These are not poor women struggling in a dreary kitchen but dollar-spending, foreign tourists learning first-hand the culinary and other delights of Sri Lanka.

This is the new age of eco-tourism, a growing industry in which tourists prefer to learn about the customs, food habits, culture, environment and history of countries they visit rather than laze on the beach or spend time in curio shops or gape at beauty spots. At the Woodlands network in the hill station of Bandarawela, about 180 kms from Colombo, this is exactly what tourists get and they are delighted.

A group of 20 young Germans, among them students, doctors and engineers, are learning to cook a simple Sri Lankan rice and curry meal, at `Student house,' a small hotel run by Woodlands.

Sarojini Ellawela, manager of Woodlands network, has laid out the vegetables, spices and other ingredientsnecessary to prepare a meal of rice with dal (lentils), potato and fish curry.

The young Germans cook with gusto in the main dining hall of student house with Ellawela keeping an eye on the proceeding. After the group has eaten the meal they have cooked, they are taken to a small tea estate owned by a Sri Lankan villager and then goes on a four-five km walk to a jungle hermitage run by a reclusive Buddhist monk.

It is all part of the Woodlands network's promotion of nature tourism, the country's culture and dozens of off-the-beaten track places in Sri Lanka.

Much of this effort comes from Harry Haas, a Roman Catholic priest from Holland who decided to make Sri Lanka his home in 1983 -- ironically at a time when Sri Lankan Tamils were fleeing the country and tourists were reluctant to visit after widespread riots against Tamils by majority Sinhalese mobs.

Haas, a lover of nature and with an abiding interest in tourism, settled in Bandarawela and started a spices factory but later turned to hispet love, nature and tourism, to promote the mountainous town known as a health resort because of its fresh air, chilly winds and naturally-landscaped hills.

The 73-year old Dutch, now a retired priest who says the state pension that he gets from Holland is more than enough for him, has taken upon himself the task of promoting Bandarawela.

He calls Bandarawela and surrounding towns like Haputale, Ella, Welimada and Diyatalawa the `health triangle' and wants to put it on the world tourism map.

With the help of the all-woman Woodlands network which he founded in 1993, Haas has succeeded in getting many individual foreign travellers and tourist groups visiting their offices in Bandarawela and using their services.

``There is great potential in this place. Unfortunately much of the tourism to Sri Lanka is mass tourism and places like Bandarawela are ignored,'' says Haas pausing to greet a group of German tourists.

Haas gives them a 30-minute briefing in German about the natural beauty of Bandarawela andplaces to visit like tea estates and small waterfalls.

``The places we show are all off-the beaten track and hitherto unvisited. This is the beauty of this country. It's natural environment, its people, the culture. That's what foreign visitors like to see.''

The Woodlands effort has won international awards in the promotion of nature tourism and drew accolades at a recent conference in Colombo where hoteliers, environmentalists and government planners met to chart a long-term plan to promote eco-tourism as a sustainable alternative for growth.

The tiny island, some 65,000 sq-km in area, packs a magnificent diversity -- cultural, climatic and environmental -- linked by a long and well-preserved history. For centuries, travellers like the Chinese Fa Hsien have written of the beauty of this ancient land.

And that's what has and other environmentalists believe should be promoted -- Sri Lanka's people, its culture and diversity. Woodlands attracts between six to eight 20-member groups of German touristseach year and many single walk-in tourists who are provided with accommodation and food at a nominal fee and day-long programmes, including a long list of ``walks, hikes and treks''. ``Some guests are on long-stays and are in Bandarawela for periods of three months and over,'' said Ellawela, a former trade unionist who joined Woodlands at the inception. She said the six women who comprise Woodlands, along with Haas who now works as a volunteer consultant to allow the women freedom to run the organisation, are involved in tourism, catering, running the `house' and computer services.