Tour Reviews, testimonials from Denmark

Delightful two-week tour of Sri Lanka with “WALK WITH JITH” - Approx 240 difficult birds

23 Feb 2020
Anders and Ulla

Anders and Ulla

My husband and I have been on a delightful two-week tour of Sri Lanka with “WALK WITH JITH”. The main purpose of the tour was bird watching! - and here I must add, that I am not a birder myself!

We have had the pleasure of being guided by Susantha – the number one birder of Sri Lanka – although he didn’t mention this to us till we had known each other for a week!

The journey had been eventful in many ways! Approx 240 difficult birds, lots of mammals, reptiles and butterflies etc. And we have been introduced to Sri Lankan way of life – culture, nature, history, religion, educational system, nature preservation, agriculture – and how the society works – and how a good curry is served!

All questions answered and explained with profound knowledge, patience and a good sense of humor!

We would delightful go “Walk With Jith” again and love to travel with Susantha as the companion anytime (soon)!

Sri Lanka is truly a paradise!

Ulla

A trip for hardcore birdwatchers

21 Feb 2019
Steen Sorgaard Group

Steen Sorgaard Group

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.

 

Excellent bird knowledge

16 Feb 2019
DOF group with Ingelise Petarsen 2019

DOF group with Ingelise Petarsen 2019

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.

Saman - Experienced tour leader. All 34 endemics,totally 254 species. Wonderful, well-planned and memorable trip

2 Feb 2019
Peter Lafrenz and DOF Group with top tour guide Saman Weediyabandara

Peter Lafrenz and DOF Group with top tour guide Saman Weediyabandara

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.

Brilliant family holiday trip

5 Jan 2019

Thank you you very much for a brilliant family holiday trip with a mixture of birding, nature and culture during three weeks. Great thanks for your flexibility and for giving us an excellent bird guide and driver, who was very pleasant company (upali).

Spotted birds and animals we never expected.

31 Dec 2018
Svend Clausen and Pritta sith Susantha

Svend Clausen and Pritta sith Susantha

The tour was working, except for a train ride that wasn't booked in enough time.
Our guide Susantha was excellent. He did our journey fantastic. Took care of everything, was very good at English, spotted birds and animals we never expected to see. He was the best.

The hotel “Lake View” was cold and noisy. (Kitulgala)

Good with bird list.

Good with planning.

Igen har det vceret - Again, it has been successful

27 Jan 2018

DOF tour 2018
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:

The planning process went on in a smooth and flexible way where the schedule was adjusted to our specific needs and we preferences.

28 Jan 2016

My son and I participated in a 2 week long both birding and cultural excursion through Sri Lanka.

The planning process went on in a smooth and flexible way where the schedule was adjusted to our specific needs and we preferences.

As tour guide and chauffeur, UPALI did a magnificent gob ensuring that every detail was considered and taking care of – local guides were ready and at place when needed, and the hotels and restaurants for lunch were always first class situated in beautiful environments. Besides the perfect planning Upali showed up to be a very competent ornithologist able to identify find and distinguish between a lot of specific species. We were indeed very satisfied. 

Good Communication about the details of the tour, excellent service

Good Communication about the details of the tour, excellent service

17 Jan 2016

Foto-Niels-Henrik.-Gruppen-med-guider---tidlig-morgen-parat-til-Sinharaja-NP
Foto Niels Henrik: Gruppen med guider - tidlig morgen parat til Sinharaja NP

Good Communication about the details of the tour, excellent service around including the hotels and on this tour (and as told from earlier) very good guiding. The chosen route is very good for a group like ours with many without experience about Sri Lanka and the birds. DOF travel will continue to use WWJ.

17 – 31.01 2016 

Soren Sorensen - DOF Tour 2016 with guide Tharanga (1)
Soren Sorensen - DOF Tour 2016 with guide Tharanga (1)

In Danish: Kirsten og jeg havde en fantastisk fin tur til Sri Lanka med Walk with Jith.

17 Jan 2015

Soren Skov and Kirsten Lundsby Hansen tour birding tour 2015
Jan - Feb 2015

Hello Prasanjith

Thanks for your greetings
Now we are back in a snow-covered Denmark.

