I have just returned from about a months traveling in Sri Lanka (may 17th – june 13th) and wrote down some information concerning prices, hotels, etc. Prices have gone way up since the last Lonely Planet edition. As far as I know a new edition on Sri Lanka is going in print so hopefully some of this info can be of any use for travelers heading for Sri Lanka before that..
We travelled from Negombo via Kitulgala - Kandy - Dambulla - Sigiria - Polonnaruwa - Ella - Haputale - Kirinda (Yala) - Polhena - Mirissa - Galle - Sinharaja - Ratnapura - to Colombo. Under the places visited I put a short list of (only some of the!) birds we saw. However not in any official order but at random, taken straight from my notes… this is only ment to give an impression of the birds/animals you might spot at that particular place.
100 Rupias (RPS) is about the equivalent of 1 dollar at the moment.
Negombo: Icebearhotel - roomrates from 1800 to 3000 RPS (we had an off-season discount from 25 %). Tax is 10% extra. Nice place, clean, lovely garden and excellent curries. One breakfast option is muesli with buffalo-curd, fruit and edible hibiscusflowers, very good. You can use the (rattling) bikes for free. We cycled to Ja-Ela to take a trip on the Muthurajawelamarsh. The guide at the marsh was good, many waterbirds. We saw some nice birds in and around Negombo.
Asian Koel
Largebilled crow
Oriental magpie-robin
Longbilled sunbird
Common myna
Greater coucal
Whistling duck
Brahminy kite
Purple heron
Striated heron
Cattle egret
Yellow bittern
Indian pond heron
Little cormorant
Intermediate egret
Purple swamphen
Whiskered tern
Storkbilled kingfisher
Pied kingfisher
Whitethroated kingfisher
Indian roller
Kitulgala: we stayed at Sisira's River Lounge which is not yet in any guide as far as I know. This place is absolutely breathtaking! :t: It's within an easy 2 km walking distance of Kitulgala, in the hills. Sisira's place has 2 clean cabanas with net and fan, each sleeping up to 2 people. Both cabanas have good cold showers, one without a roof; you more or less shower with the jungle around you, nice experience. Sisira's place is situated above the river and the views over the jungle and the river below are wonderful. We are quite interested in birds and I would certainly recommend this place to any birder going to Sri Lanka. Mr. Sisira's service even goes as far as to wake you up at 5.00 in the morning when a Green-billed Coucal, Oriental Dwarfkingfisher or Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill is somewhere in his garden. (Thank god this service is optional!). Many endemic birds can be found right on the premisses.
We payed 39$ per night for 2 people FB (this was low season: high season might be more), this is including a good breakfast and a superb dinner (Mr Sisira used to be a cook). 39$ isn’t a bargain but when you are drinking a beer on your private balcony, with a view over the river you'll never forget, helpful staff and excellent food…. it’s well worth it.
Maybe it’s not for the fainthearted as there are large crab- and woodspiders :C (obviously as the cabanas are in the forest) and some leeches are present as well, but you can just wipe them off, they do not cause any diseases like ticks do. Anyway, the stunning view and the possibilities for walking, rafting and birding in the area make well up for that. The adress is: Police Station Rd, Oruthota, Kitulgala
tel/fax: 036 228 7793 - mobile: 077 3500 697.
Around Sisira’s Riverlounge:
Grey hornbill
Junglefowl
Greenbilled coucal
Yellowbilled babbler
Yellowfronted barbet
Oriental dwarfkingfisher
Around Kitulgala:
Spotwinged thrush
Srilankan woodpigeon
Pompadour green pigeon
Emerald dove
Red-vented bulbul
Black bulbul
Alexandrine parakeet
Blackhooded oriole
(+ tarantula, bearmonkeys, watermonitor, makaques)
Kandy: Royal Botanical Gardens (300 RPS per person). This is definitely worth the money, however, even inside the park you will not be ''safe from touts''. Men at work in the park will point out the flying-foxes to you (even if you had already spotted them a mile away) and expect some money for pointing out these bats (or rather: you pay them about 30 RPS to get rid of them..). Still; these fabulous gardens are absolutely worth some time! Many stunningly big trees and interesting plants.
