Gill & Nigel
England, March 2019
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Variety of cultural and natural sights in a relatively small country, lush scenery, people, food.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
The humidity, traffic / west coast urban sprawl / towns and the rubbish.
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
Generally excellent. Would stay at any again if in the area.
Palagama Beach [Kalpitiya] was a very nice place to begin our trip and [The] Palmyrah House [Mannar} very good too but a bit austere and not as relaxing as Palagama Beach.
We preferred Jetwing North Gate [Jaffna] to Jetwing Jaffna that we stayed in last year.
The design of Heritance Kandalama [Dambulla] was wasted on me (but not so much on Nigel) and I don’t think it’s worthy of its 5 stars but interesting to stay there. Lacked atmosphere and ambience, no comfortable communal seating area. Not our preferred type of hotel as too big, clearly a favourite of tour groups and overwhelming meal buffets!
Gal Oya Lodge [Gal Oya] was lovely. We met a Dutch wildlife photographer at Gal Oya Lodge who had been to Kala Wewa photographing elephants. One of the naturalists at Gal Oya had been involved in research of Sri Lankan elephants and said that this is the best place to see "tuskers". Also it's a much quieter place to visit ... at the moment! Maybe worth investigating. As you probably know, the naturalists at Gal Oya are excellent and, together with all the other Sri Lankan staff at the Lodge, added hugely to our stay there. We particularly enjoyed the company of Charmara who had only been at the Lodge for a little over 2 weeks. He was the "elephant expert" so very well qualified to pass on lots of information about these wonderful animals when we were watching them from the boat. He was also great on birds and led all 3 late afternoon walks to the nearby lake which were very enjoyable.
Thaulle Resort in Tissa [Tissamaharama] was fine for what we needed at that point in the itinerary but all too busy with the “Yala” effect. The set evening meal wasn’t great.
Turtle Bay [Tangalle] was in a lovely location though we found the over attentive service a bit irritating but that may just be us.
We liked the location and the grounds of Kalu’s Hideaway [Uda Walawe] but we thought the building itself wasn’t really in keeping with its environs.
The Rainforest Eco Lodge [Sinharaja] was the only disappointment – a bit haphazard, no clear information about walks or meal ordering and the “containers” were shabby – broken window latches, stained window blinds, frayed towels and bed linen. This is the only place where we found the food to be of poor quality – even the Sri Lankan curry! Our stay at the Rainforest Lodge was salvaged by the nature walk led by one of their naturalists who was knowledgeable, articulate and enthusiastic about the area. We saw all sorts from small fish, a tiny frog, fungus that looked like horsehair, various plants and trees, a variety of butterflies we'd not seen anywhere else including the tree nymph, a black naped blue monarch on her nest and a feeding flock of various birds. With this diversity, coupled with the drive through the delightful lowland tea country to get there and some bird watching with Niroshan it was a worthwhile part of the itinerary but the Lodge itself was definitely "resting on its laurels" / being complacent about the captive market it attracted. They were erecting a couple of new containers whilst we were there so clearly there are funds for expansion which could be diverted to renovation perhaps?!
[Taru Villas] Rock Villa [Bentota] was a delightful place to finish up and we couldn’t fault it.
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
Niroshan did an excellent job. He drove well, was good company, spoke excellent English which we could easily understand, was always well turned out, punctual and knowledgeable. He had an excellent eye for birds and make really good use of the binoculars which I believe you provided.
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
They worked very well. Having flown on Sri Lankan Airlines direct flight last year, we appreciated the short stopover to break up the journey. [Emirates – Economy Class – Birmingham]
Any other comments?
Your pre-booking advice was great. The itinerary worked very well as did all the arrangements and we were very pleased with it all. At one point you were a bit concerned about the trip to Kalametiya Lagoon following adverse feedback from a previous client though confirmed all was well before our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the boat trip on the lagoon and would recommend it without reservation.
The jeep drive in Bundala was underwhelming because it was very dry so fewer birds than might have been expected – perhaps we were a bit late in the season for that Park.
Our first jeep drive in Uda Walawe wasn’t a success. We left the hotel at 5.30 am only to join a very long queue of jeeps – it brought back memories of our trip to Yala last year! We entered the park at 7.15 am so only had a 2 hour drive and sightings were few, rushed and busy. However, Niroshan arranged for our afternoon drive to start earlier so we had a longer, more rewarding and relaxing tour after lunch. Uda Walawe NP was altogether much quieter in the afternoon and Niroshan said this is usually the case so it might be worth bearing this in mind for future clients.
We had a poor experience of the behaviour of jeep drivers on our safaris in Wilpattu and Yala last year [a holiday NOT arranged by Tikalanka] so were very pleased to find the drivers on this year's safaris to be much better. Clearly Niroshan had a good relationship with all the drivers and, after discussion with us about what we hoped to see and how we wanted to do it, he and the driver worked well together to give us much more pleasurable experiences.
PS we spotted 172 different birds on our travels boosted by Niroshan offering several early morning walks in the appropriate locations!
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