Ayu, means ‘life’ in Sanskrit.

We are an owner-managed, women-led boutique DMC based in Sri Lanka, creating luxury travel that brings our guests closer to the life of our island. Our trips draw on relationships built over decades, giving our guests access to people, places and experiences they would be unlikely to find on a conventional itinerary.

Long before Ayu in the Wild was launched in 2012, our two co-founders were travelling across Sri Lanka alongside careers in development finance and law, discovering extraordinary places and getting to know fascinating people. Some became friends, and many of those relationships are still part of Ayu today. Our network has continued to grow ever since, through the people we meet, the places we discover and the experiences we create.

Our approach has also been influenced by experiential travel around the world and the low-footfall tourism we encountered in Africa. It helped form our belief that luxury travel can be highly personal, low-footfall and have a positive impact on the place you are visiting.

“when we started ayu in the wild…

I wanted to create exceptional holidays in Sri Lanka and make a difference to people’s lives at the same time.
My background in development finance has probably influenced the way I think about tourism. I want to know where the money from our trips goes, who benefits from it and what we can do to help protect our island. If we can support local people and home-grown businesses, create opportunities within communities and help protect our biodiversity while giving our guests an exceptional experience of Sri Lanka, then that is the kind of travel I want Ayu to create.”
***Chamintha Jayasinghe - Co Founder***

why work with ayu in the wild

Founder-led & Deliberately Boutique

Ayu is 100% Sri Lankan, women-led and owner-managed. Chamintha is personally involved in every trip we create, and we intentionally limit the number we take on each year because we want the time to really understand each guest, think about who within our network might interest them and get the details right. Our small team works closely with our partners here in Sri Lanka, and we are here to support you throughout your trip.

“For our guests, that means the people with the deepest knowledge of our island, our partners and our network remain closely involved in the trip from beginning to end.”

Access Built Over Decades

Many of the experiences we create are possible because of relationships we have built across Sri Lanka over many years.

Our personal network reaches across the island, from poets, artists and writers to farmers, conservationists, marine biologists, chefs, architects, musicians, hoteliers and handpicked community guides. Some have been friends for decades. Others are people we have met along the way and thought, our guests need to meet this person too.

All of our experiences have grown out of these relationships. Sometimes they start with a conversation or an idea; sometimes we create something specifically around the interests of a guest. What they have in common is that they come through our own network, rather than a standard portfolio of hotel-led excursions.

“That gives us the freedom to build experiences around what genuinely interests you, rather than asking you to choose from a fixed list of things to do.”

Naturalist-Guided, by Design

Our trips are accompanied throughout by our in-house Naturalist-Guides. Sri Lanka is one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots, and we want our guests to understand what they are travelling through, not simply get from one place to the next.

Our Naturalist-Guides know wildlife, of course, but their knowledge goes much further than natural history of one of the World’s Biodiversity Hotspots. They help our guests understand the landscapes, ecosystems, traditions, culture and communities they encounter across the island.

“For curious travellers, it means the whole trip becomes richer, because there is someone with you who can help make sense of what you are seeing along the way.”

Fiercely Independent

We have no affiliation with a hotel group or hospitality brand, so we are free to recommend what we genuinely think is right for each guest and each trip.

We choose from a handpicked portfolio of hotels, villas and lodges across Sri Lanka, looking at where you are going, how you like to travel and what each property will add to your experience.

“There are no properties we need to fill and no hotel group influencing the itinerary. The recommendation is based on what we believe is right for you.”

Positive Impact with Proof

We started Ayu believing that exceptional holidays could also make a difference to people’s lives, and positive impact has been part of how we work ever since.

Today, more than 55 of our curated local experiences support over 200 beneficiaries across Sri Lanka, with a particular focus on micro-entrepreneurs and underprivileged households.

Between 1% and 3% of trip revenue also supports our own home-grown positive-impact initiatives, including Classroom in the Wild, alongside local conservation work and our advocacy against elephant-back safaris and interactions with captive wild animals.

Ayu in the Wild is also Sri Lanka’s only DMC member of The Long Run, a global community of tourism businesses committed to protecting nature, supporting local communities and culture, and ensuring tourism benefits the places where they operate.

“For guests who care about how they travel, that means our approach to positive impact is something you can see evidence of, rather than simply something we say we believe in.”