Kandy: Temple of the tooth. Interesting and worthwile although the endless securitychecks are a bit tiring. Watch out for ‘helpful men’ that will tell you where to take off your shoes: once you do take them off you've hired yourself a guide. Also don't be fooled by the visitorsbook you need to sign. A small donation for visiting the temples on the premises is normal, however they put a '0' behind every donation before yours which makes you believe that all visitors donated at least 500 or 1000 RPS thus feeling obliged to do the same. (Luckily you'll be blessed with coconut oil for your 'voluntary donation' which will protect you from any furter inconveniences in your future life...
+ big black scorpion, hundreds of flying foxes, many toads, frogs and lizards
We took an ordinary bus from Kandy to Dambulla (50 RPS pp). According to various people we asked the aircon busses to Dambulla /Anuradhapura are not running anymore. We could not find out whether this is permanent or not.
Dambulla rocktemples are 500 RPS per person. Beautiful and well worth the money.
We took a tuk-tuk to Sigiria for 800 RPS (22 km). It seems they ask an average of about 40 RPS per km in Sri Lanka. Within cities this can be a little more.
Sigiria: stayed at the Flower Inn. We found this a very pleasant place with friendly owners.
A livingroom with fridge and tv (next to the rooms) is free to use for guests. We payed 1500 RPS for a very large (clean) double room with hot shower and net + fan. Normally you can eat there but the owners father just passed away so she asked us to be excused from preparing us dinner. We tried the New Sigiri Café but this place only serves as a little supermarket and we could not eat there (anymore). Neither can you eat in the Nilminilodge when you're not actually staying there. So we ended up in the Rest House where they served excellent curries with pumpkin, flowers, mangochutney, grained coconut and god knows what else for 400RPS + tax.
The entrance to Sigiria rock is 20$. Quite a lot of money…. Luckily we saw a large snake coming down from the beautiful frescoes so that was a bonus. Off season it's not at all crowded. (However this might be due to the present LTT problems: many tourists stay away). The gardens outside the entrancegate are very nice and teeming with life; landmonitors, various monkeys, green bee-eaters, white-throated kingfishers etc. In the evening we heard many owls as well. This is a pleasant walk for the late afternoon before heading to the Rest House for a cold evening beer.. and it's free as well!
Little green bee-eater
Spotted dove
Whitebrowed wagtail
Blackbacked robin
Whitebrowed fantail
Purple sunbird
Purplerumped sunbird
Scalybreasted munia
+ landmonitors, snakes
Minnerya: nice Nt. park but we weren't very impressed: the obligatory guide was chattering in his mobile phone scaring away any animal in sight. Worse: he kept trying to sell us other trips and tours during the whole drive. He didn't shut up and wasn’t very knowledgeable. It's too bad that some Nt. Parks ask huge amounts of money whilst giving you an unexperienced tout in return as the obligatory tracker. Despite this crap we managed to see one elephant but later on we saw many wild elephants crossing the road (travelling by bus from Polonaruwa to Ella) so I would personally not spend my money on Minneriya again. Wildlife is better in Yala anyway.
Asian paradise flycatcher
Greyheaded fisheagle
Whiterumped shama
Bluefaced malkoha
Malabar pied hornbill
Greater coucal
Indian peafowl
Serpent eagle
Fishing owl
Blackcrowned nightheron
Blackheaded ibis
Greybreasted prinia
Little grebe
White-necked stork
Rockpigeon
+ elephant, wild boar, spotted deer, blacknaped hare
Polonnaruwa: the site is 20 $ pp (!). Watch out when you pay the entrance. They charged us 40$ per person. When we refused to pay anything else than the standard 20$ the ticketguy started uttering some lame excuse about cultural triangle tickets. He knew we did not want this ticket but tried anyway (however at the same time he handed us the standard 20$ ticket). The site is best do-able by bike, distances are big. Stayed at the Resthouse, which was expensive for Sri Lankan standards (45$, best double room!) but good value and beautiful views over the tank (lake).
