Travellers' Checks | With no flights to Sri Lanka’s white elephant airport, nearby resort offers great golf deal
The Shangri-La Hambantota Resort & Spa was built on the expectation Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport would be fully functioning, but with airlines shunning it, the deals on offer there are worth it for the bird life and the golf
Sri Lanka’s most famous elephant is a white one called Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA). It was opened at enormous expense in March 2013, to serve Hambantota, on the country’s south coast, against the advice of aviation experts and conservationists, who warned against crosswinds and the dangers to elephants and migratory birds.
Several airlines began using the airport, but those crosswinds and birds – including peacocks, many of which have been sucked into engines or splattered against windscreens – and a severe lack of passengers, soon led to a steady pull-out. Earlier this month, flydubai took off from MRIA for the last time, leaving this isolated jungle folly – named after, and widely blamed on, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa – and its 12 check-in desks with apparently no scheduled passenger flights at all, either international or domestic.
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Shangri-La’s Hambantota Resort & Spaopened in mid-2016, a couple of years behind schedule, by which time only two international airlines (flydubai and Rotana Jet) were still serving MRIA. Built in anticipation of there being a fully functioning international airport nearby, the sprawling 58-hectare, 300-room property features an 18-hole golf course and claims to be the largest resort in Sri Lanka.
If you don’t mind a four-hour drive or a seaplane flight down from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, there are many deals on offer, including a “Stay & Play” package that includes unlimited rounds of golf on one of the region’s best (and presumably emptiest) courses from US$200 per night. There is also a safari package that includes half-day trips to two national parks to spot the hopefully still abundant bird life and real elephants – some of which are said to roam around the unused airport when the mood takes them – from US$247 per night.
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