Words: Amrita Hapuarachchi and Photographs: Manoj Rathnayake
Guests are then invited to light the traditional oil lamp. It is a simple but poignant gesture, a reminder that each guest is honoured. The welcome extends to the room, as each bed is beautifully decorated with leaves spelling out the guests’ names. Ahintha Amerasinghe and his family owns the Amaara group of hotels (Amaara Sky is in Kandy). The name Amaara was coined by his brother Gerard taking the first few letters of their surname and added an extra ‘A’ to make the sound nicer.
Ahintha fell in love with the area when he used to bring his family to visit the national parks. He had been interested and looking for a property and when this area became available, he jumped at the chance. There was initially a small cottage (which is now converted to drivers’ quarters) where he, his family and friends would come and stay and eventually, he decided to build a hotel. Ahintha also mentions, there were 60 families who lived around the premises and once the hotel opened, he and the general manager made it a point to deliver a hotel-made cake to each home to welcome them to the Amaara family.
Ahintha insists each guest is made to feel at home and he admits he also makes it a point to call the guests when they arrive to check on their stay and see whether the staff can make any improvements. These personal touches make Amaara a genuine place to stay. This kindness is reflected on the Amaara staff, who are ever friendly and helpful. They are attentive and also keep track of your preferences.
Amazingly, Ahintha has no architectural or engineering background – he runs World Link Travels in Colombo but his sheer determination and love for the area made Amaara a reality. He first started by building a set of rooms – a duplex and experimented with it – adjusting the size of the room, and modifying the bathroom until he was happy. Then they proceeded to build the rest. Now, they have 40 rooms spread over 11 acres, offering privacy for the weary traveller. The duplex stand-alone rooms consist of an upper floor with a double bed and the lower floor has two single beds, allowing families to travel together yet retain their privacy. At 690 square feet, each room is quite comfortable and spacious, allowing guests to relax further.
Despite it being set on such a large estate, the buildings are beautifully camouflaged within the trees. Ahintha explained “1700 trees were replanted after the construction [of the hotel] to keep the forest ambience”. He further describes how they have retained much of the natural environment to maintain a “forest ecosystem”. The emphasis of conservation and protection is continued in other measures throughout the hotel. Only the pathways around the hotel are regularly swept and the fallen leaves are collected and used as fertilizer. There is also little food wastage. The excess is donated to a nearby piggery and meat is given to the hotel at subsidized rates. There is also a large in-house desalination plant so the water on the premises is kept clean. Fruit and vegetables are also purchased from sustainable farms close by. Ahintha explains they ideally would love to grow their own vegetables but this would encourage elephants to enter the premises, which would compromise the safety of the guests.
