Dry Zone
Palmyrah House
Palmyrah House is a beautiful central Mannar Island luxury boutique hotel with easy access to the rest of the island. The hotel consists of fourteen stylish and spacious rooms for maximum comfort.
All rooms are air conditioned, with their own private deck, adjoining bathrooms with hot-and-cold showers, access to WIFI, a television, a desk and additional seating outside on the deck. One of the guest buildings houses six bedrooms, with two on the upper deck and four on the lower deck. In addition, there are four chalets, with two rooms each.
The restaurant is very accommodating. They will tailor make the food for you to your preferences and you can choose to eat your meal either in the restaurant or at your own private deck. The restaurant food is prepared from the freshest ingredients from each day’s sea catch as well as the best organic produce from a local farm.
Facilities
A restaurant and bar, an outdoor pool with a traditional well bath, a gym, a private beach, bicycles and snorkelling equipment for rent, Free WIFI, a library with board games, wheel-chair accessible, en-suite bathrooms with hot/cold showers, complimentary tea & coffee stations, USB charging ports, individually controlled A/C, and front desk tour booking assistance.
Local Wildlife
Bird watching on Mannar island is one of the best spots in Sri Lanka for spotting migratory birds, as well as other animal species. Birdwatching is very popular, particularly from November through to February, during which time the Northern hemisphere winter migrant species make the long hard journey across thousands of kilometres to enjoy the tropical climate of Mannar. In Mannar you will see birds such as Greater Flamingos, Black Tail Godwits, Gargneys, Pintail Ducks, Gulls, Plovers, Terns all in flocks of several hundreds. So many Raptors: White Bellied Sea Eagles, Brahamin Kites, Black Kites, Common Kestrels. In addition you can see Crab Plovers and Pied Avocets.
Wilpattu National Park is about 1 hours drive away and one of the best places to see leopards and barking deers.
Optional Activities
Birdwatching, hire a bike, rent a boat to visit the legendary Adam’s Bridge, relax at the private beach, go fishing around the magnificent Giant’s Tank, go snorkelling amongst the beautiful coral reefs or the seagrass beds found in the surrounding waters. As the winds are strong around Mannar, activities like windsurfing and kitesurfing are highly recommended.
Alan Godwin
Area Specialist
If you have any questions regarding our Sri Lanka tours, please feel free to contact me on +44 (0)1803 866965
Our guide was excellent being knowledgeable, interesting, trustworthy and a good travel companion. I would unhesitatingly recommend him to your future clients. Yala was undoubtedly the highlight of the tour and from a wildlife point of view exceeded our expectations. My wife and I have had a thoroughly enjoyable two weeks in Sri Lanka. Everything ran smoothly and there were no major faults. Astounding scenery and wildlife, friendly people and delicious food.
We will certainly consider using Reef and Rainforest again. Thank you for putting together a wonderful itinerary which covered all our needs in the time available. A return visit to see other parts of the island will be on our list!
