Most Inspirational Moment
I feel that I should say the elephant safari or the white-water rafting (which were both thrilling), or the iconic train ride through the tea plantations, but my favourite experiences were when we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, with hardly any other tourists around, enjoying the birdsong and the beauty of the landscape.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Mahen was great - he was always smiling and doing his best to make the tour as enjoyable as possible (even if that meant moving the schedule around in view of weather conditions and people's personal preferences). He clearly loves his country and wanted us to love it too - his enthusiasm was infectious.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Pack a decent breathable waterproof and sliders/crocs, whatever the season! We went in what should have been dry season but got thoroughly soaked on more than one occasion. Most people on our tour wore trainers, which were fine but sometimes took over a day to dry out and weren't easy to take on and off when entering temples (especially when wet). Although it is not a physically demanding tour, it is busy and we were glad to have extended our trip by three days on the coast (near Galle). With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had tacked on an extra day before the tour to rest (having not got much sleep on our overnight flight from London) and acclimatise to the heat.