Scattered through the scrub forest above Yala's boulder-strewn coastline, the twenty-eight structures of Wild Coast Tented Lodge were designed to disappear. Nomadic Resorts, led by Olav Bruin with Freddie Catlow, Inma Cantero, Oana Tudose, and Julian Klaus Trummer, arranged the camp in the outline of a leopard's paw print, a formal decision that only makes sense from altitude. From the ground, the white arched Cocoon tents read as outcrops of smooth stone, their scalloped canvas forms echoing the granite boulders that punctuate the site. The main pavilions take a different approach entirely: great domes clad in reclaimed teak shingles, their broad arched openings framing the pool and the tree canopy beyond, their interiors lined with a lattice of sustainable bamboo that filters afternoon light into something warm and amber. The bamboo chandelier above the bar, suspended in clustered vertical tubes, won the UNESCO Prix Versailles for World's Best Restaurant Design in 2018. Bo Reudler Studio furnished the Cocoon interiors with the sensibility of a well-traveled colonial study transported into the jungle: four-poster beds draped in sheer muslin, leather campaign chairs, Persian-style rugs in deep indigo laid over warm timber floors. Circular porthole windows cut into the curved walls frame views of the surrounding forest at eye level, reinforcing the sense of looking out from within a natural shell. The effect is intimate without feeling confined, the domed ceiling pulling upward while the furnishings hold the room close.

1hr drive from Weerawila airport (WRZ); 4hr 30min - 5hr 30min drive from Colombo airport (CMB)

Wild Coast is part of the Resplendent Ceylon “best of Sri Lanka” circuit, created by the family-owned​ Dilmah Tea Company. Three Relais & Chateaux resorts; Tea Trails, Cape Weligama & Wild Coast Tented Lodge, form an enchanting "Route de Bonheur (Happiness)" from tea fields to clifftop beach & safari lodge. Wild Coast Tented Lodge sits on a rugged beach on the edge of Yala National Park, where the jungle meets the Indian Ocean. 28 vaulted Cocoons & Urchin tents offer the comfort of a luxury hotel with the excitement of a raw wilderness experience. The open-air bamboo-clad Den and Dining Pavilion – designed to mirror the boulders scattered across the golden beach beyond – wrap around the free-form swimming pool. Guests can enjoy creative daily-changing menus of authentic Sri Lankan cuisine and sundowner cocktails and picnics al fresco on the sand dunes, watching dusk settle over the Indian Ocean.