Mahoora Camps win Certificate of Excellence

Sri Lankan Eco and Adventure Tourism company Eco Team was recently awarded a Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travellers’ guide on the web, which honours top-rated lodging places, restaurants and attractions, on the basis of reviews posted by travellers from across the globe.

“The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence programme gives exceptional businesses in a variety of different industries around the world the recognition they deserve,” said Christine Petersen, President of TripAdvisor for Business. “From top-rated restaurants in Boston to top-rated attractions in Barcelona, we want to applaud these businesses for offering TripAdvisor travellers a great customer experience.”

Commenting on being awarded the Certificate, CEO of Eco Team Anuruddha Bandara said: “With the Mahoora luxury tented safari camps, we have strived to offer our customers a memorable experience, and our attention to detail has paid dividends. We are extremely pleased to be the recipient of the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence since this accolade is evidence that our hard work is translating into positive traveller reviews on TripAdvisor.”

The brand Mahoora, which is uniquely Sri Lankan, is a derivative from the ancient Veddah tribe, the earliest known inhabitants of Sri Lanka. The word Mahoora comes from the Veddah term Maha Hoora, which meant very, very important person (VVIP) or ‘the Great One’ – a fitting name for Eco Team’s Mahoora luxury tented safari experience, which blends service fit for royalty with an indigenous touch amidst the real wilderness.

The tents themselves are handmade locally, using the best raw material and luxuriously fitted out to provide absolute comfort. Each tent has plush wall-to-wall carpeting and includes a living room, bedroom and an en-suite bathroom. The bedroom has comfortable full sized beds covered in the softest linen.

Every little detail, from torches, flashlights and umbrellas to baskets of fresh fruit, is taken care of to ensure that the Mahoora experience is completely hassle free. The Mahoora Team has qualified, experienced chefs who can rustle up any meal, be it gourmet or a simple sandwich, and serve it with panache.

Mahoora provides added options to their safari experience, ranging from specialist naturalist guides to rugged walking extensions. The Mahoora team caters to the wildlife enthusiast and the true adventurer. Sri Lanka’s ‘Big Five’ – the leopard, Asian elephant, sloth bear, blue whale and the sperm whale – are some of the tours available for guests. ‘The Gathering’ of elephants in Minneriya (Kaudulla) National Park is the largest annually recurring concentration of wild elephants in the world listed on Lonely Planet’s Top Ten wildlife spectacles. Sri Lanka’s Kalpitiya Peninsula is among the Top Ten sites in the world for sighting the sperm whale.

Eco Team, the owning Company of Mahoora Camps, has developed an Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy as a guide to this exotic journey. Mahoora contributes 1% of the revenue to the Sri Lanka wilderness foundation to work on select projects such as the minimising of leopard deaths due to the human-leopard conflict.

The camps, apart from being a world-class luxury tented safari experience, also contribute directly to the team’s conservation efforts to protect the island’s natural habitats and endangered species, while in addition contributing towards uplifting the rural community tourism initiatives supported by Mahoora.

The CEO of Eco Team said: “Mahoora aims to lead by example and we ensure that the business has long-term benefits for the communities we operate within, the environment and customers. The philosophy of Mahoora is to develop and promote, ethical, responsible and sustainable luxury tented holidays, thereby creating jobs and income for our communities and at the same time minimising the impact on the environment and the planet’s resources.”

He says that Mahoora is perfect for a cross section of adventure seeking holidaymakers ranging from honeymooners, photographers, film makers and families or even individuals looking for a short, invigorating break.

“Sri Lanka has many types of diverse environments within a small land area, perhaps more than any other location in the world of comparable size. It is possible that no country can match Sri Lanka for its combination of big game safari animals, blue and sperm whales, rainforests, a high species density and a well-developed tourism infrastructure. As far as islands are concerned, it is ‘The Ultimate Island Safari.’”