“It is dawn on the fringes of Yala National Park and I’m in my tented suite waiting for the plunge pool to be drained. In fact, I’ve been awake for hours, with window blinds up, restlessly scanning the swallowing thickness of this warm Sri Lankan night before flopping back into bed. Now before you think I’m some over-demanding clean freak, let me explain: it’s not a pool boy I’m expecting, but an elephant.

I’m among the first guests at the new Wild Coast Tented Lodge, where elephants are regular plunge-pool guzzlers. Only four of these super-swish tents have private pools (I’m in one of them), and at night the animals steal along the sand dunes to drink them dry. Some even nosy into the restaurant,… (Read More)