In Sri Lanka’s deep south, the rustic farming villages around Tissamaharama are divided from the teeming animal and bird life of Yala, Sri Lanka’s oldest and second-largest natural reserve, by a belt of semi-protected jungle running down to the sea. For centuries, people have farmed small clearings in the jungle called chena, sleeping beside their crops in modest huts to protect them from hungry elephants. Nestled among dunes and trees at the ocean’s edge, is Chena Huts, a Yala hotel. Overlooking a beach where sea turtles lay eggs by moonlight and elephants wander down from the nearby jungle to play in the surf, Chena Huts is fringed on one landward side by the tropical jungle and on the other by a saline lake where ibises, painted storks and even flamingos may be seen.

Guests at Chena Huts have easy access to the natural wonders. At the small, select property, the ‘huts’ are in fact luxuriously detached, private pavilions with views of the surrounding wilderness and seascape. Guests enjoy fine dining at the Basses restaurant and sip cocktails at the bar. A swimming pool and other amenities for recreation are available.