Sri Lanka at its best: 2019 - We booked our holiday on the spur of the moment and spent a fantastic couple of weeks in Sri Lanka in February of 2019. We took the 10 day... read more "Wildlife and Beach Tour" We were mainly interested in bird-watching and wildlife, so the cultural part of the tour was an added bonus. Everyone we contacted in Getaway Sri Lanka was helpful and our drive/guide was great.
After a previous, hectic 3 day trip down to the Yala National Park we had a 3 day lay-over at the Beacon beach Hotel. This proved a great spot to soak up the local colour, watch the locals purse seine fishing from the beach and see the sights of Ngombo and the fish markets. We were pleasantly surprised to have our own driver and car on the trip having become used to the US and European coach tours.
Our driver was very attentive and checked that we had indeed arrived at the hotel well before the tour began. Driving in Sri lanka is interesting..tuk tuks, scooters, bicycles, trucks and buses all compete for space on the roads with little sense of order. The highlights of the trip were the safaris into Wilpattu and Minneriya National Parks accompanied by knowledgeable local drivers and rangers. The visit to the Dambulla Cave Temple was worth the climb, but we opted out of going to the top of Sigiriya, spending time around the Hirwaduna village.
The train from Nurawara Eliya to Ella was an experience and the tour guide had fortunately booked tickets in the observation car. Other trains had passengers crammed in and falling out of doors.
All of the hotels were comfortable and of high standard. The staff were friendly and helpful. The Ella Mount Heaven Hotel was built into the side of the valley below the town. The only problem is that foyer is at the road level and the bedrooms several floors below. There are no lifts and the lower rooms have limited facilities. When we realised this we asked for and received a more suitable room on the upper floor. Fantastic views down the valley!
The final couple of nights were spent "chilling out" at Mount Lavinia, south of Colombo. An interesting local beach area, that had been badly hit by the tsunami. The hotel was good, though the air-conditioners were noisy. They put on a romantic candlight dinner and there were many beachside eateries.
Our tour guide took us on a tour of Colombo on our final day, before dropping us at the airport. One surprise here was that the check-in desks were behind security, and you could not proceed through security until they opened the check-in. Our flights were very late in the day and we felt very uncomfortable in a non-secure area, All the more so in retrospect!
This was a really enjoyable, fairly relaxed tour. We felt very safe wandering the streets of Ngombo and Mount Lavinia and were somewhat surprised at the the later Easter bombings the country didn't deserve that!
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