Ella: We stayed at the Beauty Mount Tourist Inn. (The first night we slept in Ambiente but found it to be a little too touristy. The views in Ambiente are superb but you must be willing to share these with the couples sitting right next door to you). The Beauty Mount Tourist Inn is relaxed, no pushy questions or ‘advices’ but sincerely friendly in my opinion.
The owner, mr J. recently build a new (second) cottage. We stayed in the new one (1250 RPS per night) which is spacious, has lots of privacy, a hammock, brandnew bathroom, net and fan. It overlooks the beautiful garden and is a very pleasant place to stay. The elder cottage on top of the hill (1500 RPS per night with kitchen) is good but a little run down. We ate some of the best curries here (on the last night 9 different curries + desert for 250 RPS). His wife spends the whole afternoon in the kitchen.
From Ella we wanted to go to Yala but at the same time wanted to avoid Tissa. Mr. J adviced us to go to Kirinda instead. We hired a cheap driver (ask for his 70+ nephew Samie, a friendly and reliable driver). The drive to Kirinda took us 3,5 hours including a few stops and cost us 2700 RPS. This was cheap compared to prices asked anywhere else in SL. For a 2 to 3,5 hour-drive prices asked were at least 30 to 40$. We tried to haggle down the prices but they never went down for more than 500 RPS. For a of 3 to 5 hours drive they charged about 45 to 60 $ (dieselvans without airco). We thought these prices were a rip-off but apparently gasolineprices have gone up and many local and foreign people told us these were the standard prices.
Around Ella:
Oriental white-eye
Hillmyna
Whitebellied drongo
Brownheaded barbet
Streakthroated woodpecker
Whitebellied fisheagle
Oriental skylark
Blackrumped flameback
Velvetfronted nuthatch
Jerdons leafbird
Red-rumped swallow
Goldenronted leafbird
(cameleon and huge unidentified squirrel))
Kirinda (Yala): We stayed at Suduweli which is a very relaxed place (Most expensive cabana 1500 RPS, rooms about 800 RPS, owner Shantha is building 2 new cabanas at the moment). Driving from Ella to Kirinda we were pulled over by 4 guys (I could smell a tout from miles away) who claimed that Shantha was in Germany, Shantha’s place was closed, they worked at Suduweli but it was destroyed by the Tsunami.. in short: they had three different stories. We told them they were full off shit and Mr. J. drove on. Ofcourse Suduweli was open as can be and we were welcomed by Shantha with cold drinks and cookies.
We found Suduweli a wonderful place where you woke up with wild peafowl in front of your cabana! We certainly hope that the next edition of the LP will mention all the scams and lies that the ‘touristmaffia’ in Tissa come up with to ‘steal’ Suduweli’s customers. (these touts even offered our driver 20 dollars to hand us over to them! In Sinhalese ofcourse..).
A whole day safari arranged by Shantha cost 65 $ (2 people, not including the entrance to Yala). I am convinced this is a far better deal than visiting Yala with some safaritout and 10 other tourists packed in a van like sardines. We passed by some tours that were heading into the park about 4’o clock in the afternoon and again near the entrance at 17.30 going out again! Most tourists didn’t even see an elephant which isn’t that awkward considering they only spent about 2 hours in the park and they were driving in a row of 8 jeeps….
We started at 6 a.m. at the gate and came out at 18.15. At midday we had a lunch and siesta in the river where we saw a lesser adjudant. We saw lots of wildlife with a leopard as highlight at 15.00 pm (no other tourists around at that time! We had the park and the animals all to ourselves).
Around Kirinda:
Red wattled lapwing
Yellowwattled lapwing
Black bittern
Spotbilled pelican
Painted stork
Lesser adjudant
Pheasanttailed jacana
Asian openbill
Eurasian spoonbill
Oriental darter
Changeable hawkeagle
Crested serpenteagle
Pallid harrier
Great thicknee
Stone curlew
Longbilled sunbird
Plumheaded parakeet
Chestnutheaded bee-eater
Small minivet
Tawnybellied babbler
Tickells blue flycatcher
Paddyfield pipit
Blackcapped yellow bulbul
+ a bat, in the room, flying over our beds
+ in Yala: leopard, ruddy-nosed mongoose, sambadeer, spotted deer, wild boar, makaque, purplefaced langur, blacknaped hare, elephant, tuskerelephant, muggercrocodile, wild buffalo, jackals.
