Discover the Ten Tuskers Bar at Wild Coast Tented Lodge, that features handcrafted cocktails with hyperlocal ingredients.

Sit alongside the pool, overlooking the deep blue Indian Ocean and allow yourself to journey across a tasting of temperamental liquid aperitifs. The space crowned by a large bamboo chandelier sets the tone for an evening of drinks to come. Dusk arrives with its glorious pastel and golden hues and the mixologists are at the ready.

A cocktail tasting aligns drinks in a sequence; each advancing in sense, taste, richness and quality. It creates a tipsy experience, easing the drinker through a range of flavours, body and temperatures. There’s a sense of purpose; a beginning, a middle and an end.

Inspired by the natural surroundings, each cocktail is an amalgamation of hyperlocal ingredients, creative ingenuity and sheer passion for artistry. From the tangy sourness of tamarind to the high temperature emanating from scotch bonnets (locally known as kochchi), sweet king coconut water to fruity calamansi (locally known as narang), spicy green chillies and Indian gooseberries combined.

Take advantage of the fact that you could customise and personalise your beverage, making them all the more one-of-a-kind and thereby giving the mixologist the opportunity to produce infinite outcomes. This not only presents the mixologist with a healthy challenge but also tests his or her craft.

At the introduction of a new range of cocktails at the Lodge, the ruling spirit was Ceylon arrack. Back in the early 1900’s arrack was never considered to be finely made nor particularly palatable. Over time however, the impression has changed. It is now a rather refined, improved and special spirit; an elixir derived from many generations of coconut trees.

The evening wears on. The sky turns a midnight blue hue. Stars begin to appear. There’s laughter, there’s wonder and somehow there’s a connection that is formed between guest and team behind the bar; a culmination of memories, moments and emotions.

Conversations flow from the ingenious creativity of the mixologists to what bountiful treasures our island holds, yet to be discovered. Some of the ingredients used in concocting the cocktails have never been used before. It not only leaves an impressionable taste, but also a lasting memoir of an experiential night.