Tour reviews from 2019

We came to Sri Lanka for the 03rd time with the aim of bird watching. We used Walk With Jith as he is very reliable and trusted tour operator. The driver has always been experienced and quick to spot and identify all species of birds and mammals.   

Sure we will use this service in near future. Their understanding of our needs and requirements are best which makes the vacation seamless and a pleasant. 

Thank you again and we will be back.

God Bless Chamil as he really made our time a great experience!

Jim  and Kay Graham
Singapore

26th December 2019 – 06th January 2020

- Avoid many small plastic bottles – dispenser to refill
+ Perfect pre-booking information and suggestions
+ Perfect guiding in all matters
+ Very friendly and honest guide Dammika
+ Flexibility during the trip was always given
+ Birthday surprise
+ Good driving skills (safe and comfortable)
+ Many small arrangements to see Rare birds
+ We really enjoyed the time with Dammika and will definitely come back
+ Very knowledgeable guide in each manner
 

Markus Herrmann
Germany

16th – 29th December 2019​

I guess that coming back to Sri Lanka, just 15 months after my first visit speaks volume about the place…. But the main reason I came back was that I didn’t visit the highlands on my first visit. So needed the last 4 endemics plus Bay Owl … And better view of the “bloody” Starling!!

My expert and friendly guide Thilina is simply the best birder if you want if you want to see things quickly and well… My second time with him also… 100% satisfaction guaranteed if you book him through WALK WITH JITH!!

Birds, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Moths Mammals, and a great time with a great person…My sincere thanks THILY – you are the best – Thanks for my BAY OWL and especially for that “Bloody” Starling.

Kindest Regards

Paul Pugh

12th – 23rd December 2019

Not suitable to bird in December. Rain most of the time. Thili is very hardworking and knowledgeable in bird and bird calls. Highly recommended to come birding again.

Thank you  

30th November / 08th December 2019

Hi Jith, Firstly I would like to thank you for organizing a great birding and wildlife tour for me. I have given some written feedback to Athula for you but I guess I wanted to summarize my thought to you in an email.
In total I was able to see in excess of 180 birds and I realize that my focus was on the target birds I have not seen rather than seeking higher number of species. I am glad I was persuaded to change the plan from Bundala to Lunugamverah? as I had fantastic views of a leopard which I had not expected or hoped for.

Overall a very well planned tour: Upali was knowledgeable and patient as out guide. Although there was a lot of time on the road (often wind and bumpy). He drove carefully and there was time to stop when we needed or something of interest.

Kitulgala was a good place to start and although it rained some of the time, we were able to see a lot of birds. Kaudulla park was excellent both for the elephants and Roller birds and Bee-eaters.   

We enjoyed the cultural triangle, particularly Polonnaruwa (close up views of birds as well as the ruins) and Dambulla cave temple. Kandy was also enjoyable although the train ride was less scenic than expected. Horton plains was one of the highlights.

Tissamaharama and the nearby wetlands were also amazing, although there wasn’t a lot to see at Bundala park (no migrants).

Walk With Jith is an excellent company to go birding with. Everything was well planned to optimize birding in different habitats.

The guide (bird) Athula is a very knowledgeable bird guide. He is very dedicated and very passionate in his work and looking for endemic species. He goes all out to look for endemic birds and has sharp eyes. He is a very good spotter… can find birds even while driving.

I would highly recommend Athula and Walk With Jith for birding in Sri Lanka.

Dear (Walk With) Jith,

It’s hard to imagine a better trip to Sri Lanka for our interests; birds in particular, but nature in general, your efforts in working with my wife, Olivia, to design a “just for us” trip made all the difference. This trip focused on the south. It may take a few years before return (it’s a long trip to the U.S), But we are already talking about seeing the north of your wonderful country.

Many thanks,
Bob and Olivia

P.S. what can I say about Hetti?
If we are lucky enough to return, it would have to be with Hetti. He is a wonderful guide; He is an even better person.

19th  October 1st November 2018

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As two people interested in birds and other wildlife, we got everything and much more from our tour. While the national parks were amazing, walk with Jith’s contacts with local villages were equally memorable. The knowledge and enthusiasm of our expert guide and friendliness of all the special jeep drivers made for a wonderful experience in a beautiful country. Go to Sri Lanka for your own walk with Jith! You wont be disappointed!

A good adventure with all endemics seen at a tricky time of the year.