Galle: We stayed at Mrs. Khalid’s Guesthouse. At first sight it looks like a nice colonial-style place. We had a (very clean) room at the front with shared balcony partly overlooking the ramparts, a good shower and nice furniture (2500 for a double with view, cheaper rooms available too). However, once we’d checked in a surprise showed up: a sign (only visible once you’ve checked in and shut the door) saying: ‘Please don’t consume any liquor or other intoxicants in this room or on the balcony, say NO to alcohol!!’. This in a room with a superb balcony that just screams for a cold beer! B
Dinner was served at one big table, together with the other guests/tourists who were quietly sipping their glasses of water while Mrs. Khalid said a prayer… With regular intervals a relative stepped on our balcony where we were reading a book and drinking a glass of water (what else). We had the awkward feeling that this guy was actually checking out whether we were secretly drinking a beer. Brrrr.. We felt like spending the night at our mother-in-laws instead of being on a holiday! Maybe some people actually like this atmosphere but I would certainly not have stayed there if I’d known this beforehand.
So next day we switched to the Rampart View Hotel in Galle which had a thorough facelift: it’s all painted inside and out. Brandnew airco and showerheater in the room and all was clean as well. All this for less money than at Mrs Khalids (2200RPS for a double room at the front, cheaper ones are available too). As a bonus it has superb views over the ramparts and the sea and there’s even a roofterrace with benches where you can (finally..) enjoy that cold beer with a magnificent view. We found this place very good value (a big bag of very smelly laundry cost us 350 RPS). The owner and his wife are friendly and helpful.
Rampart View
Rampart street 37
091 438 0566
[email protected]
[email protected]
(don’t know if ‘Rampartview’ is either one word or two)
Sinharaja: from Galle we went to Sinharaja, Martin Wijesinghes place in Kudawa. We did this by tuk-tuk which is not advisable since it took us 10 hours… However, there is a lot to see from a tuk-tuk and the breezy transport is a bonus. We were a bit disappointed in Sinharaja. After spending some time in the Amazon it doesn’t seem that impressive. Many leeches in Sinharaja as well. Still, there is some good birding there. We found Martin Wijesinghes place a bit overpriced at 2000 RPS for a very basic room. Especially since there was a group of 12 US students at the same time we were there so we could not hear or see any birds on the premises due to their continuous chitchat. There is a net and fan and solarheated hot water but the rooms are tiny and very simple. Meals were also rather expensive (400 RPS for a rather simple cold buffetstyle- curry)..
In Sinharaja forest:
Ceylon crested drongo
Malabar trogon
Whitefaced starling
Blue magpie
Orangebilled babbler
(kangaroolizard and many other reptiles)
Intercitybus Ratnapura – Colombo: 135 RPS
In Colombo we ended our final night in style at the Grand Oriental Hotel: 70 dollar for a standard room, 80 for a better deluxe room, 120+ for a suite, all including breakfast and no taxes were added when we left). All rooms have airco and hot water, deluxe rooms are bigger than standard rooms and have a view on the harbour. The place still has charm, the rooms all have some colonial furniture (we saw 3 different rooms) and the waiters were all dressed-up as sailors. Breakfast was huge. We felt very out of place there, arriving in bloodstained clothes (leeches) and they even had us pay our bill in advance.. Maybe this is standard procedure but we were under the impression that we didn’t look posh enough (which was true) and that they were afraid that we would lack the cash (which was not true for once).
We had a very nice time in Sri Lanka. The political situation is not (yet) a problem in the Southern half of Sri Lanka (apart from the obviously present military all over Colombo). All we noticed were the many roadblocks and military near Pollonaruwa and later on the army checking out some roads in Yala with landminedetectors (this was after the attack on local tourists in Wilpattu Nt. Park). However, the locals were all very concerned about the current situation and they stressed that Tamils, Muslims and Buddhists always lived peacefully together. I hope this information will be helpful to other travelers.
