Cinnamon Nature Trails with Land Rover ‘Explorations’
View(s):‘Explorations’ – launched by Land Rover in collaboration with Cinnamon Nature Trails, the award winning wildlife and adventure tourism division of Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts, held their first event at Yala National Park last weekend. Seven Land Rovers drove in convoy to Yala and based themselves at the Cinnamon Wild Resort, after which the guests ventured out into the park on six game drives in a bid to track one of Yala’s elusive residents, the sloth bear, a release from the Cinnamon Nature Trails said.
‘Trailing Bears’ is the first excursion of the Explorations series, which was designed to capture these shy and elusive animals during the annual “Palu” fruiting season. Armed with DSLR gear and guided by the Cinnamon Nature Trails field team, the Land Rover customers engaged in a series of safaris that yielded a staggering fourteen leopard sightings, two sloth bear sightings and stunning visuals of Yala’s colorful residents. The expedition had a serious focus on photography due in part to Canon Sri Lanka who sponsored the photographic gear for the guests.
Further on, an amazing display of elephant behaviour was to entertain all. A slightly unusual large herd of elephants, with as many as six very young calves, put on a show which challenged even the best leopard images captured during the drives at Yala. Cobras, pythons, and a plethora of dry zone bird life were also on display during the drives. Breathtaking sunsets followed by cloudless clear skies with a million stars made the evenings extra special.
The trip to the Yala national park was truly an adventure for the Land Rover owners and filled with unexpected surprises. Seven Leopard Sightings, within one and a half hours of our second game drive, was unbelievable and the participants were thrilled to have experienced such a rare occurrence. Cocktails followed by the scrumptious bush dinner organized by Cinnamon Wild Yala, concluded the event and garnered unforgettable memories.
‘We see a huge potential in developing Land Rover Explorations together with Cinnamon Nature Trails at Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, to epitomize and enhance the Land Rover and Cinnamon brand value,’ said Sheran Fernando, Managing Director, SML Frontier Automotive. ‘Cinnamon Nature Trails strives to take visitors closer to our natural habitat to admire what’s ours and irreplaceable, treading lightly on where we traverse. This collaboration with Land Rover will create opportunities to create experiences that will not only celebrate wildlife, but also reinforce friendships and interactions amongst all participants, while raising funds for conservation of our wilds’ said Chitral Jayatilake, Head of Eco-Tourism of Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts.
