Luxury On the Edge.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(travel destinations)

Byline: Eric Pape

Countries long plagued by instability are developing posh hotels that appeal to intrepid bargain hunters.

Sri Lanka is a tropical island with soft-sand beaches, sapphires in the earth and white-lace butterflies in the air. Fine green tea leaves flutter on hillsides, and handsome colonial architecture overlooks striking ravines, idyllic lakes, luscious rolling mountains and the occasional waterfall. "Nothing of our poor European vegetation could give an idea of the magnificence of this Sinhalese nature," wrote French author Octave Mirbeau back at the turn of the 20th century. "These are new colors that none of our artists have yet known."

Yet this paradise has remained staunchly devoid of tourists.

They were repelled by a civil war that popularized the concept of suicide bombing and killed 70,000 people over the past 37 years. Just when the first tourists were starting to come, the 2004 Asian tsunami hit, taking the lives of 38,000 locals and drowning the nascent tourism industry. But with the coastlines rebuilt for travelers and the government closing in on the Tamil Tigers on their last sliver of land in the northeast, a country that has long lived on the edge is hoping, finally, to reap the benefits of tourism.

Sri Lanka is hardly the only destination seeking to transform itself from a hellhole to a hot spot. Many nations with great cultural and historic legacies and stunning natural beauty have seen their tourism potential hobbled by a grim past or rampant instability: Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Bolivia, to name a few. In countries further along on the tourism-development path--like Cambodia, Lebanon and Peru--the industry is still highly vulnerable to surges of instability. (In a time of drug battles and a terrifying flu outbreak, even an established sun worshipers' mecca like Mexico can get weak-kneed and devalue its tourism.) But these destabilized countries are investing in snazzy new hotels, developing tourist attractions, repairing infrastructure and creating amenities to woo visitors. For intrepid tourists looking to beat the crowds, improve the world and stretch their vacation dollars, back-from-the-apocalypse destinations offer opportunities like no other.

RWANDA Fifteen years after genocide killed an estimated 800,000 people, the nation's tourism industry is showing signs of life, perhaps most impressively at the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge, which opened in 2007. Its eight elegant chalets--decorated in colorful African prints--are pitched on the side of a volcano that offers views of the lush mist-laden hills that are home to the endangered mountain gorillas studied by renowned zoologist Dian Fossey. The lodge offers $500 guided treks to rare-gorilla gatherings in the nearby Park National des Volcans, with its towering 5,000-meter volcanoes. Other treks allow visitors to admire golden monkeys frolicking in the bamboo forests that cover the Virunga mountain slopes. As a member of a local community trust, the lodge is required to use fees to support conservation, community empowerment and local skills training. Rooms list at the developed-world rate of more than $400 per person (governorscamp.com).