We travelled from Negombo via Kitulgala - Kandy - Dambulla - Sigiria - Polonnaruwa - Ella - Haputale - Kirinda (Yala) - Polhena - Mirissa - Galle - Sinharaja - Ratnapura - to Colombo. Under the places visited I put a short list of (only some of the!) birds we saw. However not in any official order but at random, taken straight from my notes… this is only ment to give an impression of the birds/animals you might spot at that particular place.
100 Rupias (RPS) is about the equivalent of 1 dollar at the moment.
Negombo: Icebearhotel - roomrates from 1800 to 3000 RPS (we had an off-season discount from 25 %). Tax is 10% extra. Nice place, clean, lovely garden and excellent curries. One breakfast option is muesli with buffalo-curd, fruit and edible hibiscusflowers, very good. You can use the (rattling) bikes for free. We cycled to Ja-Ela to take a trip on the Muthurajawelamarsh. The guide at the marsh was good, many waterbirds. We saw some nice birds in and around Negombo.
Asian Koel
Largebilled crow
Oriental magpie-robin
Longbilled sunbird
Common myna
Greater coucal
Whistling duck
Brahminy kite
Purple heron
Striated heron
Cattle egret
Yellow bittern
Indian pond heron
Little cormorant
Intermediate egret
Purple swamphen
Whiskered tern
Storkbilled kingfisher
Pied kingfisher
Whitethroated kingfisher
Indian roller
Kitulgala: we stayed at Sisira's River Lounge which is not yet in any guide as far as I know. This place is absolutely breathtaking! :t: It's within an easy 2 km walking distance of Kitulgala, in the hills. Sisira's place has 2 clean cabanas with net and fan, each sleeping up to 2 people. Both cabanas have good cold showers, one without a roof; you more or less shower with the jungle around you, nice experience. Sisira's place is situated above the river and the views over the jungle and the river below are wonderful. We are quite interested in birds and I would certainly recommend this place to any birder going to Sri Lanka. Mr. Sisira's service even goes as far as to wake you up at 5.00 in the morning when a Green-billed Coucal, Oriental Dwarfkingfisher or Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill is somewhere in his garden. (Thank god this service is optional!). Many endemic birds can be found right on the premisses.
We payed 39$ per night for 2 people FB (this was low season: high season might be more), this is including a good breakfast and a superb dinner (Mr Sisira used to be a cook). 39$ isn’t a bargain but when you are drinking a beer on your private balcony, with a view over the river you'll never forget, helpful staff and excellent food…. it’s well worth it.
Maybe it’s not for the fainthearted as there are large crab- and woodspiders :C (obviously as the cabanas are in the forest) and some leeches are present as well, but you can just wipe them off, they do not cause any diseases like ticks do. Anyway, the stunning view and the possibilities for walking, rafting and birding in the area make well up for that. The adress is: Police Station Rd, Oruthota, Kitulgala
tel/fax: 036 228 7793 - mobile: 077 3500 697.
Around Sisira’s Riverlounge:
Grey hornbill
Junglefowl
Greenbilled coucal
Yellowbilled babbler
Yellowfronted barbet
Oriental dwarfkingfisher
Around Kitulgala:
Spotwinged thrush
Srilankan woodpigeon
Pompadour green pigeon
Emerald dove
Red-vented bulbul
Black bulbul
Alexandrine parakeet
Blackhooded oriole
(+ tarantula, bearmonkeys, watermonitor, makaques)
Kandy: Royal Botanical Gardens (300 RPS per person). This is definitely worth the money, however, even inside the park you will not be ''safe from touts''. Men at work in the park will point out the flying-foxes to you (even if you had already spotted them a mile away) and expect some money for pointing out these bats (or rather: you pay them about 30 RPS to get rid of them..). Still; these fabulous gardens are absolutely worth some time! Many stunningly big trees and interesting plants.
