New look resort:

Lotus Thai

by Chanuka Mannapperuma

There's a tremendous demand for Thai food these days at the Cinnamon Lodge, Habarana perhaps due to exotic flavour.

The General Manager at the Cinnamon Lodge, Sarath Wickramasinghe said, "within a very short period the good demand for Thai food has picked up compared o others. That is when we decided to open the 'Lotus Thai Resort' in our Lodge, with a new look".

"When most of the locals as well as foreigners who checked in where asked about The Thai food, we found it had a good up market crowd.

Elaborating further on the restaurant, he said, that Thai cuisine is considered out of the ordinary among the world's most delicious food, with a unique blend of tastes like hot (spicy), sour (piquant), sweet and topped with citrus (lemon grass and lime).

The restaurant could cater to the number of pax: Restaurant 24 covers, Terrace 16 covers.

One of the special features of the Lotus Restaurant is the lady chef who in incharge. She was in command of one of the six restaurants owned by her family in Thailand, with over twenty years of experience with a balanced taste learnt from her mother.
 

Atmosphere: The Lotus Thai is well, West of center and Thai at heart is located next to Ehela Restaurant in the Cinnamon Lodge with a pool view, the Lotus Thai is a delightful blend of in-town atmosphere.

The Lotus Thai brings you an authentic taste of Thailand complemented with the Chef's personal touch of spice and composition. The staff is sure to deliver the neighbourhood style service with food you'll be coming back for.

Meanwhile, due to popular demand from travellers, the Cinnamon Lodge has recently opened four new suites namely Cedar, Ebony, Ivy and Satin.

[email protected]

Amphibians among the most critically endangered species

Sri Lanka's Red List 2007:

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

Sri Lanka's Red List 2007, a national document formulated by The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in collaboration with the IUNC, Sri Lanka reveals that Sri Lanka and Western Guards ranks sixth of eight of the most vulnerable hot spots in the world. Amphibians are the most critically endangered and vulnerable species in Sri Lanka.
 

Sri Lanka's last Red List was formulated in 1999. A systematic and comprehensive, unique process was adhered to when formulating the 2007 Red List in a bid to make it a national drive to protect Sri Lanka's fauna and flora.

Approximately 1,200 species of Fauna including all vertebrates, butterflies, dragon flies, Fresh water crabs, giant spiders and approximately 1,100 Flora have been included in the study and have been evaluated using scientific criteria in order to find its status.

According to the findings 33 per cent of vertebrates are naturally threatened, 12 per cent of endemic vertebrates are critically endangered, 25 per cent endangered and 14 per cent are vulnerable. It is an alarming situation, one in every three reptiles found in Sri Lanka is threatened and 82 types of freshwater fish of which 38 are endemic.
 

Of the World's most endangered primates in peril,2004-2006 which reveals the world's 25 most endangered primates are Sri Lanka's Western Purple- Faced Langur and the Horton Plains Slender Loris or the Ceylon Mountain Slender Loris says Country representative, IUCN, Shiranee E. Yasaratne.

'Red Listing is IUCN's forte. Raising awareness especially within the private sector and getting them involved in habitat enrichment is the need of the hour. Processing research, policy making, education and using research findings to find out what needs to be done at different levels after analysis are very important.

The 2007 Red List is a very unique and comprehensive document which sensitizes the private sector, getting them involved in the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) of the issue. Conservation action and prioritizing the grey areas that need to be addressed first is very important,' she said.

As for the Western Purple-faced Langur, it is endemic to Sri Lanka being that it is restricted to a small area of the wet zone in the west of the country.

Threatened due to factors such as infrastructure, industry, settlements, deforestation and forest fragmentation the Western Purple-faced Langur is found to be endemic to Sri Lanka due to extremely disturbed habitats.

The Horton Plains Slender Loris or the Ceylon Mountain Slender Loris, spindly nocturnal primates, characterized by short soft fur, no tails, long limbs and wonderful and enormous eyes are also endemic to the critically endangered rainforests of Sri Lanka.

According to W. W. Phillips, an expert on Sri Lanka's mammals wrote that the Ceylon Mountain Slender Loris 'would appear to be the rarest of all mammals in Sri Lanka. In fact only four confirmed sightings have been made since 1937 despite several recent systematic surveys.

[email protected]