Tour reviews from 2018

This is my second time birding with “Walk With Jith” and as expected, we had a wonderful time, thanks Jith for organizing the tour for us and we are especially impressed by the flexibility in changing the booking to accommodate our special needs. A big “thank you” to my friend Thilina, a great energetic and knowledgeable guide who knows everything about birds in Sri Lanka! Thank you for buying us king coconuts, sweet corn and vegetable rotti. They were so tasteful. I hope to visit Sri Lanka again soon and do come to Taiwan when you have time, we can do bird watching together.

Susar gave us a feedback form to fill out but instead we’re emailing it to you as we didn't get time to fill it in by hand.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Susar for driving us around for the week. It has been the absolute best way for us to get around and see beautiful Sri Lanka.

We loved how much history Susar knew and told us about as we was passing all off the lovely landmarks. Nothing was ever too much for him and he took us wherever we needed or wanted to go.

Thank you very much, we are extremely happy with everything.

- Skjetten, Norway

12/2018

Name: Pete Hughes + Alice Parfitt​

Thilina is an outstanding guide – he looked after us very well and made sure we saw all the birds and other wildlife. Many of the birds we would have never found ourselves! The whole tour was really well organized, good accommodation and great food along the way. Can thoroughly recommend to others.

I have nothing but praise for Walk With Jith. From the moment I emailed Jith to enquire about a tour, I felt that I was in safe hands, dealing with people who understood just what I wanted and were happy to provide it. I soon learned that Jith runs a very professional operation, with kindness, expertise, and thoughtful attention to detail.

My main driver Thilina was fair dinkum amazing: I reckon I’ve met some pretty good birders over the years, and I’m no beginner myself come to that, but Thilina takes the cake. Nice bloke, cheerful, easy going, phenomenal ability to spot a difficult bird, endless patience, and a ton of energy. We did an eclectic mixture of bird photography, hard-core birding, landscape photography, and various other things as the fancy took us. Perfect.

My wife and I have spent a week with Athula and its been amazing. Sri Lanka is a beautiful Country but without Athula as our guide, we wouldn't have learn’t half as much as we have and it wouldn't have been as easy to get around and see everything we have seen.

The suggested hotels have been great with some great locations and the itinerary that was put together for us has been excellent for us. We’ve enjoyed the adventure that Sri Lanka has offered with the luxury element that walkwithjith provides organizing the trip was easy with jith. Hes got great knowledge and was always fast to reply or change elements of the plan for us.

Thank you for an awesome Honeymoon experience Jith and Athula. 

Matt Nobes

Sydney, Australia

Enjoyed a superb endemics focused week with Thilina. Hes a fantastic birder and lovely man. Not only did he somehow find me all the target species in six days but he really made sure I was enjoying my time in Sri Lanka.

Owen and Tina with Upali

We would like to thank you for a fabulous three-week tour of Sri Lanka covering both bird watching and cultural activities. One of the strengths has been the wide variety of habitats we have visited, giving us a great overview of the bird life of Sri Lanka. As the result of the skill and knowledge of our guide, we have seen the majority of the endemics. However, one of the highlights must be our unexpected spotting of a Loris in Sinharaja forest.

We have stayed in a variety of different accommodation, which have all been in stunning locations, from basic motels to colonial bungalows. The standard of these has been at least good. We would like to thank you and your team for a well-organized and well balanced program.       

Tina and Owen Watkins
Chester, United Kingdom
 

Thank you for a very good birding experience in southern part of Sri Lanka.
My driver, Chamil Uddika, I s a very good driver and not least birder. His capability to hear one, was outstanding. He also has very good knowledge over birds and all other animals that crossed over the road.

We had three different accommodations. All of them were to my satisfaction. You can’t expect too much when living in countryside, but they were shaming motel’s with a very friendly and helpful staff. They fully covered my needs.

I will not have any problem with recommending this tour to other birders.

Birding with Walk With Jith has been the best birding I have ever done. My birding tour guide was Upali. He could not have been better. Not just on the birds, but the mammals, plants, trees, butterflies. Also the history of Sri Lanka. He found all 33 endemics which was great. I will not hesitate to come back. So a Big no. A very big thank you to Jith. Upali and all – all the best.

Paul

Paul W Cotterril

From 11th June to 20th June 2018

Ong Siew Seo, Koh Lin Kee, Karen Wee, Yeo Hoon Leng with guide Thilina

Our trip to Sri Lanka with Walk With Jith was from 27 Apr to 1 May 18. We are extremely delighted with all the arrangements, which started with the reception at the airport, where we received 01 package which included a guidebook on birds of Sri Lanka and a road map (such attention to details and thoughtfulness !)