Kandy: Temple of the tooth. Interesting and worthwile although the endless securitychecks are a bit tiring. Watch out for ‘helpful men’ that will tell you where to take off your shoes: once you do take them off you've hired yourself a guide. Also don't be fooled by the visitorsbook you need to sign. A small donation for visiting the temples on the premises is normal, however they put a '0' behind every donation before yours which makes you believe that all visitors donated at least 500 or 1000 RPS thus feeling obliged to do the same. (Luckily you'll be blessed with coconut oil for your 'voluntary donation' which will protect you from any furter inconveniences in your future life...
+ big black scorpion, hundreds of flying foxes, many toads, frogs and lizards
We took an ordinary bus from Kandy to Dambulla (50 RPS pp). According to various people we asked the aircon busses to Dambulla /Anuradhapura are not running anymore. We could not find out whether this is permanent or not.
Dambulla rocktemples are 500 RPS per person. Beautiful and well worth the money.
We took a tuk-tuk to Sigiria for 800 RPS (22 km). It seems they ask an average of about 40 RPS per km in Sri Lanka. Within cities this can be a little more.
Sigiria: stayed at the Flower Inn. We found this a very pleasant place with friendly owners.
A livingroom with fridge and tv (next to the rooms) is free to use for guests. We payed 1500 RPS for a very large (clean) double room with hot shower and net + fan. Normally you can eat there but the owners father just passed away so she asked us to be excused from preparing us dinner. We tried the New Sigiri Café but this place only serves as a little supermarket and we could not eat there (anymore). Neither can you eat in the Nilminilodge when you're not actually staying there. So we ended up in the Rest House where they served excellent curries with pumpkin, flowers, mangochutney, grained coconut and god knows what else for 400RPS + tax.
The entrance to Sigiria rock is 20$. Quite a lot of money…. Luckily we saw a large snake coming down from the beautiful frescoes so that was a bonus. Off season it's not at all crowded. (However this might be due to the present LTT problems: many tourists stay away). The gardens outside the entrancegate are very nice and teeming with life; landmonitors, various monkeys, green bee-eaters, white-throated kingfishers etc. In the evening we heard many owls as well. This is a pleasant walk for the late afternoon before heading to the Rest House for a cold evening beer.. and it's free as well!
Little green bee-eater
Spotted dove
Whitebrowed wagtail
Blackbacked robin
Whitebrowed fantail
Purple sunbird
Purplerumped sunbird
Scalybreasted munia
+ landmonitors, snakes
Minnerya: nice Nt. park but we weren't very impressed: the obligatory guide was chattering in his mobile phone scaring away any animal in sight. Worse: he kept trying to sell us other trips and tours during the whole drive. He didn't shut up and wasn’t very knowledgeable. It's too bad that some Nt. Parks ask huge amounts of money whilst giving you an unexperienced tout in return as the obligatory tracker. Despite this crap we managed to see one elephant but later on we saw many wild elephants crossing the road (travelling by bus from Polonaruwa to Ella) so I would personally not spend my money on Minneriya again. Wildlife is better in Yala anyway.
Asian paradise flycatcher
Greyheaded fisheagle
Whiterumped shama
Bluefaced malkoha
Malabar pied hornbill
Greater coucal
Indian peafowl
Serpent eagle
Fishing owl
Blackcrowned nightheron
Blackheaded ibis
Greybreasted prinia
Little grebe
White-necked stork
Rockpigeon
+ elephant, wild boar, spotted deer, blacknaped hare
Polonnaruwa: the site is 20 $ pp (!). Watch out when you pay the entrance. They charged us 40$ per person. When we refused to pay anything else than the standard 20$ the ticketguy started uttering some lame excuse about cultural triangle tickets. He knew we did not want this ticket but tried anyway (however at the same time he handed us the standard 20$ ticket). The site is best do-able by bike, distances are big. Stayed at the Resthouse, which was expensive for Sri Lankan standards (45$, best double room!) but good value and beautiful views over the tank (lake).
