Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Traveller's Home - A Very Bad Experience :-( !!!

I visited Yala National Park in August 2012. And I stayed at the ‘Traveller’s Home’ owned by Ebert - the one with a serious skin condition :-(.

I was referred to his place by a tout in Nuwara Eliya, who claimed to be Ebert’s brother. Ebert ripped me off.

The room he gave me inside his house (adjoining the kitchen) was mediocre and he charged me SLR. 4,000/- for less than 12-hours. While I spoke with him from Nuwara Eliya he had agreed to let me have the room for SLR. 1500/- for a day.

I couldn’t even use the shower as the water pressure was too low and the water was falling drop-by-drop. Also, I almost lost a finger while removing my tee – the ceiling fan was too low – luckily the fan was spinning at a slow speed.

The service at this home stay was shockingly poor – I was seated at his porch by 04:30 a.m. for the 05:00 a.m. jungle safari and no one bothered to serve me my tea, or provide me with the takeaway sandwiches, for which I had already paid an additional amount !

Ebert insisted that I pack-up even before I went for my safari as he had other guests lined up.
At Traveller’s Home money-making is sole motto. Service standards are way too low. But the prices charged are over the top.

For an 8-hour jungle safari, Ebert charged me SLR. 7,500/- !

The only saving grace of my trip was that I saw a Sri Lankan leopard during the closing hours of the safari.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend anybody to go anywhere near Ebert or his ‘Traveller’s Home’.

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