We are especially happy with our chauffeur guide, Thilina! He is professional, friendly and always do his best to find the birds!

We strongly recommend Walk With Jith for those planning a trip to Sri Lanka and in fact, we are already planning for another visit!

Ong Siew Seo

​010518

Paul Nex, Judith with Guide Athula

Mr. Senarath, our guide for the holiday was reassuringly there to meet us when we arrived. He looked after us the whole trip occasionally offering us extra possibilities such as a shop at a spice garden or a visit to the Museum in Galle.

We had expected our guide to be able to identify birds for us and tell us something about the history and culture of the island. What was unexpected, but very much appreciated, was that he could identify trees and flowers for us.

We really appreciated the combination of a cultural and birding tour. It was just what we wanted. Everywhere the accommodation and food was good, especially overlooking the beach at Mirissa. Two days at the coast was a great way to end the trip’

Gillian Hurgen and Martin Bowman with guide Upali

We first became aware of Walk With Jith at 2017 Birdfair when we met Prasanjith Caldera in person. His knowledge of and passion for Sri Lankan wildlife was infectious. After contacting him by email and informing him we were interested in the Wildlife and Photography Tour we arrived in Sri Lanka on 14th February 2018. We were met by Jith himself and our dedicated tour guide Thilina Kayrunana (Tili) who was our companion for the next 14 days. Tili shared the same qualities as his boss and over the next 2 weeks we obtained 3,000 photographs of over 200 bird and numerous mammals including leopards, elephants and blue whales. Tili recognised every bird by call alone and his eyesight was astonishing. He catered for our every need so that our trip ran smoothly and was a great ambassador for both Walk With Jith Tours and Sri Lanka. Thanks to Jith and Tili for providing such an incredible adventure and we would recommend them to everyone unreservedly!

Steve and Teresa Atkinson

Willie Wilkinson, Keith Howells, James Wilkinson with Hetti

Our guide Hetti proved to be extremely knowledgeable about birds & wildlife in general. He went out of his way to ensure we got the best views of the many birds” and he used his local knowledge to find many rare and elusive species.

In addition, the hotels were comfortable with attentive staff and excellent food. Our van was most comfortable & roomy. The organisation of jeeps & tours round national parks ran really well.

Willie Wilkinson

Scotland, Peebles

9/2/18

Sandy and Gerry Studd with Senerath

Thank you for a well organized and very enjoyable 16 days in Sri Lanka. Wherever we went, the people were very hospitable, extremely friendly & helpful – hotel staff, locals, jeep drivers, shopkeepers etc – always smiling and genuinely pleased to see you, even welcoming you into their houses and gardens to enable you to see owls in their rafters or spurfowl in their gardens at odd hours of the day!

DOF Tour 2018

DOF Travel har aftluttet den første tur af to I januar 2018. Igen har det vceret med stor success of fuldtilfred shed i vores gruppe på 19 deltagere. Det er selvfelgelig vord at bemcerke, at vi mødte alle Sri Lankas 34 endemishe fuglearter of nosten alle under meget fine betingelser. Men det vigtisgte er, at arrangementet som helhed for løb scerdeles godt – med perfekt guiding af Supurna Hettiarachchi og veltilrettelagt af Walk With Jith. DOF vender meget gerne tilbage og har allerede planlagt de noste ture.

Google translation:

Robin and Glenda Bream

Walk With Jith was highly recommended to us by a friend who had a very successful birding tour with the company. Our specific request was a keek long tour of Sri Lankan endemic birds. This was agreed and arranged quickly and efficiently by email.

Our birding guide, Thilana Karunanayaka, was extremely knowledgeable, energetic and totally committed to achieving our goal of 33 endemic species in a single week. He was also a safe driver and a good companion.

All the logistical arrangements were well planned and accommodation changes between locations went very smoothly.

We would highly recommend Walk With Jith and Thilina Karunanayaka for a Sri Lankan birding holiday.

Robin and Glenda Bream

25th January 2018

Many thanks to our excellent, good fun, highly knowledgeable guide Koushala and his nice, smiling driver Indunil, for a superb 3 weeks in Sri Lanka. We have had a wonderful experience: amazing bird watching, fascinating cultural visits, breathtaking scenery, tasty food and many” warm encounters with Sri Lankan people across the country. The mix and variety of days has been enchanting, but also exhausting. The early mornings birding have always been exciting and fun. We were fortunate to have leopard sightings and encounters with other mammals & reptiles. The beautiful and varied Sri Lankan flora takes your breath away. No visit to this country would be complete without seeing & understanding its cultural heritage. Last but not least… we loved good Sri Lankan food and were perfectly encouraged & advised by our guide, who is well educated, able to speak English brilliantly and a wonderful ambassador for his country.