The simple task of replacing several hundred incandescent lightbulbs in rooms and public areas with fluorescents in this 162-room resort is saving 75,000 kwh per year. Using solar power to heat water is saving an additional 80,000 kwh annually.
The Kandalama Hotel is the first resort in Asia to be certified by Green Globe 21 and the first in the world to be certified by LEED.
Kandalama actively re-forests its surroundings, with an unusual and worthy dual-purpose tree-planting program -- it uses discarded coconut shells as seedling containers, and regional school children do the planting. That teaches them a great deal more than the just names of the seedling varieties they are planting.
Lots to do here.
- Go elephant trekking.
- Take a hike through the rainforest.
- Visit Dambulla, a UNESCO site regarded as one of the world’s most important cave temples.
- Watch the light and clouds dance around and behind Sigiriya, another UNESCO site, an almost inaccessible rock that was the site of an ancient fortress.
