From the translucent ripples of Taru Villas Villu’s private plunge pools, a faint call to prayer can often be heard drifting dreamily into earshot, mingling with the low trill of neon-green frogs, under a wash of bronze sky as the sun sinks lazily into the bush. Lazy afternoons spent wrapped in 10 acres of scenic nature at the hotel’s secluded grounds are the ideal tonic to the 5am wake-up calls that mark the beginning of a bumpy game drive through Sri Lanka’s largest national park, Wilpattu. After monsoonal downpours, the indescribably beautiful park, which encompasses sand dunes, mirror-shine water bodies, and bright red-dirt tracks, smells fresh and earthy with delicate kora-kaha (blue mist flowers) clinging to low scrubland bushes, emitting a fragrance so whimsically delicate it’s impossible not to be enamoured. Elsewhere, dried-up lion’s ear plants, typically brewed into medicinal tea, and snowberry bushes add to the cinematic feel of the park where leopards prowl, and Asian paradise flycatchers flit alongside white rumped shamas.
In close proximity to the lesser-used Eluvankulama entrance of the park, Taru Villas Villu is an architectural marvel comprising just seven luxurious chalets where nature is celebrated at every turn. Bedrooms are spacious with well-placed mirrors and windows from where the natural world can be seen from every angle – a concept used frequently by the late Geoffrey Bawa (Sri Lanka’s best-loved architect, known for his tropical modernism aesthetic). Bathrooms feature double vanities and deep-soak bathtubs big enough for two, as well as some of the most incredible bath products, fragranced with cinnamon and orange essential oils.
A twice-weekly barbecue, served on an above-river outdoor deck from where elephants can occasionally be seen, is a highlight. And it’s worth leaving the chalet’s drapes open at night to watch hundreds of fireflies put on a show by the pool, and later be transfixed by the open expanse of sky as it becomes aglow with the silvery twinkling stars of the Milky Way.
Address: 635/1, Eluwankulama, Wilpattu, Sri Lanka
