Most Inspirational Moment
Hands down the thing I enjoyed most was visiting Yala. The whole group did a game drive in the afternoon and we were lucky enough to see 2 adolescent leopards. I spotted the first one under a bush having a snooze and was so pleased the group got to see her, for a lot of the group this was their first ever big cat sighting. This was a real treat and very exciting. We had a free morning the next day and I was so fed up by this point with the activities in general that I was going to ask if I could do another drive. Roshan the guide must have read my mind and kindly offered to arrange this for anyone who was interested. 6 of us got up at 5am and never has 'you snooze, you lose' been more fitting. We entered the park at 0600 and saw our first leopard at 0624. The second followed not long after. We then had a glorious 15 minutes with a snuffling, shuffling shaggy sloth bear who was right next to our vehicle and an absolute delight to see. Just when we needed scraped off the ceiling and were on our way to the park gates, we turned a corner to find a lovely, lithe female leopard lounging in the middle of the road. We were the only vehicle there, the driver didn't phone his friends (and got a big tip as a result) and our spotty beauty gave us quite a show for 15 minutes or so. Brilliant. This was all obviously just dumb luck but wow! Climbing Sigirya was fun. The bike ride was also fun as were the local games. I was glad that the family who made our lunch on the bike ride and the banana farmer who hosted the games got to benefit from our visit. Lunch at the tsunami house was a really heartwarming experience and well done to Roshan and Exodus on looking after these people so well in their hour of need. The food here was better than all the boring buffets we had for lunch. Surely there are some more local families on the route we took that could do with a leg up? I'd much rather give a donation in return for some decent food than be overcharged for bland buffets?
Thoughts on Group Leader
Roshan was great. Nice guy, excellent sense of humour. I asked what kind of wasps the scary ones at Sigirya were and was told they were noisy woman eating wasps. Everything ran like clockwork and he really did take care of us very well. Myself and my husband have extended an offer to host him next year as we'd love to return the hospitality.
Advice for Potential Travellers
The Spice Garden is interesting but don't buy anything, you can get it all in the market in Kandy for much less and the amazing, natural hair removing cream is apparently disguised Veet according to the internet! The gem 'museum' wasn't for me. Some of the things were pretty but pressure selling ain't my bag. Same with the wood carving place. If people are wanting to do this sort of thing they could do it in their own time. You can get drinkable coffee in Natural Coffee in Kandy, Cafe Walk in Kandy (also does epic chocolate cake), Barista Lavazza in Ella and Heritage Cafe in Galle. Otherwise stick to tea. The beach town was a total dump with open sewers and nowt to do. Get a tuk tuk to Galle for the day or Unawatuna where it is much nicer to hang out. Take English pounds sterling and change at the airport. Don't let people take the piss out of you with prices for tuk tuks etc. Agree in advance and walk away if it's too much. Same with the markets etc. Nice shops were few and far between but Odel Luv SL in Kandy at the Queen's Hotel (another branch in Galle), Barefoot in Galle and generally pretty much all of the shops in Galle were really good. Calorie Counter in Galle was lovely for lunch despite the slightly off putting name! Lovely juices. When staying at the massive disappointment that is the Hill Club in Nuwara Eliya, don't bother with dinner there. I was really looking forward to dressing up and pretending to be posh but the meal was the worst of the trip. Go out of the hotel, turn right and in 5 minutes you'll be at the Grand Hotel which has an Indian restaurant which delivered the best meal of the trip. Get the murgh mahkini. The Thai restaurant and coffee shop in the same hotel are also lovely, all have entrances on the road, no need to go into the hotel.
Reply from Exodus
We would like to thank Ruth for her review, although we are sorry to hear that she did not enjoy Sri Lanka as a destination and sincerely regret that some aspects of this tour fell below her expectations. The accommodation on the first night and the last night for this trip will be changed for 2018 departures based on the feedback that we have received and while the Hill Club is a hotel that splits opinion, our groups tend to love its character and quirkiness.
Animal welfare is an important part of the Exodus Responsible Tourism policy; we are reassessing the visit to the turtle hatchery and we are monitoring the feedback we receive about the game drives to ensure our animal welfare objectives are met. We are discussing both inclusions further with our local partner and will take necessary steps to ensure these remain responsible options for inclusion.
John Penge – Product Manager