The new Sri Lankan resort where wildlife roam free
Buffalos in pools, elephants on footpaths and an escort needed when you leave your pavilion – the fenceless Hilton Yala is quite the experience.
The first rule of the rumble in the jungle, as played out this day on a soggy road in eastern Sri Lanka, are there are no rules. But there are protocols, and their observance in the natural marvel of Yala National Park is geared towards everyone scoring the prize.
The playing surface is a rutted, jungle-fringed track and the pieces are safari trucks, mainly Toyota utes with raised seating pods for 360-degree wildlife spotting.
The aim of the game is to get as close to the action as possible, a tall order from where our truck currently sits, at the back of a pack of maybe two dozen with no discernible way through.
Late afternoon is primetime in Yala, on the teardrop island’s southeastern coast, and with little effort we’re ticking them off: grazing elephants; crocodiles airing their innards by lying stock still with jaws agape; baby grey langur monkeys in the trees, swinging off mum’s tail like, well, monkey bars.
Yet they’re small change, because when Sameera, a guide from the new Hilton Yala Resort, sees other trucks massing further up the road, it should mean one thing – leopards.
Our driver starts worming his way in. Call it osmosis, call it Toyota Tetris, but with a modicum of give and take on everyone’s part, we arrive at the edge of the centre, and Sameera points. “It’s a mother and cub.” They’re a striking contrast of almost orange coats against the dense green.
Mum starts to cross the road and by another miracle we’re now at the front. When Junior doesn’t follow, she stops and turns to scowl at her child to get a move on. The air is thick with camera clicks, and when Sameera lowers his long lens, he’s in even more thrall than his guests. “That was amazing, even for me,” he declares, his best sighting in six months.
That such experiences are on its doorstep is the raison d’etre for Hilton Yala Resort, which opened in mid-2023. It’s required a nature-first approach, “a double-edged sword”, one manager observes. The resort is not fenced and you’re not to wander willy-nilly.
A few nights ago, an elephant paid a visit and spent a lot more than a penny on the path. Heavy rains can bring crocs into the channel, and they’re still laughing about the day they extracted a buffalo from one room’s pool.
Unless you’re staying near the main lodge, when you want to go somewhere – breakfast, the spa or the main pool – they send a cart. To visit the beach, which is heard but not seen behind the fringing scrub, a ranger versed in how to react to any given wildlife encounter will gladly escort you.
The resort has been fashioned in glass and stone by Thailand-based architect Stephen Odel in league with Ajith Mohan Perera, who has the exalted status of the master potter of Sri Lanka. Perera devised much of the interior design, from the artworks and crockery to the shampoo bottles. All credit to international brand Hilton for creating something so authentically Sri Lankan.
On a roomy footprint, Hilton Yala has just 42 suites, evenly split into three categories, starting with first-floor deluxe rooms with generous balconies that come in at a significant 86sq m. Ground-floor premiums (141sq m) gain plunge pools and extra al fresco lounging while, at the far end, 14 premium pool villas (175sq m) exist in a world of their own.
Freestanding, each is surrounded by greenery that’s always “on” through two walls of glass. The other main elements are slatted timber plus furnishings in tan, taupe and beige, redolent of the master potter. A generous lounge area is augmented by a corner desk with full-service charging console.
An egg-shaped bath placed for the full jungle view anchors the indulgent bathroom with huge walk-in shower and separate WC stall housing that Rolls-Royce of automated toilets, the Toto. The deck is full-width and deep, with steps down to one’s own 8m pool and a large conversation pit.
The other accommodation buildings fringe a marvellous 58m-long main pool dotted with vegetated “islands”. Like all the pools, it’s non-chlorinated to accommodate wildlife habits.
Sustenance is served in the double-storey main lodge.
Executive chef Jerome Tissera calls his menus “Sri Lankan progressive”, so look elsewhere for scorching curries.
Instead, there are delights such as black mutton galette with tomato chilli jam and kohlrabi puree, and Rocky Beach, which reads like a seafood cocktail but is nothing of the sort.
One dessert lives in the memory: bibbikan, a traditional coconut cake, with ginger tea ice cream, kithul (a palm treacle) and roasted cashew, four revered Sri Lankan flavours in one hit.
For breakfast, I revel in Tissera’s take on a local staple, egg hoppers, where the egg is basically steamed inside a wafer-thin rice flour crepe. He adds lentils, ambulthiyal (a sour fish curry) and coconut potato.
Essential to the Hilton Yala experience are the guides, among the most qualified in Sri Lanka. As well as wildlife safaris, they conduct sand dune tours, visits to the 2000-year-old temples of Sithulpawwa Rajamaha Vihara and treks into the bush surrounding the resort. On this last one, we’re led by head ranger Sajith Withanage, who honed his craft in Africa and is a dung whisperer in excelsis.
If its creator’s diet is plant-based, you can touch it, Withanage reveals. If it’s a carnivore, don’t go there. He feels confident with our first inspection, which is porcupine. “It’s like a bush newspaper, the way they lay their dung,” he reveals, believing this example could be a female who is looking for a partner. Withanage isn’t bad on urine either, and sniffing a stain beneath a granite boulder, he declares it as leopard – because, he says, it smells like popcorn.
In the know
Hilton Yala Resort rates start from $745 (Deluxe), $838 (Premium) and $931 (Premium Pool Villa), for two people, including breakfast. Half board and full board (with safari) packages are available.
Yala is about five hours’ drive east of Colombo. The resort can arrange car
hire or transfers.
The best time to vist Yala National Park is during dry season, between February and July, as water levels in the park are quite low.
Jeremy Bourke was a guest of Hilton Yala Resort
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