Heritance Ahungalla

 
Christmas Vacation to Heritance Ahungalla. Beautiful suite with a huge balcony overlooking the sea. Gorgeous sunsets, cool breeze, excellent food. great family time. The Chefs came to chat with us, and took us to their secure storage area, where their award winning masterpieces submitted to world culinary competitions were stored.

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Ministry of Crab

 

The inception of Ministry of Crab is attributed to an episode of Chef Dharshan Munidasa’s TV show “Culinary Journeys with Dharshan”, which featured the Sri Lankan Lagoon Crab, showcasing how it was sourced in Sri Lanka and exported to Singapore to be made into the famous Singapore Chilli Crab. It was during the course of this shoot that the initial idea of creating a crab restaurant was born, as a culinary homecoming for this majestic crustacean, which had long been more renowned overseas than in Sri Lanka.

Situated at the historic Dutch Hospital in the heart of Colombo, the restaurant has great ambiance

Cricketing legends Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara who were close friends with Dharshan, stepped in to partner with him, when he put forth the idea for a restaurant dedicated to seafood, giving flight to their own gastronomic ideals. Their dedication towards bringing the restaurant to life by using it as a platform to pay homage to local produce earned all of them the monikers, “Ministers of Crab”.

Ministry of Crab opened its doors for the first time in December 2011!

With Chef Dharshan Munidasa, a really nice guy.

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Yala Safari

 

Yala (යාල) National Park is the most visited and second largest national park in Sri Lanka, bordering the Indian Ocean. The park consists of five blocks, two of which are now open to the public, and also adjoining parks. The blocks have individual names such as, Ruhuna National Park (Block 1), and Kumana National Park or 'Yala East' for the adjoining area. It is situated in the southeast region of the country, and lies in Southern Province and Uva Province. The park covers 979 square kilometres (378 sq mi) and is located about 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Colombo. Yala was designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1900, and, along with Wilpattu was one of the first two national parks in Sri Lanka, having been designated in 1938. The park is best known for its variety of wild animals. It is important for the conservation of Sri Lankan elephants, Sri Lankan leopards and aquatic birds.

There are six national parks and three wildlife sanctuaries in the vicinity of Yala. Among the largest is Lunugamvehera National Park. The park is situated in the dry semi-arid climatic region and rain is received mainly during the northeast monsoon. Yala hosts a variety of ecosystems ranging from moist monsoon forests to freshwater and marine wetlands. It is one of the 70 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Sri Lanka. Yala harbours 215 bird species including six endemic species of Sri Lanka. The number of mammals that has been recorded from the park is 44, and it has one of the highest leopard densities in the world.

The area around Yala has hosted several ancient civilizations. Two important pilgrim sites, Sithulpahuwa and Magul Vihara, are situated within the park. 

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Cinnamon Wild Yala

 

Stayed at The Cinnamon Wild (Chaya Wild) during our visit to the Yala (යාල) National Park. We had a stray elephant make its way right upto the Restaurant where we had our meals.You had to be escorted at night just incase, but we didn't come across anything. I was awakened by dogs barking around 1am. I had quick look outside, only to find a small flock of Wild Boar, (Tuskers, sows and piglets) out in the yard. I was so surprised I forgot to grab the camera. 

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