Met by Jith and Upali at the agreed time and this continued to be punctual throughout the tour. The contrast between the hot, humid lowlands to the cold windy highlands, then back to the dry south and then to the wet rainforest of Sinharaja was an experience but luckily Jith prepared us by telling us to bring warm cloths.

Upali was a great driver, manage the long drives, including twisty mountain roads carefully even with challenging car conditions. He was very knowledgeable about the birds and other animals seen and knew of special locations to find more secretive birds.  

Additional guides were used in some places Bundala, Yala and Sinharaja. They were also good drivers and excellent at spotting birds and animals as we were moving along! No binoculars needed.   

Dear All,

It has been a wonderful trip. We have spent great 20 days with a good and balanced combination at wildlife, nature, culture and leisure. We really enjoyed your country.

Our guide Hetty was always helpful and kind trying to make our vacations as easy as possible. Special thanks to him and to all staff. Nalin is a great helper, always ready to help. The driver Suranga very prudent and carefully. We were feeling very safe with him on the roads.

Same suggestions for the next families: please advise customers that doing a one-day safari is really exhausting. Parks are not well preparing with areas to rest enough. Better suggest 2 game drives even it increasing budget.

It has been a good selection of the hotels. Some of them very very pleasant with the exception of the last one. We understand however that options are more limited in this area.

All in all it has been a wonderful trip that we will keep in our memories long time.

Thank you so much Athula for an absolutely amazing six days of birding. Not only is Athula professional in his guide services, he ensured that everything was well taken care of including the accommodations and food. Athula is an expert bird guide and he knows each bird species and calls which he can easily identify. Throughout the six days he has put in a lot of hard work and dedication to ensure that we were able to see all the endemics.

Birding only in Sinharaja and Nuwara Eliya we were able to see all endemics except the Wood Pigeon.  Highlight of the trip included photography the endemic Serendib Scopes Owl, Sri Lanka Frogmouth, Scaly Thrush and the all-time elusive and incredible rare Ceylon Bay Owl. It is only with Athula’s expert service that we were able to achieve this and we would highly recommend Athula to any prospective bird watches or photographers. 

Timothy Liew, Donovan, Jin Rui, HuiXian

Singapore

09th June to 14th June 2019

Tony and Christine with Thilina

We could not have wished for better.

Our guide Tilly (Thilina) was outstanding and we would recommend him to anyone- especially bird photographers. Accommodation was very good and the gardens around Hibiscus and Blue Magpie were “dripping” with birds.

We had a great holiday and would definitely use WWJ again. These guys really know their birds and where to find them.

Tony and Christine

Australia

Our birding trip was a big success due to the expertise and leadership of our guide Thilina Karunanayaka. His combination of passion for passion for nature, enthusiasm, resourcefulness and jovial character ensured that we found all 34 endemic species of Sri Lanka, plus a few bonuses! Thilina carried out detailed reconnaissance on the most difficult species, especially owls, seeming to have local contacts assisting him in every place we went. Lastly, we encountered a couple of tricky situations during the trip which our guide took care of in an extremely professional manner. We highly recommend Thilina of Walk With Jith tours to anyone serious about observing birds and / or wildlife in Sri Lanka.

This was our third trip and as enjoyable as the others, Our guide made it particularly enjoyable – his knowledge of the birds and wildlife generally was astounding.

His knowledge of location, habitat and calls ensured we saw more different birds than on earlier trips to Sri Lanka with “walk with jith”.

His organising and time schedules ensured we were out birding at the best/most comfortable times of the day.

Hetti’s English and sense of humour were particularly entertaining whilst driving between locations.

My wife and I thoroughly recommend “walk with jith” for birding in Sri Lanka.

Phina Liang

04/ 03/ 2019

Through Walk With Jtih arrangement. We had a wonderful birding trip experience in Sri Lanka starting from Feb 23rd to March 04th 2019.

During this journey, we watched 203 species of birds which includes all the 33 endemics. Thanks to Athula, our bird guide, he is a birding expert, without his help we couldn’t achieve our target.

Transport : Very convienient, very skilled driver, always a very clean car, (we felt safe inspite of the traffic). He always knew where to go.

Hotels/ Accommodation – Kithulgala rest house: Nice rooms, good food – Nice hotel.

Inn on the tree: Charmingly. Food rather basic.

Kandy Lake Lodge: Little charming lodge, very good food.

Leisure Village Hotel: Nice situated, but cold and a lot of people. We were the only guests.

Hibiscus Garden Hotel: Nice rooms, service is top. A very good accommodation.

Rock View Motel: far away from the location, a little empty; but good service.

