Eco Team is a pioneering eco and adventure tourism company that has, over the years, embarked on a journey to become the most sought-after specialist in wildlife tourism and experiential travel.  Founded in the year 2000 by entrepreneur, niche tourism specialist, management trainer and adventurer Anuruddha Bandara, the company, in its two decades of operation, has set itself apart, as they’ve so very proudly talked the talk and most certainly walked the walk when it comes to their eco-friendly label and sustainable practices.  Eco Team’s responsible tourism ethos and values have remained unchanged from its humble beginnings, with the focus being on community benefit and partnerships, conservation through tourism, minimising carbon emission, and preserving local values and culture. With multiple specialised accommodation brands under its umbrella, Eco Team features incredibly unique tented accommodations and lodges. As a pioneer in the mobile tented safari camp concept in Sri Lanka, with its history dating back to 1998, Eco Team has four unique “glamping” – glamorous camping – brands under its wings, it is the largest tented camp operator in the country, and in 2012 it was recognised at the world’s first mobile Carbon Neutral Tented Safari Camp . Speaking to Founder Anuruddha Bandara about Eco Team’s dedication to contributing to eco-friendly travel in Sri Lanka, he shared that Eco Team has always been unafraid to take one step further. With their glamping properties all being situated in land adjacent to the national parks – Mahoora by Eco Team are camps situated on the border of Sri Lanka’s most popular National Parks, Yala, Udawalawe, and Wilpattu, including also Explorer by Eco Team, Ahaspokuna by Eco Team, Big Game by Eco Team for glamping on a budget, and Funky Leopard by Eco Team situated on the border of Yala National Park largely for backpackers – Bandara shared that they’ve taken measures to ensure that they minimise their carbon footprint to the best of their abilities.  Particularly with the properties adjacent to Yala, Udawalawe, and Wilpattu, he said that the land is maintained as mini nature reserves, a good percentage of the operations reliant on solar power and absolutely no single use plastics; with an emphasis on recycling and limiting their carbon emissions, they’ve vowed to maintain their carbon neutral status.    [caption id="attachment_147124" align="alignright" width="307"] Anuruddha Bandara[/caption] The Eco Team Ethos and its founder  Bandara shared that Eco Team believes that requirements and expectations of world travellers have changed rapidly and have become more unique. As a result, tourism providers are no longer in a position to offer pre-packaged mass products to clients. The need of the hour is to find the smallest of niches and provide customised tour solutions. Following the exponential success experienced by Eco Team, Bandara stated that he went on to team up with extremely talented individuals from Sri Lanka and overseas to establish two Destination Management Companies – Encounters Asia and Experiential Journeys – to cater to a high-end experiential travel and mid-range local experience-based travel seekers. Prior to founding the Eco Team group, Bandara shared that his life was vastly different, having worked as a Trainee Executive in a leading insurance company and rising up to the ranks of Sales Manager, he said that his typical career path back in the late ‘90s included everything from Water Cooler Talks to Sales Calls. Bandara said that finding his calling in life is what lead him to creating Eco Team, commenting that his journey started with an idea that wasn’t present in Sri Lanka, he said that at the time the closest accommodations available to Udawalawe National Park was all the way in Embilipitiya, which was at least a 45-minute commute. While nowadays there are hundreds of acumination’s available, to take your picks back then this was largely an untapped idea, and having noticed the gap in the market he went on to first launch Mahoora Luxury Safari Camps in 1998, which then was expanded upon, moving to other areas of adventures, setting up camps in other wildlife locations, and finally two years later Eco Team was born. Bandara lamented however that they were primarily tourism focused in their approach, with an initial assumption that there may not be a big enough local market for this concept, he said that they went ahead and focused their energies on garnering a foreign clientele and while it worked out for them quite well, having been thrust in the midst of the pandemic they soon felt the detriment of not having made more effort in the local market. However, having a unique concept with the services to back it up, Eco Team was quite smoothly able to transition into appealing to the local audience. He shared that they did indeed have to make some adjustments, including some primary changes in their upfront packages which were originally all inclusive experiential tours to suit someone visiting Sri Lanka looking to absorb all that we have to offer, whereas for a local the experience they are looking for is slightly different, and so they have since made adjustments to their offers where they have some options without all the frills to suit local adventure seekers. Bandara shared that the allure of glamping is really not only for foreign guests, the novelty of sleeping under the canopy, in the wilderness while also having access to indoor plumbing and hot water is something that is appealing to a whole host of experience seekers, especially considering how camping is known to be a rewarding yet difficult experience where one is expected to rough it out; but here you are able to have the best of both worlds. With the pandemic inflicting some major damage to their regular operations, Bandara shared that the local market is what has sustained them. We asked Bandara about his predictions for the future, considering that his venture does largely rely on free travel and tourism being opened up again, to which he said that while most predictions have been rebuked with regards to how optimistic businesses such his own should be, what we can assume is things would likely begin to pick up next summer, and for things to return to pre-Covid status, of where Sri Lanka was at in tourism, it would take a year more at least.