Ella: Transfer till Tangalle/Mirissa/Galle & Yala/Udawalawe Safari

I booked for 3:00 am and then the night before they called me and said it is only 12pm possible. Since they can only leave once a day because of the tank situation? Okey. But now I've heard from others, they could leave at 3am:/ Somehow I feel like I've been a bit screwed. And also otherwise, please update at least the website here where you book it.

The driver never showed up at the hotel of the agreed departure. When I contacted to hear where the driver was, I was told that I could not be picked up anyway and that I had to go to a place in town to be picked up. Explained that I had bought in the belief that I was to be picked up. After that, they no longer answered my messages and I was never picked up. Had to arrange a new transport to Mirissa through the hotel, but then they went directly to Mirissa and not by the Yala I had been looking forward to.

Great experience. Driver was on time for the pick up in Ella. Had a great safari ride. Driver was knowledgeable enough to find the leopards. Lastly, I was dropped off in Mirissa safe and sound :)

Laksiri did a really nice job! We enjoyed our safari and were lucky to see everything we wanted! Remember to bring war clothes for the early morning drive because it gets quite cold on the open jeep. I can recommend this tour!

very good experience from start to finish. guides were wonderful and we were satisfied with their service. highly recommended anybody visiting Yala.

My opinion differs a little from reading…the tour picks up ‘from the Ella area’ and drops off at your hotel. I think this makes good sense and saves a bit of time. I wasn’t expecting communication until the day before after reading other reviews - but when requested I had precise messages that were clear and comprehensive - and the bus arrived at Ella Super. The safari was OK, busy, not sure what I was expecting. The next leg took a bit of organising and change over time, around 15 minutes, whilst people were allocated to appropriate buses. We were dropped off about 8.30pm but we were luckily the first! There was opportunity to buy water and snacks - it was a LONG day but probably a good way to plan in a safari if you’re going to do one.

I will rate the safari itself as a 4. We didn't see the leopard, but a lot of other animals. I sort of knew this, as you usually have to go on the morning safari for that. People seemed very focused on elephants, but I have seen that many times. The best experience for me was riding around in the nice "Lion King"-park excitedly spotting animals. And the fact that it is a proper habitat, not animals lined up or cramped together for the benefit of spectators. The dusty queue full of diesel fumes back to the entrance was not nice. The reason why I give it a 3 is the level of communication and overall logistics. First of all, the order form enables you to register a hotel name for pick-up in Ella. What is NOT informed is that the actually won't pick you up there. Hearing nothing until the day before, I contacted the company and they told me to go to Ella Super downtown. I expect much better feedback than this. On the way down the curvy roads from Ella, the driver was speeding up on the wet asfalt like he'd stolen the car. I told him to slow down and he did. Great 👍 I was a bit anxious about luggage security in the vans left behind for all those hours, but turned out OK. But again, bit of chaos when arranging groups for the vans. The drive to Tangalle was good. Although it seemed to be a confusion on the hotels to go to - and even that drop-offs were included at all. Maybe a new driver, I don't know.

A few hours before the tour/transfer I received a message with a pick up location or I booked this tour with a hotel pickup included. It was clearly indicated and explained in the "what's included section" and in the day tour/transfer explanations. I had to argue with them before they finally came to pick me up at my hotel as planned. It was a bad experience because we felt like we were bothering them. Furthermore, the safari was very mediocre; we barely saw a leopard for miles with binoculars and one elephant. Well, you can't control nature, I know that but I think it's mainly due to the huge number of jeeps and people at the Park in the same time (There are no quotas, which is not normal) We ended up stuck in traffic jams with the pollution of the exhaust fumes. Unthinkable in a national park.

Chaos at the start. 10 of us were asked to be at a location ( we had all expected hotel pick up). No one ever checked our tickets. A van arrived at 12.50 with 6 seats only. Eventually a second van came too and we all set off at 1.10. Transfer to jeeps was fine. But the price had not been discussed in advance. We had 2 hours in the park, saw various animals and birds but mostly drove very fast on bumpy dusty tracks. We got back to the jeep drop off place in the dark. Huge confusion when we all insisted we had to be dropped at our hotels. No food was offered, or the chance to buy it. I was lucky, third drop off, at 9.15pm. Hungry, shaken, dusty. All got a few elephant (outside the park gates). The park has beautiful parts but we were racing around with hundreds of other jeeps to find animals. And once we had photographed them off we shot again..

Dilan was a great driver and guide, he guided us all over the park, all in all a very good experience