I have written this in Danish:

Kirsten og jeg havde en fantastisk fin tur til Sri Lanka med Walk with Jith. Udover mange fugle, som bl.a. omfattede næsten alle de endemiske arter, så vi leopard, blåhval, havskildpadder, der lagde æg på stranden, brydes hval, spinnerdelfiner, flyvende hunde i tusindvis og meget mere.  Rundrejsen blev afviklet i et afslappet tempo, da der var god tid ved lokaliteterne - og når vi skulle videre, sørgede vores chauffør og guide, Senerath, for at fragte os trygt fra sted til sted i sin nye og næsten lydløse Toyota. Hele arrangementet klappede til punkt og prikke, og virkede meget gennemtænkt og vel planlagt.

DOF (Dansk Ornitologisk Forening; in English, Danish Ornithological Society)

10 Jan 2015

Group from DOF (Dansk Ornitologisk Forening; in English, Danish Ornithological Society)

Turen, der blev gennemført i samarbejde med fugle- og naturguider fra det lokale firma WalkWithJith, blev en ubetinget succes. Ejeren af firmaet Jith blev sekunderet af den ligeledes rutinerede guide Upali, så vi var godt dækket ind. De to guider, ofte hjulpet af andre lokale guider, gjorde et stort arbejde, og det lykkedes da også for dem at vise os samtlige 33 endemiske fuglearter, som findes på øen.

- from the trip report sent by John Speich, the tour leader of DOF (Dansk Ornitologisk Forening; in English, Danish Ornithological Society)

Google Translation:

Hiring a local tour operator over a big international company - fully up to what I wanted

15 Nov 2014

Carsten Enevoldsen

November 15, 2014.

Walk With Jith lived fully up to what I wanted and hoped for when Hiring the services of a local agency instead of a group tour by a big international company. It's very adopted to personal needs, great flexibility and a very nice, competed and hum ---th guide. Walk With Jith also was very helpful in organizing just tour --ti miles with other operators which is very important for an individual traveler as me. Thanks for very good memories and my ---- recommendations to other potential travelers.

Carsten Enevoldsen

Erik Mølgaard and Mrianne from Denmark

23 Nov 2013

Erik and Mrianne
Erik and Marianne

Marianne and Erik Mølgaard toured with us in 2013.

Their photo website is here: http://scanbird.com/Nye/

Your can read Erik's full trip report here http://srilankabirdingtripreports.com/Erik-M%C3%B8lgaard-Trip-Report

grey-headed_fish-eagle.20131207_0579.jpg

In addition to the birds: mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, botanical garden and cultural history

11 Feb 2013

anne_upali_and_carsten_fog.jpg
Anne, Upali and Carsten Fog

11 - 25 February 2013

My wife and I have just been on an intensive 15-day bird watching in Sri Lanka by the company "WalkWithJith" (www.walkwithjith.com.) We had over birds peeping also 3 days with cultural insights, however, it was possible to have binoculars with all locations. The trip was very well organized and we were lucky with good weather and many birds. Thus it was possible to see all the endemic species. We were fortunate to have an excellent guide in addition to the birds could mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, botany and cultural history at your fingertips. We arranged themselves the trip and booked flights with Emirates. I highly recommend WalkWithJith for the well-developed program where all clapped to the smallest detail.

Had such a successful trip; we were immediately thinking of a second trip also!

23 Dec 2012

annette-and-morten.jpg
Annette and Morten from Denmark

23 December 2012 - 05 January 2013

Dear Prasanjith Caldera,

First of all my wife and I would like to thank you and team for the great holiday you have done for us. We can and will strong recommend a birding watching trip to Sri Lanka with WalkWithJith. Already Sunday evening I will be together with other Danish Birdwatchers and I will strongly recommend you.
Allow me to highlight few points which has been important for the success:

- During the planning process you have been very fast in responding and following-up. This gives confidence as we don´t know each other.

- For me it has also been crucial that you have prepared a transparent and clear programme. It made a decision quiet easy.