Sri Lanka

[CMak]

We are a group of 6 looking to do a wildlife tour of Sri Lanka in 2018.
Any suggested itineraries? Which months are the best for travel?
Which are the best parks for leopards.
What are the accommodation options?
Should we book through Australian T/As or are Sri Lankan T/As reputable?
Thank you in advance for any replies
CMak

 

[Milboo]

If you look in Trip Reports, I put one up mid last year after a visit. I loved the place so much I went back again later in the year!

Your questions are very open ended and all depend on budget. There are a couple of agencies who specialise that I came across - Boutique Sri Lanka who are UK based, ExoticLanka Holidays who are AU and I see Jacada Travel now do Sri Lanka. If budget is not the motivator then I highly recommend those guys!

They have itineraries - https://www.jacadatravel.com/indian-subcontinent/sri-lanka/ as do the others which you could use as research.

Key for your trip will be getting a driver for your time there to cover the ground you need. There is an article on trip advisor about how they price driver hire.

I did not make it to Udawalawe Park but that's apparently best for elephants.

I did visit Yala and to be honest I did not enjoy the experience of safari drives there - certainly do not expect the animal numbers you'd see in Africa, nor expect the same consideration to conservation. Keeps tear around the park to sightings and then crowd around one animal.

Accomodation - how long is a piece of string! We stayed at Resplendent Ceylon properties and rate them highly, stayed at a couple in the Cinnamon group which were fine and stayed at Kandy House which was lovely.

Timing - I went smack bang in monsoon season in October and found the weather fine, just had a little bit of rain. Our main trip was March and weather was fine - Yala was hot - over 40. There is good information online about time to visit.

 

[RB]

We are a group of 6 looking to do a wildlife tour of Sri Lanka in 2018.
Any suggested itineraries? Which months are the best for travel?
Which are the best parks for leopards.
What are the accommodation options?
Should we book through Australian T/As or are Sri Lankan T/As reputable?
Thank you in advance for any replies
CMak

We travelled in Feb and enjoyed good weather-we wanted to finish our trip with time on the south west coast so Feb made sense. We booked our trip directly with a driver who came highly recommended by various destination experts on Trip Advisor-for us this was an excellent decision. He provided a very comfortble van, excellent driving (very important in Sri Lanka) and an excellent knowledge of the country (many other drivers rely on him for advie & assistance). Our accomodation was booked after advice from & discussions with him. Things have changed since our visit but I know Lucky still receives excellent feedback for his services.
There is a link to my trip report in my signature. I am happy to answer any questions & help with contacting our driver-I believe he could cater to your group size

 

[burmans]

Leopards are hard to see, I got about 2 seconds of a leopards backside, we were about 80th of about 120 safari jeeps rushing to see this one leopard and were just too late really. This was Yala, but I echo the view above, nothing like Africa.

Aside from this, I did love Sri Lanka though!

 

[Danger]

If you're going through Colombo airport, be prepared for disorganisation and not much else.

 

[Milboo]

We travelled in Feb and enjoyed good weather-we wanted to finish our trip with time on the south west coast so Feb made sense. We booked our trip directly with a driver who came highly recommended by various destination experts on Trip Advisor-for us this was an excellent decision. He provided a very comfortble van, excellent driving (very important in Sri Lanka) and an excellent knowledge of the country (many other drivers rely on him for advie & assistance). Our accomodation was booked after advice from & discussions with him. Things have changed since our visit but I know Lucky still receives excellent feedback for his services.
There is a link to my trip report in my signature. I am happy to answer any questions & help with contacting our driver-I believe he could cater to your group size

You had Lucky! I suspect the same person referred you to him that referred me.

As I travelled off season and was travelling alone (on second visit) I was able to book him to do my transfers to the South Coast. He was great. I learnt a lot in a short time, his driving excellent and vehicle comfortable.

By contrast on the first trip we had a driver who was nice but did not really give us much local information and who's English was average leading to a few miscommunications. He just had a sedan which was fine for short periods but over a number of hours, got uncomfortable. He was arranged through the travel agent.

 

[mushez]

If you're going through Colombo airport, be prepared for disorganisation and not much else.

Second that, just don't forget to buy yourself a refrigerator in duty free, hard not to.

 

[Milboo]

I didn't have any real issues at the airport.

On arrival, tip is to not join the first queues for Arriving Pax - there are desks at the side too. We hit a small delay of 5 mins or so as the computers went down briefly. Queues were orderly - yes had to wait but our flight had been packed.

Luggage was out quick, can't really it being x-rayed and quickly out into Arrivals Hall.

On departure, you do have screening to get into the airport but moves quickly. Check in - it's a busy airport but priority check in for SQ never had more than 1-2 people in it.

