Situated in an eco friendly environment, amid lush greenery, the Grand Udawalawe Safari Resort is fast becoming a tourist attraction.
The Resort which opened for business in October 2012. celebrates five years of operation this year.
“We started the Resort with 57 rooms initially, and added another 22 rooms within two years. There are five categories of rooms, ranging from deluxe, super deluxe, luxury suits, super luxury suits and grand luxury suits. We are the number one hotel in this area offering four star facilities,” Grand Udawalawe Safari Resort Operations and Finance Director Chandana Pathma Kumara said.
He said, the Resort has been classified under the requirement of the government gazette notification issued recently.
“The new wing is built similar to a fortress. The visitors prefer these rooms for which there is a high demand, and we have guests from all round the world. The relaxation it offers is ideal to relieve stress, and the Resort is equipped with all the modern facilities, including, cable TV, wifi, tea /coffee making facilities, gym with modern facilities and a bar of international standard”, Pathma Kumara said.
“Among the other features of the Resort are, an open air restaurant with 400 seating capacity, a wedding reception hall to accommodate 400 pax, a conference hall with sounds, multimedia, podium and other facilities with a seating capacity of 200 people.
“The specialty is the underground theatre which is the only one of its kind, in the country . This mini theatre could accommodate 80 pax.
“The Resort has laundry facilities, and having purchased two laundry machines recently, we do laundry for other hotels in the area, as well, which brings in good business for us.
We also engage in CSR initiatives. Though we are in close proximity to the Udawalawe National Park, we do not have safari jeeps. The local community who owns the jeeps has registered with us to provide this service and earned an income through the Resort,” he elaborated.
“We have business right round the year and an average of 2,600 guests a month. We have catered to over 200,000 guests in the past five years, of which over 85 percent are foreign guests. They are mostly facilitated by travel agents. We look forward to an improved performance next year too,” he said.
There are many interesting places in close vicinity to the Resort, including the National Park, the elephant transit home, the open area Ridiyagama safari park which is the only open park in Sri Lanka, Mudunagala hot water springs, Katuwana Dutch Fort, Panamure Aeth Gala, Maduwangala Walawwa and the Sankapala temple.
The Resort is also in close proximity to Kataragama, the Mattala Air Port, Hambantota Port and the Sooriyawewa Stadium.
It has provided accommodation to many international cricket teams when they played in the country.
The seven and a half acre property is owned by Rosan Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and their brand name is Grand Udawalawe, managed by six directors.