Perry family
England, July 2019
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Wildlife, changing scenery, culture, food and beach.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Hard work just looking in a shop/stall.
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
Fort Bliss, Galle – Great location, clean, good size bedrooms and bathroom, provided bug spray, lovely breakfasts. Good to be able to explore the town on your own.
Kept awake both nights due to the roof flapping. They need to fix the roof.
Wild Trails Yala – Great location, clean, good size tent and bathroom, breakfast good, lunch expensive for what it was, great eating dinner by the fire but chicken over cooked and lots of bones rather than meat. Had two really good walks evening and morning with one of the staff who was very knowledgeable. Suggest bug spray for the room.
Actually would have preferred the safari from Wild Trails as had knowledge of the animals and able to go into Zone 2.
Kudakalliya, Arugum Bay – Great location, clean, stayed in the upstairs part of the bungalow that was open. Shower good but very short for anyone over 5’ 8”. Nice toiletries.
Staff very attentive. Liked going to the market and buying ingredients for the chef to cook. Some of the best food we had.
When we arrived we were given the impression the whole bungalow was ours and we could use the shower downstairs that was much bigger but 4 people turned up second day and stayed in the downstairs room for two nights!! [Kudakalliya is offered as an exclusive accommodation, which should have been provided to our customers. We apologise for the inconvenience and we would have ensured that the Perry family had exclusive use of the bungalow had we been informed at the time.]
Great to be able to use the washing machine. Visit to the tank excellent with a member of staff but would have liked to know the price rather than leave it down to us then be told they wanted more.
[The] Planter's Bungalow, Ella – Great location. Stayed in top garden room with fantastic views. Clean with nice bathroom and kitchen. Good to have a pool and lovely gardens. Tour of garden good. Curry first night was excellent but second night poor with only European food offered - spag bol, pasta, noodles which was a shame. Service not great.
Hanthana House, Kandy – Stayed in top rooms which was lovely. Good views. Clean and good bathrooms. Shower gel would have been nice along with a small fridge. Food great and open to suggestions. They made us feel at home. Again good to be able to use the washing machine.
The Other Corner, Habarana – Great location and had bottom room of tree house. Bedroom and bathroom clean and good. Welcome lovely and food nice. Great to have a swimming pool. Unfortunately they were digging up the site to lay pipes so not very pretty. Two storey tree house fun. A few hammocks would have been perfect. Information about the site would have been useful. Service could have been better.
Palm Garden Village, Anuradhapura – Bungalow was lovely but needed bug spray as Mosquitos about. Room and Bathroom clean and good. Set in lots of trees with a tank at the back. Swimming pool nice.
Food very good. Buffet breakfast was great.
Villa Hundira, Negombo – Lovely setting. Bedroom and bathroom clean and toiletries the best. Dinner and breakfast good. Swimming pool lovely with great loungers. Beautiful Villa. Loved the products produced in the workshop.
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
Anura was pleasant enough and had excellent knowledge on the birdlife and the history of the island. Always turned up on time. Not sure if he liked the heat or generally unfit as did not accompany us much on the holiday.
Driving in the day fine but at night was worrying. Filled the van up with fuel with us when he had plenty of time to do before he met us.
Yala safari hired a driver not a guide and needed binoculars so if not provided by safari then Anura needs to come with a pair. Wanted to finish 30 mins early.
Ella would not take us to Ella Rock so instead did Little Adam Peak. Anura stayed at the bottom. Then he said Lipton’s Seat was too far.
Was not happy to go to Uva Halpe Tea Factory and unaware we should have visited in the morning before 2pm to see the tea being processed.
Not aware of train timetable for the train at 9 Bridges or to Kandy.
Ideally the train journey could have been done in two parts and a night at Nuwara Eliya.
Arrived in Kandy and wanted to go to the shops but not happy to do so.
Visited Temple of the tooth with him but again not keen going to the market or wandering in Kandy.
Visited Dambulla Cave with him. Polonnaruwa we were not given the option of taking the van in so hired bicycles. Chain came off three times then piece of metal lost a nut so had to fix it with some material we found in the rubbish. Due to this took ages to visit the sites and had to move the safari to the next afternoon. Certainly did not have a guided tour like other visitors.
Wanted to be at Sigiriya for 7am after the previous day in the midday sun. Again wanted to go later and did not know when it opened. Never came up with us and we teamed with another guide that we met the previous day showing his client round otherwise would have missed several things.
Changed the safari as the elephants had moved to Kaudulla Park. Something he should have been aware of.
Did not have a free day as did Anuradhapura next morning. He suggested bikes again but we said no. Used van but stayed in the van most of the time. Again two sites closed at midday so never saw them. If we had known would have done those first.
Seemed to want to rush this site as he had a 4 hour drive to Negombo.
Again wanted to go to the airport too early especially as we have reserved our seats.
We felt the guided tour of Sri Lanka was lacking and no room to personalize the holiday to our requirements.
[The comments regarding Anura's behaviour and guiding skills are very disappointing considering his good to excellent performances in the past (see previous customers' feedback). It would appear that he not only let the customers down but himself and Tikalanka during this holiday and we apologise unreservedly to the Perry family for their less than satisfactory experience. On rare occasions customers and guides do not bond during the holiday and we encourage customers to inform us at the time if the relationship is not working so that we may remedy the situation by replacing the guide. Making personal connections across cultures is not always straightforward and empathy cannot be manufactured but behaving unprofessionally is not acceptable. We will discuss these comments with Anura to ensure that he doesn’t underperform in the future.]
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
Flights were good.
Left 1hr 20 mins late from Sri Lanka due to a medical problem and managed to make second flight.
Easy check in without queues.
Only open 36 hours before to book seat. Need to request to reserve seats before you leave Heathrow for return flight.
Any other comments?
Did not have enough time to look around many shops other than Galle.
Hard work finding out how much things were.
Did not feel we had a guided tour of the island. Relied on the DK guide more.
Would have liked to do Ella Rock. Hill opposite Sigiriya and needed another two days to relax after the cultural triangle maybe at Trincomalee.
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