Departures queue was slow but again, there were a lot of people moving through.

Airport facilities are extensive with all the usual suspects.

SQ lounges (affiliates) are nothing special but fine for a short stop.

Screening again to get into gate lounges - moved quickly and boarding for SQ was managed well.

 

[Mistysea]

We recently spent 4 weeks in Sri Lanka, mainly in National Parks. We organised it ourselves by train in places and drivers in others. All easy to organise once there. We saw leopards in wilpattu NP our favourite park, but all were good for different reasons. Kumana NP we saw leopard prints we camped in Park overnight and on our way back just missed seeing a bear. Another group had just seen and ranger was excited as they are not seen often.

 

[coyote25]

I visited Sri Lanka back in 2016 between 27 July and 12 August, a few days on a private tour and then completing an On The Go Tours schedule.

https://nathanburgessinsights.com/2...st-of-sri-lanka-and-test-cricket-tour-review/

Unfortunately this was also linked to a chance to see Australia play Sri Lanka in a Test match just got to see them play for 2.5 hours on third day of the Galle Test and that was it

Still a great country to visit.

 

[Danger]

Second that, just don't forget to buy yourself a refrigerator in duty free, hard not to.

Ha. Yes. How could I forget the range of mini Harvey Norman stores in arrivals.

On arrival, tip is to not join the first queues for Arriving Pax - there are desks at the side too. We hit a small delay of 5 mins or so as the computers went down briefly. Queues were orderly - yes had to wait but our flight had been packed.

It wasn't because the power went out, was it? On my first departure the power went out three times while I was going through Immigration, then another handful of times while I was in the lounge.

On departure, you do have screening to get into the airport but moves quickly. Check in - it's a busy airport but priority check in for SQ never had more than 1-2 people in it.

Both times going through the first screening point (the initial point on entering the airport) I set off the detector but the security guards were too busy with other passengers so I wasn't given secondary screening.

 

[mushez]

Ha. Yes. How could I forget the range of mini Harvey Norman stores in arrivals.

It is a very unique thing that stands out as being of Sri Lanka.

I asked a Sri Lankan friend of mine, who lives there - but meet him in Bangkok 10 years ago about it.

He explained to me that the longer a resident of Sri Lanka is away, the more duty free allowance they earn to use upon arriving back - and the savings is normally half buying retail in Sri Lanka.

Not uncommon for one to return back with a shopping list of 3 fridges and 6 washing machines for friends and relatives- as the person has been away a few years so qualify for a bigger allowance.

So they buy and roll them out the airport

 

[Pushka]

We visited Sri Lanka in 1985. For 4 weeks. Right in the middle of the civil war. No need to look for wildlife - it was bad enough on the streets!

Doing a shore excursion on a cruise in a months time then back for a few days in July.

 

[CMak]

Thank you everyone - the replies were very helpful.

 

[1963transtasman]

A few hints that might help
The best lounge at CMB is Emirates and duty free is priced in US $
The taxi fare to and from Colombo Airport is a fixed price .Tell the Driver to take the expressway , its costs about an extra $3
Kangaroo Cabs I have found are reliable and modern , you can download their App
Get a Tourist sim card at the airport for less than $10 , I use Mobitel.
Only change a little money at the airport , I got a better rate at a Jewellers shop in Kandy
Most people hire a Driver but you are best to book your own accommodation !.
In Colombo Tuk Tuks have to use a meter but they try to avoid it, insist the meter is on and use your smartphone GPS to show the driver you know the quickest route!
In Colombo Galle Face Hotel is very good although I stay at the nearby Colombo Swimming Club
Another popular Hotel is the Mount Lavina Hotel but it is about 30 minutes from the cbd .It has its own private beach
There are two Colombo restaurant's in the Top 50 in Asia list , Ministry of Crab and Nihonbashi the later near the Galle Face Hotel
It cost $150 Aus for 4 people with drinks Their Yakatori is the genuine article
If you are going to Kandy which is just fantastic consider getting the Train from Colombo Fort Station , its more peaceful than going by road in my view
There are a couple of good Apps for the train
I always stay at Summit View Guest House which as you can guess has fabulous views
Its about 20 minutes from Kandy and very peaceful , Breakfast on the terrace is a treat and included in the Tariff . Dinner is less than $10 a person.
They arrange day trips to the Tea Estates and other places
Its on air bnb

 

[coyote25]

I visited Sri Lanka just last year with On The Go Tours. My blog entries are here
https://nathanburgessinsights.com/2...st-of-sri-lanka-and-test-cricket-tour-review/

Happy to answer any specific questions.