Sask. camping doesn’t have to come with sacrifices

Looking to connect with nature but not into the idea of sleeping on a blow-up mattress in a hot sweaty tent? Then you need Flora Bora.

“It’s for people who enjoy nature and they want to get into nature but they just want to have some of the amenities,” Flora Bora owner Karen Wasylyk said.

Those amenities all come in a 450 square foot hut known as a yurt and it’s serviced with water, a bathroom, a bed and kitchen. All you need to bring are your personal items and food.

“It’s a traditional Mongolian dwelling and it was used by nomads when they travelled with herds. But ours have all the services, a bathroom and a kitchen. Everything from wine glasses to towels, coffee-grinders everything is all here.”

Photo submitted by Karen Wasylyk.

Covering 30 acres on Emma Lake, guests hop on golf carts and drive 100 metres away from the highway, away from cars and a Wi-Fi connection for a calm and peaceful experience with nature.

Wasylyk said she got the idea for a yurt resort while touring Southeast Asia after university. Fascinated with the dome-shaped structures, she and her partner decided this would be the key to their own luxurious nature getaway.

“People are happy when they arrive, they’re always stunned when they see the yurts and always tell us they love the space,” she said.

Running for $164 per night, Flora Bora is usually booked up in July  through September, with the majority of guests staying for at least two nights, sometimes even up to a week.

Up and running for five years, the destination’s popularity seems to grow with guests coming all the way from Australia. Just under an hour from Waskesui, Wasylyk said many guests there take for Flora Bora as well.

Finding their niche in beautiful Saskatchewan, Wasylyk and her partner love to see guests from near and far and hear what they have to say about the yurts.

“Most of them say it’s been their best holiday they can remember, they love their time here and they reconnect with one another, they turn their phones off for a while and it takes them a while to adjust to slowing down and they love it,” Wasylyk said.

While you won’t find many glamping sites in Saskatchewan, Wasylyk said it’s the type of vacation that will get more people loving nature.

“People in urban centres they need to get into nature and sometimes they don’t want to rough it, so this is a good option that allows more people to enjoy nature,” she said.

fbiber@rawlco.com

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