Birding and the Guide:   Very clever guide, skillful, very enthusiastic and he made great efforts to satisfy our ornithological wishes. He made great efforts further on to show and tell me about the culture, the local people, the plants and many other things. He arranged a row of small extra arrangements and he has a good humor.

Hotels nice and comfortable. Good standard. All situated nice.

Bus: Very nice with space for everyone.

Bus helper: Helps with all things like water, food etc.

Sightings: Birds here there and everywhere. So nice. The guide is excellent finding them, pointing every bird out of us. Has an excellent bird knowledge.  

Bus driver: Fantastic. Very nice. Always smiling – always very careful

In all: Everybody helpful and friendly

Love some more birding – even when we have seen them all.

This was our first experience of wildlife guided tour, and overall it was very positive.

Jith kept in touch with us and responded to our questions both promptly and clearly before we set off for Sri Lanka. Also, As we organised some days on our own doing culture, history and relaxation, both at the beginning of our trip and at the end, the arrangements for meeting us and dropping us were both flexible and worked well.

Our guide, Senerath, was excellent, knowledgeable, committed and excellent at finding birds that we would have had no chance of finding on our own. He was also good at other wildlife also – butterflies, reptiles, mammals, plants etc. He also

shared with us on general culture and life in Sri Lanka generally, which we really appreciated.

Bill Rowe with Upali

My initial contact was with Jith at the Rutland Birdfair. I was impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm – so did not look at any other company in detail. All communication has been very prompt, all questions answered to my satisfaction and all printed material very clear (really liked the photos)

Jith promptly met me at the airport and introduced us me to Upali, my guide/ driver.

DOF- Travel, Birdlife Denmark, has this year two trips to Sri Lanka. One in January and one in February. As tour leader for trip 1, 16 days in January 2019, I hereby give our agency in Sri Lanka Walk With Jith our greatest recommendations.

At arrival in the airport we were greeted by Jith and our local guide Saman. Bus driver and bus-helper were there as well, and we got quickly into the bus with our luggage. Jith gave every one of us a fine map of Sri- Lanka, a pocket guide to the mammals of Sri Lanka, a checklist of the birds with fine pictures and 1 pair of leech-socks, and all of this was for free.

In the next 16days we were led through Sri Lanka’s lovely bird sites. Everything went according to plan. Saman is a very experienced tour leader knowing his birds and where to find them, and it was not the first time, that he had led one of our tours. He is very easy to walk with, and he will secure us the right way, if you were on the wrong way.

Susantha is everything one could wish for in a guide, possessing birding and people kills in equal measure. He willingly shared his knowledge, his love of Sri Lanka and enthusiasm for birding while adapting the itinerary to meet our physical limitations and putting up with our grousing about the early morning starts. He really made an effort to make sure we saw what we came to see.

I would recommend walk with Jith to anyone looking for a birding trip to Sri Lanka. We were entirely satisfied with the transportation, hotels, meals – not to mention the wonderful sightings of birds and other wildlife. Good value for a memorable experience.

“Organising the trip could not have been any easier. It only took a couple of emails to agree the plan and then we got pricing which made clear what was and was not included. Quick turnaround on questions gave a very positive impression.

Dhammika was a good, professional guide and a safe driver. He was always good humoured and worked hard to make the holiday work smoothly yet flexibly. For a combined wildlife and cultural trip, the bird list exceeded my expectations. We all enjoyed the variety of interesting activities, good accommodations and good wildlife sightings.

As a suggestion for how to improve things, it would have been good if we had a more detailed briefing of what was happening in advanced each day, and sometimes being given a few more options to choose from would be helpful.

For example:

-if we’d known in advanced that the Yala safari included a two-hour lunch break we could have bought a book to read or activities for children.

The trip was very well organised, and we travelled in a comfortable, air-conditioned van. Athula, our guide, was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and looked after us very well, even giving us an insight into Sri Lankan life and its culture, along with plants and their uses. We saw 238 birds on our trip- an excellent total, including nearby all the endemics (or all, depending on which list) with plenty of time for photography.

The hotels were of a good standard.

Tamarind Tree Hotel – very convenient for airport food buffet. Style – ok

Plantation hotel – Quirky and interesting good food and service. Nice location.

Glenfall Reach – Standard hotel room, comfortable staff, very attentive, but food could be poor.

Hibiscus Garden – Good hotel, nice garden good for birds. Excellent staff and very good food. Only problem - hot water had run out by the time we got back from safari.