Belihuloya – Sri Lanka's No 1. Nature and Activity Location

Belihuloya – Sri Lanka's No 1. Nature and Activity Location

BELIHUL OYA, a very picturesque little hamlet renowned for its Eco, Adventure tourism opportunities, is situated in the “Sabaragamuwa” province of Sri Lanka, approximately 160 km from Colombo. This beautiful hillside location is a climatically transitional area, linking both the dry and wet zones and the hill and low country at an altitude of less than 1500m. As a result, the vegetation consists of moist semi-evergreen forests, tropical savanna forests, dry patana grasslands and montane temperate forests, making it one of the richest bio-diversity spots in Sri Lanka – a perfect location for nature lovers.  RIVER GARDEN NATURE & ADVENTURE RELATED ACTIVITY CENTRE - BELIHUL OYA provides an ideal base for a wide range of nature and adventure related activities. Try anything from trekking across the Horton Plains (the HORTON PLAINS mountain range is visible from the River Garden restaurant itself) to canoeing in the ‘Samanalawewa' reservoir. Whatever it is you want to do, we can help you do it! In addition to the accommodation options we offer, RIVER GARDEN  has an excellent restaurant serving Sri Lankan and International cuisine, a well-stocked bar, doctor on call, left luggage facilities, mini library, and extensive tourist information.

Client's Testimonials

Mr Yasantha Sorry for the delayed response.Im sure you have been eager to find out about my trip. Im very happy to say that i was very happy with the whole trip! Right from the start at the River garden resort to the cycling, it was thrilling to say the least! I came back with every muscle in my body hurting but all the fun made it worth the pain!The guides were all very friendly and helpful, the food was amazing,better than i'v had anyway in the city and the general overall service of you team extremely pleasant. I would not think twice about recommending your tours to anyone.Im happy to say that of the various tours that i have taken up with various agents here, Ecoteam takes the top spot and should be seeing a lot of me for more tours. I'm trying to take my whole family on a similar package .  If possible, i would like a quotation from you  as follows, Would like to know the cost of the bungalow and meals for about 10 people. Meals would be lunch, dinner and breakfast the following morning.Also the rates for the tents in case some would prefer the tents. We wont need the hiking and cycling activities as my uncles and aunts are too old for it but might try a bit of canoeing. I basically want to give them a night out in the peace and quiet.If you could give me a quote with and without transport to compare and decide. Your response would be much appreciated. Rasa Tharmaratnam

"The visit to Belihuloya was definitely a very enjoyable experience. A very frank opinion is given below. I hope it will help you to improve service Overall I will give a A+.  We all enjoyed the trek and camping. It was a new experience for the kids and some of the adults and it was a lot of fun. The staff  and the guides was helpful and friendly. The quality of food was very good, we enjoyed the Lunch at Kinhigune and the B B Q at River Garden Hotel. We all have very good memories of the holiday and we definitely plan book more adventures with you in the future"

You know guys a lot of people pass ‘Belihuloya’ as just another town on the Colombo Badulla road. The most they would do is stop at the rest house and have a dip in the cool waters of the Belihuloya that flows next to it. But how many actually realise that there is this amazing eco culture that surrounds the Belihuloya? I think we have Eco team to thank for bringing this marvellous location to the limelight. The nature trail from Kinchigune to Belihuloya was probably the best time we've had in our whole lives. The trekker was so patient with us amateur trekkers and never grumbled when we kept calling him to help take off the leeches who seemed passionate about us. We loved the walk through the shrub jungle and through the paddy fields and crossing the river at several points was sooo cool. The last crossing where we had water up to our wastes and the current was so strong was amazing. I have to admit there was a single moment where I felt scared but the trekker was obviously a Pro and calmed our fears instantly. He didn’t seem to mind going out of his way take us off the beaten track to see a small waterfall and was so patient with us when we wanted to stop at almost every mushroom to take pictures:-) By the way we found a range of mushrooms (fascinating for photography) and countless butterflies and heard a myriad of bird sounds though we could not spare the hours to sit and watch them. The fauna and flora right throughout the trek was brilliant and it’s not surprising that Dileep ended up taking more than 500 photos :-) The canoeing in the Samanalawewa Tank was another novel and super experience…and here too the trekker was so patient and nice that we were able to really enjoy the activity…at first we were blundering with oars but later caught on and managed to paddle quite well. The scenery around us was breathtaking and particular the shadow of the mountain on the water was so pretty and so reminiscent of scenes from Norway (a land of mountains and lakes). Last but not least a mention of the food at River garden Lodge is a must …it was yummy and we really ate like we’ve never eaten before:-) Well I could go on and on... but will stop now. As we spoke to you about directly there were a few hitches in the journey but overall we had a super time. So thank you to you and Eco team (for organising the trip) and especially Pradeep (the manager at the River Garden hotel) and his team for the superb hospitality and food, most specially to Jayasekera the Trekker for his patience and care. Our visit to Belihuloya in December 2009 was a wonderful and rare experience.