Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya Beach Resort is located within the peninsula of sandy stretch of land about 30 miles long and 4-5 miles wide with Indian Ocean to the west & Puttalama lagoon to the east. Within the lagoon are 14 islands of varied sizes. Across the lagoon to the east in the mainland is the beautiful beach of Thambapanni (Puttalama) where the founder of the island nation, Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers arrived from Bengal, East India in 543 B.C. The sun set is spectacular over the horizon, no matter where in the Kalpitiya Beach Resort you are. You could on a boat trip up the lagoon or canoe trip down the river or a jeep drive along the sand dunes. Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya Beach is of numerous and diverse attractions: sea turtles, dolphins, whale, a Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary, lagoons, botanical gardens, virgin forests, fauna and flora, mangroves, swamps, salt marshes, bar reefs, flat coastal plains and saltpans and exotic bird life.
Whale, Dolphin and Dugong Watching Kalpitiya is located at the mouth of the Puttalam Lagoon, beyond which is the Gulf of Mannar where you can observe whales and dolphins, as they pass by to their mating grounds.
Within the lagoon, there are several largish islands that can be visited by boat. In the shallow waters around these islands and elsewhere in the gulf lives the dugong, the mysterious and elusive marine mammal that is believed to have spawned the legend of the mermaid. The largest specimens are supposed to come from the Kalpitiya area, for as James Emerson Tennent remarks in Ceylon (1859): One of the most remarkable animals on the coast is the plant eating dugong, numbers of which are attracted to the inlets, from the bay of Calpentyn (Kalpitiya) to Adam’s Bridge, by the still water and the abundance of marine algae in these parts of the gulf. One, which was killed in Mannar and sent to me in Colombo in 1847, measured upwards of seven feet in length, but specimens considerably larger have been taken at Calpentyn.
Scuba Diving and Snorkeling The largest coral reef in Sri Lanka “Bar Reef” is only an hour by boat from Kalpitiya. This beautiful reef is home to an incredible variety of tropical fish, manta rays, reef sharks and the occasional turtle.
Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya Beach Dutch Bay Island location
Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Island is located close to where Portugal bay meets Dutch bay of the Kalpitiya peninsula of the Puttalama lagoon in the north western coastal belt of beautiful island of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya peninsula is a sandy stretch of land about 30 miles long and 4-5 miles wide with Indian ocean to the west & Puttalama lagoon to the east. Across the lagoon to the east in the mainland is Thambapanni (Puttalama) where the founder of the island nation, Prince Vijaya & his 700 followers arrived from Bengal, East India in 543 B.C. The Dutch Bay Island was so named by the Dutch colonialists (1656-1796), who captured the Portuguese Fort at Kalpitiya to engage in trade of arecanuts & salt, the products of the region.
Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Island significance Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya peninsula is also a marine sanctuary: a spectrum of diverse habitats consists of bar reefs, mangrove swamps, salt marshes flat coastal plains, saltpans and vast sand dune beaches. The area has been earmarked by the government of Sri Lanka for high-end tourism of Sri Lanka Holidays.
Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Resorts Development Sri Lanka Holidays ‘Dutch Bay Resorts’ in the supremely serene coastal area of Kalpitiya peninsula will be open for the tourists on the 11. 11. 2011 at 11.11 a.m. The foundation stone of the Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Resorts, spread over1600 hectares, was laid on 9. 9. 2009 at the premises secured by the Six Senses group in the year 2008.
Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Resorts accommodation 60 luxurious mangrove boutique chalets are designed to be built within the inland water bodies while the 20 two storey Signature Villas are designed to be set up in the Lagoon itself.
Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Resorts developer Six Senses, a renowned international hospitality chain has closed ranks with and ‘Swarna Dweep’ the hospitality developers based in Bahrain. ‘Dutch Bay Resorts’, an up-market luxury resort ( 6 star) of hideaway boutique chalets and the Signature villas will be managed by Six Senses under the commercial name ‘Six Senses Hideaway at Dutch Bay’.
Sri Lanka Holidays comments by few good men at the top “The location is pure, untouched Sri Lankan beauty; tapping into new local destinations would create still more reasons for tourists to travel to the island.” Minister of Tourism Promotion in Sri Lanka, Faizer Mustapha “It’s wonderful for Sri Lanka Tourism to tap into previously unexploited holiday destinations within the country” Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau “This would also help in realizing the goal set by the President of 2.5 million tourists by 2016; especially because we only have 17,000 rooms as opposed to the 5,000 more needed to host such a capacity.” Minister of Tourism Promotion in Sri Lanka, Faizer Mustapha “The price range of the new hotel would start at USD 350 for smaller chalets while larger villas will cost approximately USD 800-1000.” Neil de Silva, Chairman of Dutch Bay Resorts.
