Negombo Explorer Trips

Travelling as a family with two teenagers (16 and 14), we all had the most fantastic time in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Highlights for the adults included the variety of activities included in the itinerary, the elephant transition home and learning about the culture, history and geography of both Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The highlights for the teenagers were the train ride, the snorkelling and the elephant safari. We all loved the food and our guide, Ashan, in Sri Lanka was truly outstanding.

Our leader George was wonderful! He was knowledgable, organised, funny and friendly. He helped to make the trip a memorable experience. Also Tony our driver was brilliant. Lots of animals to see in Sri Lanka and would recommend the optional elephant safari. A lot of travelling involved and I had to set my alarm every day except for 1, so definitely full on with early starts. The food was great, lots of coconut is involved in the Sri Lankan cuisine. Accommodation was all good, air conditioned rooms and comfy beds. On the final full day of the trip George took us to see how Sri Lankan crafts were made and the opportunity to buy things. This was great, we visited a tea factory, wood carving, silk factory, spice garden and gem factory.

Looking back at our photos now we've returned to the UK we can't believe the amount we saw and the amazing experiences we had on this tour. Sri Lanka is an amazing beautiful country with some much going on - we only scratched the surface. Our tour leader Cham worked so hard to make sure that we had everything we needed, resolving our problems and sorting out food for our fussy son! His knowledge about Sri Lankan history and wildlife was immense. He even found the best place to buy genuine Sri Lanka cricket shirts for the sporty members of our group. The only thing we'd change was the pace of the second half of the Sri Lanka leg of the trip. The first half gave us time to chill and bond as a group, as well as hang out in the pool at Giritale and play cricket. The second half we moved every night and covered a massive distance, though interesting, this was quite tiring (especially for the kids), so we'd suggest that a two night stop in the middle of this element would resolve this issue easily. This was clear in the notes, however, as was the high chance of not getting the train. The pace did slow considerably for the Maldives element, with a lot of time on our boats travelling between reefs. The snorkelling was quite frankly mind-blowing, and even the more nervous swimmers loved it. The crew were fantastic, and the food was delicious. The guide knew his stuff, and made sure we had great snorkelling experiences. Our only criticism of this part of the trip was that splitting the group when we'd got to know each other and were getting on really well was disappointing. There were larger boats, and we'd have preferred to be on a single boat given how long we spent travelling separately. The crew did what they could to mitigate this by tying the boats together when we moored for snorkels, meals and overnight and that was great. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable trip, and with a few very small tweaks it'd be perfect!

Sri Lanka - excellent trip but a few too many temples Adams peak - sunrise good but not worth the effort if not good at walking up or steps Maldives - mainly a snorkelling trip. Didn't like the locations where other tourist were feeding the sharks and Rays. Un and forces a change in behaviour of wildlife

Really enjoyed the trip, in two parts Firstly Sri Lanka highlights Itinery was very good, fitted a lot in to 7 days. Good transfers, reasonable hotels - but wish that more of them were closer to the centre of towns. Kandy one was especially good in that respect. Mixed feelings about "Sam" the Sri Lanka guide. He was a bit grumpy. But mostly he "promised" things eg currency exchange, Sri Lanka to Maldives transfer details but consistently failed to deliver. We had to chase ourselves with local agents to get flight details, which they provided in 5 minutes. Too many "buffet in hotel" meals. Nothing "local" arranged outside. He did "add" Tooth Temple to tour, and arranged for bus to take us all from Kaggola to Galle. Maldives Mahoni trip was wonderful!! Moosa the guide one of the best we have had. A shame he's moving to a rival company. Excellent on board the ship and in the water. Boat facilities excellent, especially the food. But top bunks no safety rail and difficult to get into and out. Provided equipment - seemed fine for people without their own. We only needed flippers and the largest, size 11/12, we're too small for my feet, got blisters on my toes. Really need to reign in your meet/greet bloke at airport ref currency exchange. He was recommending $100 to $150 per person, done via a "bloke with a wallet". Rate was OK BUT... we only changed $100 yet, despite being in Maldives for 3 weeks in total we spent NONE, ZERO, NADDA. And to add insult when we left Maldives the in airport bank couldn't provide £s nor $s nor €s!!! So we are stuck with unusable Maldives currency.

Explore leader: for Sri Lanka only satisfactory. Not easy to understand, didn't seem to feel part of the group, didn't join us for meals, a poor communicator (relative to past explore trips) For the dhoni Maldives cruise: Moosa was excellent in every way.