Ella: We stayed at the Beauty Mount Tourist Inn. (The first night we slept in Ambiente but found it to be a little too touristy. The views in Ambiente are superb but you must be willing to share these with the couples sitting right next door to you). The Beauty Mount Tourist Inn is relaxed, no pushy questions or ‘advices’ but sincerely friendly in my opinion.
The owner, mr J. recently build a new (second) cottage. We stayed in the new one (1250 RPS per night) which is spacious, has lots of privacy, a hammock, brandnew bathroom, net and fan. It overlooks the beautiful garden and is a very pleasant place to stay. The elder cottage on top of the hill (1500 RPS per night with kitchen) is good but a little run down. We ate some of the best curries here (on the last night 9 different curries + desert for 250 RPS). His wife spends the whole afternoon in the kitchen.
From Ella we wanted to go to Yala but at the same time wanted to avoid Tissa. Mr. J adviced us to go to Kirinda instead. We hired a cheap driver (ask for his 70+ nephew Samie, a friendly and reliable driver). The drive to Kirinda took us 3,5 hours including a few stops and cost us 2700 RPS. This was cheap compared to prices asked anywhere else in SL. For a 2 to 3,5 hour-drive prices asked were at least 30 to 40$. We tried to haggle down the prices but they never went down for more than 500 RPS. For a of 3 to 5 hours drive they charged about 45 to 60 $ (dieselvans without airco). We thought these prices were a rip-off but apparently gasolineprices have gone up and many local and foreign people told us these were the standard prices.
Around Ella:
Oriental white-eye
Hillmyna
Whitebellied drongo
Brownheaded barbet
Streakthroated woodpecker
Whitebellied fisheagle
Oriental skylark
Blackrumped flameback
Velvetfronted nuthatch
Jerdons leafbird
Red-rumped swallow
Goldenronted leafbird
(cameleon and huge unidentified squirrel))
Kirinda (Yala): We stayed at Suduweli which is a very relaxed place (Most expensive cabana 1500 RPS, rooms about 800 RPS, owner Shantha is building 2 new cabanas at the moment). Driving from Ella to Kirinda we were pulled over by 4 guys (I could smell a tout from miles away) who claimed that Shantha was in Germany, Shantha’s place was closed, they worked at Suduweli but it was destroyed by the Tsunami.. in short: they had three different stories. We told them they were full off shit and Mr. J. drove on. Ofcourse Suduweli was open as can be and we were welcomed by Shantha with cold drinks and cookies.
We found Suduweli a wonderful place where you woke up with wild peafowl in front of your cabana! We certainly hope that the next edition of the LP will mention all the scams and lies that the ‘touristmaffia’ in Tissa come up with to ‘steal’ Suduweli’s customers. (these touts even offered our driver 20 dollars to hand us over to them! In Sinhalese ofcourse..).
A whole day safari arranged by Shantha cost 65 $ (2 people, not including the entrance to Yala). I am convinced this is a far better deal than visiting Yala with some safaritout and 10 other tourists packed in a van like sardines. We passed by some tours that were heading into the park about 4’o clock in the afternoon and again near the entrance at 17.30 going out again! Most tourists didn’t even see an elephant which isn’t that awkward considering they only spent about 2 hours in the park and they were driving in a row of 8 jeeps….
We started at 6 a.m. at the gate and came out at 18.15. At midday we had a lunch and siesta in the river where we saw a lesser adjudant. We saw lots of wildlife with a leopard as highlight at 15.00 pm (no other tourists around at that time! We had the park and the animals all to ourselves).
Around Kirinda:
Red wattled lapwing
Yellowwattled lapwing
Black bittern
Spotbilled pelican
Painted stork
Lesser adjudant
Pheasanttailed jacana
Asian openbill
Eurasian spoonbill
Oriental darter
Changeable hawkeagle
Crested serpenteagle
Pallid harrier
Great thicknee
Stone curlew
Longbilled sunbird
Plumheaded parakeet
Chestnutheaded bee-eater
Small minivet
Tawnybellied babbler
Tickells blue flycatcher
Paddyfield pipit
Blackcapped yellow bulbul
+ a bat, in the room, flying over our beds
+ in Yala: leopard, ruddy-nosed mongoose, sambadeer, spotted deer, wild boar, makaque, purplefaced langur, blacknaped hare, elephant, tuskerelephant, muggercrocodile, wild buffalo, jackals.