Sri Lanka Holidays Dutch Bay Resorts is the first development project within “Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Development Project”, the mega tourism project of Sri Lanka In September 2008, The Ministry of Tourism, Sri Lanka declared on its plans to launch an ambitious project (total investment:US$4 billion; number of islets:14; allocated length of 30 mile long peninsula: 8 miles; acerage: 4000 acres; number of rooms: 4000-5000; service: 4-6 personnel per room to guarantee luxury service) named ‘Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Development Project’, a public private partnership (PPP) to begin in 2009 & to have it developed within 5 years, to attract ‘ultra-rich’ tourists to the luxury accommodations in the Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Region with golf courses, amusement parks, observation towers and even a full-fledged international airport for which an airstrip has already been mapped out in Palavi close to the naval base. The project that could be identified with the mini city concept will have expanded infrastructure facilities: road development, electricity, hospitals and condominiums.
Sri Lanka Holidays Dreamweavers with sustainable Tourism According to Mr. Prasad Galhena, project director of Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Development, the whole project is completely eco-friendly with sustainable power generation and consumption, green technology, green building design. The islands will feature luxury accommodations and condominiums. “We hope to impose mandatory requirements, such as the growing of vegetables and fruits for the resort by people in the adjoining areas, which would invariably benefit and uplift living standards of local residents as well” Mr. Neil De Silva, Chairman, Dutch Bay Resorts.
Sri Lanka Holidays caution: possible loss of water layer below the soil Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya peninsula is also a freak of nature. It has no rock surface underlying the soil. What it has below the soil is sea. For centuries rain has filtered through the sand forming a layer of fresh water. The development of Kalpitiya peninsula mustn’t end with loss of fresh water layer.
Swarana Dweep meaning Golden Island in Sanskrit to the front at Kalpitiya Swarna Dweep is a Public Limited Company established by Norwich International Consultants together with a team of highly qualified Europeans and a Sri Lankan Entrepreneur currently operating in Europe and the Middle East. Swarna Dweep has been established in Sri Lanka under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007. Swarna Dweep will focus on the development of world-class, 21st Century sustainable Tourism, Real Estate and Transportation portfolios with a target Internal Rate of Return (IRR) in excess of 21% over the 5 year term of the equity fund in the current market conditions. Swarna Dweep will operate a close ended fund denominated in US Dollars and already has approval from the Sri Lankan Government Board of Investment (BOI) to repatriate the funds with a 15 year tax holiday.
Sri Lanka Holidays Kalpitiya Beach has the added incentive of having Sri Lanka Holidays Willpattu National Park next to it in the mainland.
SRI LANKA HOLIDAYS TARGET 2.5 million by 2006
"As we have assisted the Tourism Industry through its most difficult period, I now assure the industry of every effort and all resources to meet a target of 2.5 million tourists by 2016.
While developing Hambantota, Kalpitiya and Arugam Bay as major tourist resorts, we can now add Passikudah and Trincomalee, up to Kokilai Lagoon in the East, and many locations in the North too, as part of the Uthuru Vasanthaya – the development agenda for the North.
As we have assisted the Tourism Industry through its most difficult period, I now assure the industry of every effort and all resources to meet a target of 2.5 million tourists by 2016.
While developing Hambantota, Kalpitiya and Arugam Bay as major tourist resorts, we can now add Passikudah and Trincomalee, up to Kokilai Lagoon in the East, and many locations in the North too, as part of the Uthuru Vasanthaya – the development agenda for the North."
