For travel enthusiasts everywhere, the past year has been an absolute hellscape; nothing has really gone their way and things seemed to get progressively more gray. With two lockdowns and a pandemic that isn’t slowing down, things appeared bleak at best. However, with the vaccine being available and the general public learning to live with the pandemic, things are gradually going back to normal and travellers are once again rearing their heads.
Art of Travel is one such collective of travel enthusiasts making the best of the situation we are all in. Having first launched in 2017, the eco-tour agency was going strong right up until they were forced to slow down in early 2020. However, speaking with Art of Travel (Pvt.) Ltd. Founder and Chairman Wishwa Dewinda, he said that they made efforts to travel even when the first lockdown lifted and then immediately after the second lockdown, starting things up as early as December.
Dewinda stressed, however, that they made sure to stick to all recommended guidelines, commenting that whereas on a usual one-day trip they would accommodate about 24 persons, they reduced their numbers to about 18 people to allow for socially distanced seating, adding that they also take precautions to keep a record of the temperatures of each participant and sanitise regularly.
He also noted that unlike in the pre-pandemic world, they must be better prepared when travelling, as they would now inform the PHI (Public Health Inspector) of their intended destination and the Police that they will be travelling there, and provide them with information on whom they will be travelling with.
Art of Travel was first launched as a result of friends who travelled together deciding to share it with others who may also wish to experience the wonders that Sri Lanka has to offer. Dewinda said that as he was a cadet in school he has always had an affinity towards nature, and travelling out of school was simply a natural progression. And so he has since picked up his one hobby as a fulltime career.
The tour agency not only offers group travel on weekends that range from one-day hikes to camping trips to waterfall hunting, etc., but they also offer personalised trips on request from groups or corporates who wish to have an outbound experience of varying difficulty levels. He said that they grade each experience on a difficulty scale of one to 10, with one being the least difficult, where you can even bring young children along for the experience.
If you wish to experience all corners of the island, have the planning element of your trip be taken off of your hands, and have someone figure out all of the logistics, Art of Travel is just the place for you. Dewinda said that he works with a team of six, out of which there are two constants – Rumesh Chathuranga and photographer Kalpa Jayasinghe, who always accompany him on these tours.
Speaking of some of the more recent adventures they have experienced, and what’s coming up, this Saturday (20) is a trekking expedition in Knuckles which will ideally involve visiting a cave hidden amidst the Knuckles Mountain Range and also a waterfall. The following week, 27 March, he shared that they have a beach camping scheduled in Panama, visiting Arugam Bay along the way and making a stop at Kumana National Park. If this is not to your taste, they have a scuba diving trip scheduled for 4 April in Unawatuna, complete with a visit to the Lord Nelson Shipwreck and closing things off with a sea bath in Rumassala Jungle Beach.
Facebook: @artoftravellk
WhatsApp: 0761 419 576
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/artotravel/
