Yala Heldagssafari från Hambantota Port Shore Excursion

Henry did a brilliant job from the booking experience all the way through transitions necessary for ourYala safari!! 🤩Dela was an outstanding driver, often driving backwards with skill and speed to site leopards in the brush and provided us opportunities for great videos of the rare Sri Lankan elephants and their babies. We had a fabulous day with DELA‼️

The Yala full day safari was excellent from the process when booking through to our special day. Trip Advisor was in contact with us throughout and the whole day ran smoothly. Timing was spot on and we had an excellent driver/guide for the day. We saw many animals in their natural habitat although sadly the leopards were on their own holiday! A picnic lunch was provided - there were two of us but there was plenty of delicious food for many more. Henry Lionel was the Director of Operations and kept us fully informed - thank you. A trip which I would highly recommend!

A fantastic day with many animal sightings in Nala. Close encounters with elephants, many other species, prolific bird life and a delicious lunch. We really enjoyed it and highly recommend Merganser for great service and excellent value.

Extremely well organised. Convenient pick up from port. We saw a lot of wildlife including elephants but sadly no leopards.

Outstanding tour. Merganser were superb in organising things for us including a few alterations to their normal program that we requested. A very professionally run company - they couldn't have been more helpful. The day itself went very smoothly and we were fortunate to see lots of wildlife, some of it at very close quarters. Our driver/guide looked after us very well. A thoroughly enjoyable day out and extremely good value for money, all things considered. Highly recommended.

The visit to Yala Nationl Park was fantastic. To be able to be so close to wild elephants and their calves was a once in a lifetime experience. The driver was very good at spotting the wild life so that we didn’t miss anything. The only let down was the lunch. We were asked to preprder from a menu but when we got to the lunch place we were shown to a table and left to our own devices. Lunch consisted of lining up at a self serve table. There were more than one hundred people there for lunch.

We arranged 2 tours in Sri Lanka with Merganser Holidays: Yala safari as part of a group off the Celebrity Cruise and a private tour of Colombo. We had 59 people in the cruise group which was split into subgroups 6 people per jeep. The communication was absolutely awesome. All of the communication was done directly by Henry Lioner, Director of Operations. Every step of the way, complete details were provided, including the pickup point, lunch detail, groups, etc. and the response to my emails was prompt, polite and thorough. Henry sent our subgroup set-up and details thru whatsup so that we knew who were in our subgroup and could communicate with each other if wanted. The tours were great, no problems whatsoever. Henry came to the ship pickup point himself but then I was surprised to see him again in Yala at lunch time where he took care of our groups (lunch was awesome). Our jeeps picked us up right from the pier, next to the ship, and dropped us off there as well. We had the jeep driver and were joined by the safari guide at Yala, who were trying their best to make sure that we saw as many animals as possible. They got us back to the ship at exactly the time promised. The Colombo private tour was fantastic as well; again, Henry was there at the pick-up point (right next to the ship). The tour guide was great, showed us everything we wanted to see and more. All in all, I couldn't be happier with Merganser tours. Everything, from the beginning to the end, was absolutely fantastic.

This was a great tour. We were picked up directly from the cruise ship and had a full day tour with lunch in the middle. Our driver stopped at various points on the way to Yala to show us wildlife and once in Yala, we had an official guide. We saw lots of elephants, including mothers with their babies, crocodiles, monkeys, a bear, water buffalo and loads of different birds. This is an amazing tour and very good value for money. We were back in plenty of time for the ship. Highly recommend

Whilst looking for a day safari from the port in Hambantota, i found this tour. I managed to book on line with no problems. receiving prompt and polite responses to my requests. On confirmation prior to the trip. I was contacted and asked if we would like to share our tour as another couple had also expressed interest. I agreed to this and we were put in contact with them so we could meet prior to the tour. This also halved the cost for us so that was excellent. Not knowing how this would go and being very anxious about the timings. We were all understandably a little worried. We were instructed to meet at the foot of the steps of the ship and look for our sign . Within minutes we were able to identify our driver and he swiftly took us to our jeep. less that 10 minutes from leaving the ship we ere driving through Hambantota and making our way to the park. Our driver was kind and helpful, explaining everything as we went. We saw monkeys, all kinds of birds, rice fields, water buffalo and a crocodile. all before arriving at the park. On arrival at the park our driver suggested we take advantage of the toilets. once he had collected out tickets, we were off again and in to the park. Whilst we were all hopeful of seeing all kinds of animals we knew nothing is guaranteed. It wasn't long though and we came across some water buffalo in a watering hole and deer. Then as we made our way along the track. we heard elephant trumpeting. as we got closer, we were able to see 3 female elephants and a calf. literally at the side of us. It was amazing. and the start of many more sightings. We saw a leopard, more monkeys, more elephants, mongoose, Chital, crocodiles and so many different birds. Our guide was very helpful and showed us a whole array of animals, most of which we wouldn't have seen without his pointing them out. We stopped at lunch at a stop right next to a stretch of beach. Lunch had been prepared for us and we had been able to pre order what we wanted. It was very nice and more than sufficient. Once finished we were ready for more adventure and we were not dissapointed either. We arrived back to our ship on time and bid our farewells to our guide/ driver. an amazing day was had and new friendships made. what more could we have asked for.

We had a brilliant safari day in Sri Lanka with Merganser. The communication from start to finish with Mr Lionel Henry was superb. Considering the group gradually grew to around 60 - each of us booking individually (we were from a cruise ship) - the organisation was seamless. Mr Lionel even set up a WhatsApp group and introduced us beforehand to our fellow travellers assigned to our jeep. The driver/guides on the tour were experienced and helped us spot various wildlife. Thank you Mr Lionel.