Jetwing Vil Uyana

Jetwing Vil Uyana was built on worn out farmland below Sigiriya, and the land came first. Reed beds, lakes, paddy and forest were created over abandoned fields, and the wetland that grew back now supports the elusive fishing cat, purple faced langurs and hundreds of birds. Guests stay in dwellings raised on stilts above it, grouped by habitat: water, paddy, marsh, forest and garden, each private, each with its own plunge pool in the higher categories.

The headline experience is the Loris Night Trail, a red light walk with the resident naturalist in search of the grey slender loris, a nocturnal primate found here in numbers seen almost nowhere else. Days can be spent climbing Sigiriya or Pidurangala at dawn, birding the Rangirigama trail, or watching elephants gather at Minneriya. Dining moves around the reserve, from paddy field breakfasts to farmhouse suppers, and evenings usually end with frogs and fireflies outside the door.