and people should be mindful of the services and security that is being offered by them. "The five kilo Meter White Water Rafting package we offer is for one hour and even small children could join it in the last few minutes. Adventure Base Camp also offers a special Moonlight Rafting package which is gaining popularity. "Our staff is well trained to international standards and they have also undergone Red Cross training to act in any emergency," he said.

The seasoned rafters are also offered a more serious nine kilometer course in Avissawella which takes three hours.

He said that they are currently investing a further Rs. Five million to upgrade the property. "We are also looking at introducing an Adventure Sports Centre to the Northern Province next year."

In 1957, David Lean introduced Kitulgala to the entire world through a classic British World War II film using creativity and filming techniques, as a Western Thailand town and the Kelani-river as the river Kwai which successfully secured seven Oscars for the movie 'Bridge on the River Kwai'. The remains of this bridge are still seen during white water rafting.

Asoka Periyappruma from Media Plan said that they are also keen to promote Kitulgala as an adventure sport destination is working closely with Adventure Base camp.

Travel Foundation conducts programme for beach operators

The Travel Foundation based in United Kingdom conducted a series of programs for beach operators in Bentota, on Tuesday.

PR Manager Graeme Jackson from the Foundation said they were up dated on the travel trends and other tourism related developments.

He also said that they also work with SWITCH Asia foundation officials who are helping in preserving energy, water and waste. "Some of the sustainability measures taken at Siddhalepa Hotel, which include water treatment for use in the gardens; waste sorting and recycling; solar water heating were very good," he said.

"This initiative would help hotels to reduce costs and in turn help their bottom line. "I advise the hotels to keep the visitors updated on the initiative they take," he said.He said that the foundation is a charity organization funded by founds collected by travelers going overseas. "Since conception, we have a full programme of activities, with projects in 16 overseas destinations, as well as a full provision of tools to green your business and other support to help the travel industry to take effective action on all things green."

"Our goal is to help travel companies manage tourism more sustainably. We strive to safeguard the resources on which tourism depends and ensure the travel industry can benefit directly from the rewards that being green brings," he said.

Srilal Miththapala from SWITCH Asia program said that the response they received from Travel Foundation was very good and the lesion would bring in more benefits to the local travel sector.

The aim of SWITCH-Asia is to promote Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in Asia. To achieve this objective, the Programme works simultaneously on the ground, with producers and consumers, and at the level of policy-making through supporting for formulation and implementation of SCP-related policies. It started in 2007. (SS)