His Excellency Don Mahendra Percy Rajapakse, the Hero of Modern Sri Lanka, 2009
Amra Kara? (Who are we?) Bastuhara (We are the dispossessed) Bengali novelist Amitav Ghosh: "The Hungry Tide" The Author of "The Glass Palace" & "Sea of Poppies"
Big Buddha & Little I: my inspiration from Buddhism. Written by bunpeiris. Robert Knox, escaping in 1679 from a long captivity among the Sinhalese, had brought home stories of “a world of hewn stone pillars” he had passed during his flight through Anuradhapura. His narrative was printed in 1817. Nearly a century & a half after Knox’s journey, a pioneer officer, Lieutenant Mitchell Henry Fagan of the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, forcing his way through almost impenetrable undergrowth in 1820 had come face to face with a colossal statue gazing out at him from the foliage: Gal Vihara. A colossal figure of Buddha cut from a granite wall was most serenely gazing at him from out of the foliage. "I cannot describe what I felt at that moment," he wrote. Neither could I when I first saw the great statues at the tender age of 8. It was like dream that you dream when just about to wake up. And you wake up with the dream & still on a cloud. But the upright Big Buddha most definitely smiled at me. Am I dreaming? No, Big Buddha smiled again.
Since then, for a decade, I had been traveling yearly with my maternal grandfather who used to take all his relations & friends numbering around 30 for pilgrimage of fortnight at his expense on yearly basis during his prosperous days. Imagine 4 a.m. Lakshpatiya, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, late 1960s, young & old relations & friends all in full swing, pilgrim mode, spellbinding stories of village serpent medic Grand uncle Romeal (still tall and as straight as an arrow in Clint Eastwood style), Pol mal (coconut fronds), Ebert Silva passenger bus, Buddhist Homage Gathas (Thunyam sarane), large metal cauldrons & large clay pots, stuff & goods, baskets & sacks, dhal & dry fish, spices & local Palm honey sweet. How do you begin to write, how do you end writing ... I have no idea. My father (Baminaheennadige Donald Benedict Peiris, Lakshapatiya Rd., Moratuwa read "THERE'S A KIND OF HUSH" in www.bunpeiris.com) had been warning my maternal grandfather against excessive advertisements. Headstrong & flamboyant to the boot, my maternal grand father (Prangige Silmon Peter Peiris Gunaratne, Lakshapatiya, Moratuwa) had a devil may care attitude & paid scent respect to book keeping. Somebody had been following his two page advertisements in newspapers, musical advertisement at 11 am on Radio Ceylon: Aswaya gone tik tik. (then kids hit song Come’n Let’s ride the horse) Kumara Shanthiya (meaning Blessings to the Prince in Sanskrit) sure-fire Ayurvedic medication syrup of infants, toddlers, the tender young for all stomach upsets. The high flying stalwart was destined, most unfortunately, to have his wings clipped. Another decade later, the greatest spoil sport of all time, Department of Inland Revenue of Ceylon made Ayu. Dr. Prangige Silmon Peter Peiris Gunaratne of Sri Vijaya Oushada Shalwa (Shri Vijaya Medical Hall, next to Vijitha Cinema, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka) bankrupt. How the mighty have fallen! Like an enormous tree that gave shade to all who came. My flamboyant philanthropist grandfather who had a couple of 1 Shri licence plate British made Austin Cambridge cars & a sizeable property of lands & houses lost all. The concept of Sri Lanka Holidays commenced forming in the hearts of hearts. Another decade later when I remarked I would love to set up luxury tour operations to draw in foreign tourists to show off my land & name the tour package Peter Peiris Fortnight, my father chuckled that my maternal grandfather would turn in his grave: his was charity pilgrimage with no pretensions of comforts at all; my dreams were of luxury travel with a view to profit. Not exactly, this is Sri Lanka Holidays, the Total Holiday Experience, I protested. I went on pushing my point. All the same, it’s a fair deal, I take my country to them, or rather bring them to my land, I argued. I reveal for them to revel with Sri Lanka Holidays. The concept of Sri Lanka Holidays commenced simmering in my mind. In time, my grandfather was to provide me the inspiration to compose 108 web page website on Sri Lanka with great emphasis on the numerous Buddhist cultural attractions of the Island. Unlike the German tourists, the British tourists seek for touring holiday packages with cultural orientation. After all it was them who rediscovered the lost cities of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa & Sigiriya of Sri Lanka Holidays. I am still striving to get a steady stream of British tourists. Everything will be fine in another couple of years: Riolta Lanka Holidays presents Sri Lanka Holidays Peter Peiris Fortnight. We reveal for you to revel with SRI LANKA HOLIDAYS. bunpeiris
It is not up to you to finish the work. But neither are you free not to take it up. (Avot 2:16) 'Write & record" His dying message to fellow Jews by Simon Dubnow, an aged Jewish historian who was shot dead by the Nazis in Latvia in 1949.
