Pat, Chris, Julian, Deborah, Julie, Neil, Helen & Alan
England, February/March 2016
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
The wonderful and varied countryside – mountains, beaches, vibrant cities. The very welcoming people, justifiably proud of their beautiful country. The diverse culture and the marvellous wildlife and birds.
Variety of locations. Friendliness of people. Lovely countryside. Excellent food.
Friendly people, always smiling and helpful. Beautiful countryside and beaches. Variety – wildlife parks, whale watching, culture. Good food.
Ella and the tea plantation. The train rides. Whale watching. The friendly people. The food. Loved Galle and Buckingham Place.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Some concern about the over-commercialisation of the safari at Minneriya National Park.
Mismanaged safari where elephants were surrounded and hounded by 20+ jeeps.
Galkadawala. Not a contemporary forest lodge. Not open jungle (just outside a village). Filthy, dirty. Holes in mosquito nets. Just not what you promised. Very disappointed. We hated it.
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
For the most part very good.
The start of the holiday really was in Jaffna. The [Jaffna] Heritage Hotel was OK... the rooms were fine, although some of the communal areas could have a bit cleaner. The location was really good and we had a very interesting time there, both in Jaffna, the Islands and the Peninsula. However the one down point was the second evening when we felt that the hotel wanted us to have our evening meal there. We ordered the meal in the morning, arrived at the right time in the evening, and we were told 45 minutes later that they could not give us that meal. Eventually 30 minutes later, the meal arrived but it was cold, so it was returned to the kitchen. We did not pay for the meal. We thought that the management needed some significant training to bring the hotel to the standard it has the potential for.
The beach hotel at Nilaveli [Nilaveli Beach Hotel] was marvellous and we had a very good meal there... certainly would recommend it.
The next point was the Eco Lodge near Habarana [Galkadawala]. The group were mixed in their opinion of this accommodation. I found it OK, even though we were in the older lodge. However, other members of the party did not like it at all and found the very rustic nature of the place more challenging. It was also felt by some of the members of the group that the safari there was quite distressing. They thought that the pursuance of some of the elephants by the huge numbers of the jeeps almost abusive to the animals. This safari compared very unfavourably to the one in Yala which by contrast was smaller scale, much less intrusive, and better organised.
Hanthana House in Kandy was of course lovely and a very welcome contrast to the Eco Lodge. We were made very welcome and we had a great free day in Kandy.
Probably one of the best parts of the holiday was the train trip from Kandy to Ella. Clove Tree House [Ella] was truly beautiful, and we all loved it there.
The next stop was Yala [Big Game Camp] which was fine, and was especially special as we saw a leopard at really close quarters!!
We all loved the accommodation at Galle [The Fort Bazaar] and also Buckingham Place in Tangalle. We could go into superlatives about both places, but suffice to say we would love to return to both places as the staff, the food and the general ambiance were first class.
The last place, Mount Lavinia Hotel [Colombo] could be described as a place of faded glory. Our rooms were rather dreary, and not terribly clean, although the rest of the hotel was magnificent and one could imagine how the place functioned in its hey-day. The food was very good here.
Very good. A variety of places, but a good mixture. Value for money.
Nilaveli Beach Hotel, Clove Tree House & Cottage, The Fort Bazaar – excellent. Hanthana House, Yala Big Game Camp, Buckingham Place, Mount Lavinia Hotel – good. Galkadawala – Fine as we had good rooms. Others in party not happy. Jaffna Heritage Hotel – not good, particularly the evening meal – disorganised!
Mixed. Some excellent, some average. Just take out Galkadawala!
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
Issues with first guide – all dealt with very quickly. Yapa [guide] was fine, although he admitted to feeling very tired at times. Our chauffeur, Dimantha, was lovely – would recommend him.
Yapa – excellent. We appreciated hi arrival and realised that he was doing us a huge favour. Dimantha – excellent. Jolly, safe, informative.
After a poor start with Thushara, we found Yapa and our driver really excellent. After Yapa left us, our driver really came into his own and could not have been more helpful and charming.
Yapa is very conscientious and caring. Dimantha was excellent. A real star who came into his own when Yapa left.
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
Very good – no problems. [SriLankan Airlines - Economy Class]
Excellent.
Absolutely fine, with efficient and friendly staff, reasonable food.
Absolutely brilliant.
Any other comments?
Firstly, the itinerary you planned out was really good and all the organisation worked like clockwork. Everything was very efficiently planned and we had no anxieties about what we were going to do each day. Can we now thank you for how quickly you reacted to our concerns about the first guide Thushara. Although I am sure he was trying to do his best, we did have some significant communication problems which could have caused problems throughout the holiday. We are also aware that Yapa may have wanted to have a bit of a rest because of his health issues, so we were very grateful that he was able to step in. He was very helpful and informative throughout the holiday, so we were very pleased that he was able to be our guide for most of the holiday. Perhaps now is the right point to say how we thought the driver Dimantha was really great. He said that this was the first time he had worked for Tikalanka Tours, and in our estimation, he is an absolute treasure. His English is reasonable and improving, he is always helpful, with a great sense of humour and we all had sing-songs in the mini-bus. In fact Yapa left a few days before the end of the holiday, but Dimantha was a very able replacement and we all felt very secure in his charge.
The organisation for our holiday was well executed and we had no problems throughout our time. The itinerary was well planned, and we felt that we had the opportunity to really experience all aspects of Sri Lanka. The train trips were great and one of the highlights of the tour. Unfortunately, we did not do the train trip from Galle to Colombo, as there were no guaranteed seats available, so our chauffeur took us to Colombo by the minibus.
So, in conclusion, we had a really super holiday and we will recommend your company to everyone. Thank you for organising our holiday and giving us the very best of times.
Having gone on various safaris in Africa over the years, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Yala National Park – and our trip to view Blue Whales from Mirissa was excellent. However, due to the elephants having moved from Minneriya (originally planned) we visited Hurulu Eco Park, and though we saw plenty of elephants, we were not at all impressed! There were far too many jeeps harassing the animals and jamming them into a small space. a) It was horrible for the elephants, and b) very dangerous, as if one had charged it could have caused mayhem.
The most upsetting day was when we got into a small truck with a very young driver for the safari tour at Habarana. It was disorganised, dangerous and extremely harrowing for the animals. We asked him to return us to the car park. You should not be supporting this safari company.
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