Come third week of May, when the Wesak full moon adorns the sky, Sri Lanka will turn into an array of colour and light. Each village home lights up with lanterns, oil lamps and decorations to signify the most colourful festival of Sri Lanka, when Buddhists prepare to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and the death of Gautama The Buddha.

In the cities, apart from the home decorations, glittering lights creating tapestries of designs adorn ‘Pandols’, erected at vantage points. Pandols are large structures that combine traditional painting and glittering lights to unfold stories of The Buddha’s past births, the ‘Jathaka Stories’.

Sri Lanka Tourism this year will join industry partners to organize celebrations in Bentota and Beruwela areas with pagents, Wesak ‘Kuudu’ decoration competitions and other exciting events to highlight both the cultural and philosophical aspects of the Wesak festival. Events connected with the celebrations are designed to involve the community whose main livelihood is closely linked to tourism.

Hotels all around the country will also light up for the occasion, offering guests special Wesak tours to temples and other places of significance on the full moon day, for them to observe Sri Lankan lifestyle features at its best.

We invite our readers to make the best use of this unique opportunity, each year to come join in the celebration of ‘Wesak’ in Sri Lanka.  

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Last week saw two of Sri Lanka’s leading clothing manufacturers Brandix Lanka and MAS Holdings ‘Green factories’ being opened by CEO of  the British retail giant Marks and Spencer’s - Sir Stuart Rose.

Brandix which was the largest apparel exporter in 2007 converted a 30 year old factory at the cost US$ 2.5 million in seven months to achieve a reduction of carbon emission by 75%, an energy saving of 45%, and a decrease in water consumption by 60%.

MAS ‘Thurulie ‘ -  a US$ 7 million investment will also conserve energy with  extensive use of daylight, green roofs with vegetation on top and court yards with wide arrays of green belts for cooling – the saving to be around 40% on electricity. By capturing rain water and waste water management system for sanitation 50% reduction in water usage is also expected. 

Another garment factory, belonging to the Hirdaramani Group, is also scheduled to “ Go Green” later this year and it is expected that others will follow further promoting Sri Lanka’s image as a carbon clean destination.       

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Fashion divas from India : reigning Miss India for Miss World Parvathy Omanakuttan , Femina Miss India for Miss Earth –Tanvi Vyas, Miss Israel and other beauties will walk the ramp at the ‘Colombo Vogue Life Styles Weekend’ which is on May 30th , 31st and 1st June. A multi faceted event, it will also feature a fusion music concert titled Mantra on the 30th featuring flautist Bikram Singh, Pradeep Rathnayake, Harsha Makaland and Ravibandu Vidyapathi. They will together produce an album titled ‘Preserve Planet Earth’ the proceeds of which too will go towards the project ‘Green Cover’.  

  ‘Green Cover’ is a venture of Rotary Clubs of Colombo Regency and Kandy, undertaken on an initiative by Sri Lanka Tourism, to plant 10 million trees over the next five years. ‘Green Cover’ is enthused by the ‘Tourism’s Earth Lung : towards a Carbon Clean Sri Lanka’ programme of Sri Lanka Tourism.  Rotary proposes to go beyond the five years and inspire global organizations to join in and make it a worldwide project.  Speaking of plans, Project chairman Rtn Chidamabaram Subramaniam said “When the project goes global, 10 million which seems huge now, will seem like nothing”.

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Dragonfly and Damselfly watching is the latest attraction drawing ‘Eco Travellers’ to Sri Lanka according to environmentalist Gehan de S Wijeyeratne who has already run three dragon fly watching expeditions to Talngama wetlands between April 2007 and March 2008.

Sri Lanka’s position as a country rich in bio diversity is confirmed  in the scientific journal Hydrobiologia where Vincent Kalkman and team in a paper on:  Global diversity of dragonflies (Odonata) in freshwater, says “ Although at present there is no sound basis for identifying the most important areas of endemism, it goes without question that the faunas of the islands of New Guinea, Sulawesi , Sri Lanka and Madagascar are exceptionally rich in endemics” For more details visit www.jetwingeco.com or write to  gehan@jetwing.lk or eco@jetwing.lk

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The Turtle Conservation Project (TCP) of Sri Lanka won accolade, at the 8th World Global Travel and Tourism Summit in Dubai last week, when the WTTC announced the   ‘Tourism for Tomorrow - 2008’ awards. TCP were joint finalists with Grootbos Nature Reserve, South Africa, in the Conservation category with the winner being Eco Tourism Australia.

In other categories :  The Destination Award - Blackstone Valley, USA;  Investor  in People Award - RARE / La Ruto Moskitia, Honduras; Global Tourism Business Award - Six Senses Resorts and Spas, Thailand and Global.

During the official ceremony, the chairman of the awards committee Costas Christ, a world expert on sustainable tourism, said “Twenty years ago sustainable tourism was just an idea, now it is entering the Travel &Tourism mainstream as more companies embrace new innovations demonstrating environmentally-friendly operations, a commitment to safeguarding the cultural and natural heritage of our planet, and addressing poverty alleviation through enlightened business practices. The winners of the 2008 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards are helping to lead the way forward at a transformative moment in the history of modern travel."

Sri Lanka Calling congratulates all winners and finalists for their award winning contribution to sustainable tourism.

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‘Women’s Asia Cup 2008’ cricket tournament  commences on 2nd May at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium where Sri Lanka will meet Pakistan and the Bangladesh team faces strong contenders to the trophy India at the Welagedera Stadium in Kurunegala. The only new comer to the tournament is Bangladesh having qualified after winning the Asian cricket Council Tournament last year.

Defending champions India has won on all three previous tournaments and is confident of a fourth victory. The Sri Lankan team has practised hard and a confident skipper Sashikala Siriwardena said “ We have a new strategy and we will give a good fight and I want to win it this time; its more poignant as its being played on home ground”

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With only six months of training at the ‘Foundation of Goodness Sports Academy’ swimming pool, 18 year old Amilal Danushka, competed at the Novices Aquatic Championships in Colombo and bagged the Gold in the 50 metre free style category.   

Congratulations go out to Amila and his mentors in Seenigama for showcasing Sri Lankan resilience to adversity. We are proud to tell of you to the world. 

Taking on Asia’s best racing drivers, Dilantha Malagamuwa, reigning Malaysia Super Car Champion, clinched two second places at the Asian GT 4  Shanghai Formula 1 track in China driving a brand new Aston Martin.

Sri Lanka flag sporting Malgamuwa was a close second to Singapore’s Ringo Chong the winner and was ahead of Mevyn Choo who finished 3rd .

Our best wishes go out to Malgamuwa as he races forward earning a place for Sri Lanka in the world of Formula Racing.