Reviews

Wonderful Sri Lanka

I loved this trip, a beautiful Country, very friendly people, a great leader and another wonderful Group of people to share it with. One of my best Exodus trips.

Disappointing

This was my first Exodus trip since lockdown and was highly anticipated. Unfortunately I came home feeling that the holiday just hadn’t lived up to my expectations. The hotels were situated well outside of towns and almost every evening the group meals were in the hotel restaurant. Because we were a full group of 18 (the largest group I have travelled with in my 20+ group tours) the hotels served buffet meals. I have not come across this on previous trips and I was disappointed that we did not get many opportunities to visit local restaurants. In some hotels there was the option to order from the a la carte menu but this usually meant a wait of over an hour before food was served.
The itinerary was changed for day 10 a few days before the trip started – this meant a 6am start for hiking on Horton Plains. This was followed by a train ride from Ella to Badulla rather than from Bandarawela to Ella and this meant that we missed the scenic train journey to Ella and, by the time we were picked up at Badulla for the drive to Katharagama via Ella, we did not get any views at Ella Gap because it was evening and too dark to see. We did not reach the hotel that evening until after 8pm so the itinerary for that day needs a rethink.
On day 13 almost everyone in the group went whale watching. A private boat was arranged by the guide and trip notes suggested that the larger commercial boats do not always respect the welfare of the animals. As a group we were concerned and disappointed to find that all the whale watching boats, including our boat, chased after the whales and dolphins if any were spotted. I appreciate that this is a difficult situation as we have all paid to go whale watching and obviously want to see something but the noise and pollution from 20 boats chasing around trying to get a good view cannot be environmentally sound practice and is perhaps an optional activity that Exodus should reconsider.

Most Inspirational Moment

Meeting and talking to the local people.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Roshan was a good guide however he lacked the sparkle and enthusiasm that I have come to expect from Exodus guides. I think this could simply be because he does back to back Exodus tours and is probably exhausted. As soon as our trip finished he was off to start the next trip. He answered all queries and questions with a smile but it almost felt as if we were having to raise the issues and it would have been good to find out more about the country and people today.

Advice for Potential Travellers

A good trip and covers a lot of ground. When there is the opportunity try and eat in local restaurants - cheaper and far better food. Take plenty insect repellant.

Reply from Exodus

Thank you for taking the time to submit a review, Linda, although we were saddened to learn that your most recent Exodus holiday did not meet your expectations in some areas. We try to select small, independently run hotels that offer a more personal service, in keeping with our commitments to support local communities. In many of the locations this tour takes in, particularly in the “cultural triangle” region, we are extremely limited in terms of centrally located accommodation options which offer suitable quality, and many of the nearby towns and villages tend to feature hotels that are either unable to host groups of our size or provide unsuitable menu options for tourists. Where possible, our leaders are happy to suggest local restaurants, although we have found that service can be very slow, which is why groups usually prefer to dine at their hotel. Although we endeavour to maintain the itinerary as described in our literature, the nature of adventure travel is one that sometimes requires last-minute changes due to various factors, for example local festivities or adverse weather impacting the standard activities. Our leaders will always try their best to avoid any significant disruption to the itinerary and have a “plan b” to ensure the trip can continue as smoothly as possible and we sincerely hope this was the case on your trip.  We are proud of our responsible travel ethos and were, therefore, regretful to hear of your concern regarding the whale watching activity. This is something we have been monitoring very closely with our local operator and we are actively looking into viable ways to encourage better practice across the industry. We recognise the impact our tour leaders have on our customers’ overall enjoyment of a trip, so we were sorry to hear that Roshan missed the mark for you. He is one of our best-performing leaders across all our trips and has been a regular nominee and past winner of our Leader of the Year Award. Nevertheless, it’s disappointing that your experience of him fell somewhat short and we will address this with Roshan ahead of future trips he leads. We sincerely hope that this has not discouraged you from travelling with us again as we’ve hugely appreciated your loyalty and wish that you will give us another chance.

 

Sarah Puttnam, Product Manager

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The Discover Sri Lanka trip was a wonderful combination of culture, activities and rest.

Fantastic trip

This was a good way to see all Sri Lanka has to offer.

Excellent all round trip, Highly Recommended.

Trip was very diverse with a great bunch of travelling companions.
So much to see and do with sufficient amount of downtime.
Standard of accommodation exceeded our expectations and the transport (coach) supplied was comfortable with plenty of room for everyone.

Wonderful Trip

This trip covered so many different experiences, every day was a delight. Our group were the best travelling companions you could possibly hope for and were a pleasure to be with. The hotels were of a very good standard.

Very varied trip

A great tour around Sri Lanka seeing beautiful scenery, animals, temples and local people

Spot on. A great introduction to the diverse island of Sri Lanka

Excellent tour leader, varied and interesting itinerary, excellent organisation and accommodation.

Fabulous Sri Lanka

This is an excellent trip around Sri Lanka, combining activities (rafting, hiking, cycling), culture (temple visits, tea and cinnamon farms) and nature (safaris, whale watching), with a generous amount of pool and chill time. The many optional activities allow for doing as much or as little as desired, and there is plenty to keep occupied with when down time is available.

The included activities gave a fascinating insight into daily life, including the Sri Lankan games (I don’t think any of our groups will be winning prizes in those games for a while!). The locals were all so friendly and hospitable, and the hotels exceeded my expectations throughout.

Beautiful country

Loved this trip it had a fabulous mix of places to visit and activities. From visiting serene temples to racing down the rapids in a raft everything was well organised and reasonably priced. A wonderful tour guide who attended to everyone’s needs efficiently and with fun, a great group of people and stunning countryside. I would recommend this trip to everyone.