Sue & David
England, March 2018
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Everything - Lovely people, great wildlife, culture, landscape and it was laid back, safe and varied.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Nothing comes to mind.
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
Generally good.
Bar Reef [Resort, Kalpitiya] was great - the perfect switch off. We loved the individual seating areas next to the pool, which enabled you to chill out and dine in ‘private’. The beach dining area was good too. Lovely staff who were there when you needed them but were unobtrusive and always very obliging and friendly. The beach area is a little restricted as in that it’s quite short in either direction (we like long walks along the beach). At one ‘end’ there’s an army camp and fishing village with very unfriendly dogs (one of which ‘mouthed’ David’s leg but fortunately didn’t break the skin) so we were a little reluctant to go beyond that. At the other end there’s the power station, which isn’t too pretty (!) and wind turbines. However this didn’t spoil anything it’s merely an observation.
Very laid back atmosphere - no rules, but sadly we did miss out on a potential pink dolphin trip in the lagoon, on account that they didn’t put a notice board up highlighting their activities until we were leaving and no one had advised us that we could have done that, which we would have. Dolphin watching was great, but nobody wanted to take us out to look for whales for various reasons, although we did later meet people who had done it there, so don’t really know what the issue was.
The only downside - on day two a bulldozer turned up early morning and was still going when we left. (They were doing work directly behind our cabana). This was rather disappointing so we went to relax in the place next door - which was also lovely. It was the other place you recommended, Palagama [Beach] I think it was called).
We would recommend Bar Reef as, other than the bulldozer, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Tree house at Wilpattu [Wilpattu Corridor] was well positioned next to the gate of the park, ready for early starts and easy for walking by the lake. The food was ok, not brilliant but ok (except for the pack lunches, which weren’t that good!) Our only suggestion is that when booking you get them to confirm which tree house you’re in as there are two and the standards are different. The people who run it are lovely and smiley, very helpful and made us feel really welcome - they’re an absolute credit to the place. I would recommend it.
Wilpattu was brilliant. Our guide, Sadun, was passionate and knowledgeable about what he did, he clearly loved leopards - we saw 5 different ones during the three visits. The extra day meant we could go to the ‘seaside’ as our guide called it, in the north east corner, well worth the drive. The wildlife was great and the forests beautiful. Definitely recommend it.
Had we known about the fruit bats in Kandy we would have definitely made either an overnight stop there or got there earlier in the day to see them in the trees. We were fortunate to catch them leaving their roosts as we were heading out of the town - quite spectacular and wish we’d known about them. We just had to stop the car and watch them!
Oak Rey Tea Bush [booked independently] - beautiful spacious room with an excellent view. Breakfast pretty bland, very ‘standard hotel’ feel in the reception and restaurant. Would recommend it for a ‘breaking the journey stop’, as we did.
Big Game Camp - Long drive from the Uda Walawe park entrance. Felt a little ‘pestered’ for our passports before we even had chance to get in the place and be greeted. Arrived in the dark so it looked fine. However, the en suite was way below standard. In the day light it was dirty, worn out and so cramped the tent was right up next to the toilet so you could barely get past it to get to the shower. Nowhere to hang towels or put anything in the bathroom. Sorry for the detail but just so you know, when sat on the toilet you had to push the tent away from your knees it was seriously that cramped! Unfortunately this is where I got food poisoning, which lost me 3 days.
So no I wouldn’t recommend this place. Ayesh [Mahesh] said the other two camps in the group are ok but this one is not. He also was not given any accommodation and had to find some about 5 km away, which I felt bad about. The staff were pleasant but clearly demoralised so we didn’t say anything about the place to them as I think they would have been powerless to do anything about it. The manager clearly didn’t know what he was doing, but we don’t know the circumstances for this.
Uda Walawe - not a great deal to see in this park and only a short circuit for a game drive, which was overrun by other jeeps whizzing around. Due to me having food poisoning we didn’t go to the elephant sanctuary or have another game drive.
Rainforest Edge [Sinharaja – north entrance] - Was probably our favourite place, along with Bar Reef, for local food, it was excellent. Our kind of place - boutique/rustic that was designed well to fit in with the environment rather than a ’could be anywhere in the world’ type of place. Again lovely people and an excellent manager. Great place to recoup whilst feeling ill! Would definitely recommend it.
Sinharaja - brilliant place with so much diversity. Our guide was excellent; patient, knowledgeable and very pleasant.
Peaceful Chalet [Sinharaja Rest, Sinharaja – south entrance] - The accommodation was not as we expected and was not the one on the website. There was no outlook or view and it was rather dark and tired. The Peaceful Chalet was occupied by another of your clients so I don’t understand why there was a mix up on the accommodation. I can understand why you would want to support and promote Pali as he is a delightful character and extremely knowledgeable and passionate about Sinharaja. However, he did not seem to understand that we did not want to be part of a group once we got to the park. He eventually assured us that once at the park we would split up from his group and go with another guide. This did not happen and clearly was never going to! His accommodation is quite a distance from the park and we had to fit in with the other guests who didn’t want to go too early, which for us is the best time to capture the light. Being part of a group of 8 may not sound much but when in single file and at the back you miss out on all the info and I felt awkward about having to keep asking him to repeat what he’d just explained to the others. Eventually we got left behind with Ayesh, which was ok to an extent, but we have no idea what we may have missed along the way when trying to catch up with them. When we couldn’t find the group again, as they’d taken a different path we stayed at the waterfall while Ayesh went off to find them. Again we didn’t mind but felt we should have been with another guide. Some of the group then headed back with the driver and we and the other Tikalanka guests stayed with Pali. At the end we split, Ayesh guided your other guests while Pali took us the route that they had already done when they had left us earlier, by this time they were tired and were happy to head back but then had to wait quite a while at the park entrance for us to rejoin them. I’m sure you’re aware that there’s a walk to and from the park where Pali tells you all about the herbs, tea and spices along the route, I know it sounds awful but we’d heard all this stuff before and our priority was to get into the park, which is another reason why we didn’t want to go with a group as they, quite rightfully, were happy to hear it all for the first time. Pali’s hospitality was great and I would recommend him, for that sort of experience but it would be more helpful if he understood some people want to be independent and perhaps more specialised, for want of a better description, as they have different interests. Also he needs to give the room we had a little tlc and when booking not be misled by the accommodation - especially when the guests in what you thought was your room wax lyrical about waking up looking at a beautiful sunrise.
Imagine [Villa Hotel, Mirissa] - Excellent all round, their website doesn’t do it justice, but I do hear they’re due to launch their new site soon. As you said it’s a good location. Great place for us to finish our trip. There were even turtles hatching out right in front of the hotel on the last day finish our trip. There were even turtles hatching right outside the hotel on the last day - exciting & perfect! We would definitely recommend it.
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
Ayesh [Mahesh] was brilliant. We felt very comfortable and at ease with him. He was knowledgeable, patient, had a good sense of humour and was very ‘protective’ and professional. I use the word protective in the sense that he made sure everything was right and everyone looked after us (even though we didn’t need it), including the bank teller who tried to give us a low rate of exchange! Definitely recommend him.
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
Good. [Arranged own flights]
Any other comments?
We enjoyed our trip, other than losing 3 days and feeling awful, which should have been avoidable, everything else went smoothly and according to plan, it worked well. I hope our critique / responses are helpful. I would definitely suggest you avoid the Big Game Camp. Ayesh [Mahesh] also said that they advertise it being near Uda Walawe, but in his opinion it isn’t. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know.
« All feedback
