Gillian Eborn review 7 Jan 2012
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Getting face to face with wild elephants, meeting the locals and enjoying the food.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Great if you want a guided bus tour with constant and often vague or inaccurate commentary, but not so good if you are looking for a real adventure tour, as they use a local driver/guide rather than a group leader and expert site guides - lack of attention to detail. My group struggled to get our guide to stick to the itinerary and got three different excuses for why he missed Ella Gap. Also watch out for the unscheduled stops, spice garden and carving shop massively overpriced and I suspect fake. Hotels were nice 3/4 star but way out of town in most places, so an effort and expense to explore or eat out (hotel in negombo was 19k and USD 40 car ride from beach and town). Eating in the resorts was expensive 1200 to 30000 rupees for dinner, wereas outside was 200 to 1000 depending on where you eat. Sri Lanka is pretty easy to travel independently, wishing I had done that instead.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
Not really.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
6/10 - went to most of the main places, but lacked attention to detail, contact with locals and not enough free time.
Read the operator's response here:
We are sorry that Ms Eborn raised such concerns about the tour leader.
We have high standards for our leaders and it is clear that on this occassion the guide did not meet our, or Ms Eborn's expectations.
We are also disappointed that Ms Eborn was unaware of the many ways his tour supports the local community. We would hope that our tour leaders would explain the many benefits our tour brings to Sri Lanka. In addition to working with a local supplier and employing local staff on the trip, we support the Elephant Transit Home at Uda Walawe National Park. The Elephant Transit Home is run by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation. The Home provides shelter for 30 orphaned or abandoned baby elephants, releasing them to the wild when they are strong enough to survive in their natural habitat.
We also support the Trees for Life project which is run by The Travel Foundation. This project has planted over 200,000 trees in conservation areas and tsunami housing villages in Sri Lanka and over 16,000 children and adults have participated in programmes to raise environment and biodiversity awareness.
For these reasons we have taken the decision to stop using the guide on any future trips with us.
We have also sent an apology direct to Ms Eborn.
Kelly Geoghegan review 25 Feb 2009
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Sri Lanka more then exceeded my expectations in every way. There were memorable moments everyday. The friendliness of the locals and the beauty of the places combine to make this a wonderful holiday destination. Dolphin watching, elephant safari and climbing Adams peak in time for sunrise were definite highlights. There was something new to experience everyday, a fantastic itinerary.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Having travelled extensively in Asia I would rate Sri Lanka as the safest and easiest SE Asian country to travel in. I see the current political situation as certainly no reason not to travel. The island is certainly suffering from a lack of tourists, most places we went were quiet, and this is their high season. Everyone seems pleased to see you there. You will come away with a lasting impression of the friendliness of the Sri Lankan people. Accommodation standard does vary from fantastic 5* resort to basic resthouses, but these are the best available in some of the areas you will visit. Eat local food, its amazing and the western dishes offered are disappointing.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
We used local guides often, for nature walks, village tours and other excursions. We ate in local villagers houses sometimes and tried to shop in local stores. We travelled in our own private bus, which whilst not being the most environmentally friendly option, was the only way to follow our itinerary.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Fantastic. The people, the places and the experiences made this one of the most memorable holidays I have had. The excellent guide, Ruwan, and my fellow travellers helped to make the experiences fun. I think we got a reputation for laughing too much wherever we went! I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Sri Lanka to anybody. It really is an amazing country and this trip allows you to experience all aspects of the island.
