Conscious Travel - When Your Heart Is In The Local Community
The mother wakes up at dawn, before her children awake. The husband lights the lamp in reverence before he prepares the soil.
It was the lake that drew us there. Lured by the chance of solitude and birds.
A beautiful serene mirror of water under wide open skies far away from everything – one of the hundreds of lakes that are the lifeblood of the agricultural heartlands of rural Sri Lanka. This was our weekend escape from the frenetic life in the corporate world of Colombo – one weekend, sometime in 2005.
That season the farming family had planned a crop of 4 vegetables. Long bean vines would climb along the poles, snake gourd and bitter gourd would join in the journey for vertical space, while pumpkin leaves covered the earth. If all goes well, the children will help pick the produce in a few weeks for their father to trudge to the farmer’s market. The lake begins where their land ends. We didn’t know a soul there when we photographed the Kingfisher dipping into that lake for his first meal for the day, but as the sun rose making dawn disappear, the family invited us in to share a welcoming cup of tea in their humble abode.
We were not the only visitors they had that day. Wild elephants are a constant threat to the farm and by nightfall the family had to protect their land by the light of a fire.
This was seven years before we launched Ayu in the Wild.
Farm-to-Table Experiences curated by Ayu in the Wild create Circular Economies
We never imagined that the farm-to-table experience we curated with the rural family by the lake would one day be part of a fabulous selection of real culinary experiences with real people - and one of Ayu in the Wild’s most sought after soul-stirring experiences. Connecting our guests with an immersive engagement in slow, isolated slices of heaven across rural Sri Lanka. Private experiences far away from mass tourism.
Farming families across Sri Lanka are hard working and proud of their land, and prouder still when visitors sit in awe as our guides interpret their lifestyle. Ayu in the Wild’s curated private experiences help supplement their farming income to meet their basic food and health needs, educational expenses, and in the case of the farmer by the lake, to buy sports gear for the eldest child- a budding athlete. Family travelers particularly love the time spent walking, playing and even taking a dip in the lake with the young family. The authenticity of these extraordinarily soul enriching local experiences evolved over the years through a collaborative process between Ayu in the Wild and each family to fine-tune the experiential al-fresco cooking experience to a jungle farmer’s foodie tour and a village walkabout within the rural hamlet. Where guests want a complete culinary experience, the hours melt away with pairing spices to curries, the art of pickles and so much more. All produce is from the farm – literally zero kilometres, with some spices purchased from the local markets. For those who want to soak in the fresh air that only empty spaces filled with towering trees can bring, there’s no greater luxury than the natural rural beauty of a farming village walk visiting tiny corner stores in the middle of nowhere and connecting with welcoming rural families. Private and engaging experiences in authentic environments.
Each experience gives back to the farmer and the wider community through the fees paid for hosting the visitors. The success of the farm-to-table experience by the lake made this family work even harder to make their farm rich and inviting for guests. Memories of a slow farm walk in France inspired us to design a communal dining table made from scrap wood through a process of hand drawn sketches and numerous calls with the family, and the final product was made by a carpenter within the village. This is slow food and sustainable slow luxury rolled into one experience of a lifetime. The experience makes guests reconnect with a back to basic lifestyle where life was simple and could be lived- without technology.
Elephants still continue to eat their crops during the dry season. It’s a rural lifestyle that has not changed since we first photographed the Kingfisher by that lake.
The Sustainable Travel Sri Lanka Initiative
As traveling slowly resumes with a timeline for schools, restaurants and hotels to reopen within the Covid-19 safety protocols issued by the health authorities, farming families are struggling to cope. Their farm produce has gone to waste after nearly two months of lockdown, access to markets are still restricted. Access to education is limited, with online lessons a real struggle when households don’t have smart phones or computers.
The travel industry may have suffered a double blow in Sri Lanka as the pandemic erupted just as flagging incomes picked up after the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019, but the industry has a vital role to play in the island’s economic resurgence. It’s up to each hotel, each DMC (Destination Management Company) and it’s collaborating alliances to innovate and lead and it inspired Ayu in the Wild to scale up the Sustainable Travel Sri Lanka Initiative which we first designed and published in July 2019.
THE PURPOSE: of the Initiative is to collaborate with ethical ventures and travel innovators with a vision to sustain local economies across Sri Lanka. We hope this will eventually inspire more conscious travel across Sri Lanka.
WHO WE COLLABORATE WITH: is based on a “Sustainability Trilogy” designed by Ayu in the Wild. The initiative intends to work with individuals, non profits, as well as a Collective of hotels.
THE SUSTAINABILITY TRILOGY : is Ayu in the Wild’s guideline to assess individuals and entities according to their vision to create circular economies. i.e., give back to the island, the people and the wild.
The entire work of the initiative is self funded by Ayu in the Wild.
THE COLLECTIVE: of hotels is only one part of our Sustainable Travel Sri Lanka Initiative to promote sustainable travel in Sri Lanka by showcasing visionary luxury lodges and under-canvas properties selected for their efforts to increase economic opportunities for Sri Lankans, protect the most beautiful places in Sri Lanka, and celebrate the island's cultures. The properties within the Collective are secluded getaways that are small, avoid mass tourism and are set in far-flung locations with maximum privacy and concern for safety. They combine luxury and sustainability and fall within our ethos of sustainable slow luxury. By showcasing their sustainability messaging we hope to inspire the conscious traveler and encourage the hoteliers to promote tourism options that gives back more to the island, the people and the wild. At Ayu in the Wild, we believe the future of tourism in Sri Lanka lies not in pursuing greater visitor numbers but in low footfall tourism that brings greater benefit to Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans.
This Sustainable Travel Sri Lanka Initiative is a concept driven and collaborated by Ayu in the Wild Holidays.
Our Hotel Recommendations Remain Independent
Ayu in the Wild has been committed to conscious travel since 2012 and work with a wide portfolio of handpicked properties. Some are luxurious boutique villas by the coast, others are inland villas far flung from everything, some are Eco lodges with the right comforts, a few are large resort hotels that makes unique locations more accessible, and a handpicked selection of under-canvas camping options. This choice remains independent and is purely based on what suits the budget and interests of guests and the value they add to our bespoke holidays across Sri Lanka.
Collaborating with the Collective of properties that form one part of the Sustainable Travel Sri Lanka initiative is an entirely self-funded effort by Ayu in the Wild Holidays to inspire more conscious travel in Sri Lanka. Ayu in the Wild receives no funding from the member hotels of the Collective.
Ayu in the Wild Holidays is a 100% Sri Lankan owner-run DMC curating far-flung sustainable slow luxury holidays to Sri Lanka since 2012, through the knowledge of the widely traveled Sri Lankan owners.