“I just wanted to add my thanks for your input into our holiday in Sri Lanka.

Thanks to Mr Saranpala, the contact with you turned out to be very useful for my friends organising the tour, and through You we met the wonderful Dumi, our driver guide.  We could not have asked for a better person and I dont know what he could have done to make our visit better. He was superb in every way. We felt safe with his driving, soaked up all the information he so freely gave, appreciated all his suggestions, and his calm no fuss attitude, and his quiet sense of humour which after two weeks was beginning to show itself!   He guided us carefully and sensitively through all our temple visits, showing us what to do, and explaining everything as we went along. 

Our experience in Sri Lanka was wonderful from start to finish. It is such a picturesque country, wonderful landscapes to photograph round every cornor; fascinating history and beautiful warm friendly people.  We were so pleasantly surprised that we were not hassled anywhere, not in the markets, the beaches, the towns - quite unlike tanzania. In fact we were welcomed in such a relaxed no fuss manner everywhere we went. One day, en route to Anuradhapura, on a back road "shortcut", we passed through a small village where the new year celebrations were in full swing. We stopped and wandered about amongst everyone, watching the greasy pole climbing and the womens weaving competition, and even joined in with the "draw the eye on the elephant" competition. The people just accepted us, no great fuss or bother, just big smiles.

Now it is back to the reality of day to day living in the bush in Tanzania!  It's not so bad either.