Galle: We stayed at Mrs. Khalid’s Guesthouse. At first sight it looks like a nice colonial-style place. We had a (very clean) room at the front with shared balcony partly overlooking the ramparts, a good shower and nice furniture (2500 for a double with view, cheaper rooms available too). However, once we’d checked in a surprise showed up: a sign (only visible once you’ve checked in and shut the door) saying: ‘Please don’t consume any liquor or other intoxicants in this room or on the balcony, say NO to alcohol!!’. This in a room with a superb balcony that just screams for a cold beer! B
Dinner was served at one big table, together with the other guests/tourists who were quietly sipping their glasses of water while Mrs. Khalid said a prayer… With regular intervals a relative stepped on our balcony where we were reading a book and drinking a glass of water (what else). We had the awkward feeling that this guy was actually checking out whether we were secretly drinking a beer. Brrrr.. We felt like spending the night at our mother-in-laws instead of being on a holiday! Maybe some people actually like this atmosphere but I would certainly not have stayed there if I’d known this beforehand.
So next day we switched to the Rampart View Hotel in Galle which had a thorough facelift: it’s all painted inside and out. Brandnew airco and showerheater in the room and all was clean as well. All this for less money than at Mrs Khalids (2200RPS for a double room at the front, cheaper ones are available too). As a bonus it has superb views over the ramparts and the sea and there’s even a roofterrace with benches where you can (finally..) enjoy that cold beer with a magnificent view. We found this place very good value (a big bag of very smelly laundry cost us 350 RPS). The owner and his wife are friendly and helpful.
Rampart View
Rampart street 37
091 438 0566
[email protected]
[email protected]
(don’t know if ‘Rampartview’ is either one word or two)
Sinharaja: from Galle we went to Sinharaja, Martin Wijesinghes place in Kudawa. We did this by tuk-tuk which is not advisable since it took us 10 hours… However, there is a lot to see from a tuk-tuk and the breezy transport is a bonus. We were a bit disappointed in Sinharaja. After spending some time in the Amazon it doesn’t seem that impressive. Many leeches in Sinharaja as well. Still, there is some good birding there. We found Martin Wijesinghes place a bit overpriced at 2000 RPS for a very basic room. Especially since there was a group of 12 US students at the same time we were there so we could not hear or see any birds on the premises due to their continuous chitchat. There is a net and fan and solarheated hot water but the rooms are tiny and very simple. Meals were also rather expensive (400 RPS for a rather simple cold buffetstyle- curry)..
In Sinharaja forest:
Ceylon crested drongo
Malabar trogon
Whitefaced starling
Blue magpie
Orangebilled babbler
(kangaroolizard and many other reptiles)
Intercitybus Ratnapura – Colombo: 135 RPS
In Colombo we ended our final night in style at the Grand Oriental Hotel: 70 dollar for a standard room, 80 for a better deluxe room, 120+ for a suite, all including breakfast and no taxes were added when we left). All rooms have airco and hot water, deluxe rooms are bigger than standard rooms and have a view on the harbour. The place still has charm, the rooms all have some colonial furniture (we saw 3 different rooms) and the waiters were all dressed-up as sailors. Breakfast was huge. We felt very out of place there, arriving in bloodstained clothes (leeches) and they even had us pay our bill in advance.. Maybe this is standard procedure but we were under the impression that we didn’t look posh enough (which was true) and that they were afraid that we would lack the cash (which was not true for once).
We had a very nice time in Sri Lanka. The political situation is not (yet) a problem in the Southern half of Sri Lanka (apart from the obviously present military all over Colombo). All we noticed were the many roadblocks and military near Pollonaruwa and later on the army checking out some roads in Yala with landminedetectors (this was after the attack on local tourists in Wilpattu Nt. Park). However, the locals were all very concerned about the current situation and they stressed that Tamils, Muslims and Buddhists always lived peacefully together. I hope this information will be helpful to other travelers.
