Sri Lanka family tour

Planet

Most of the travel is with a local knowledgeable chauffeur, these are paid a fair wage and enjoy good working conditions with regular breaks between tours. You will also travel to Ella by low carbon train, a great way to see the countryside with minimal environmental impact.

You'll stay in locally owned and run family friendly guesthouses and small hotels with warm welcomes. Many of the colonial style hotels have been protected by tourism to the area and have been kept to their original style.
In Digana you stay in an eco friendly lodge run by locals who are passionate about sustaining the surrounding environment.

You also get to visit the "Elephant's Garden", our name for some protected area of land which are helping preserve the animals and wildlife that live here. These areas are responsibly maintained and highly protected by the Sri Lankan government safeguarding the animals who reside within. Our guides and staff are trained on how best to protect the flora and fauna and our customers are also informed on this via our 'how to be a responsible traveller' document.

In our UK office we recycle everything we possibly can and have held workshops with local environmentalists. We also encourage our customers to refill bottles rather keep buying plastic when away and whilst at home of course.

People

During this itinerary you stay with a local family in a homestay in Kandy where the family will make you feel at home and teach you how to cook traditional Sri Lankan dishes. This is a great support to the local families here as it gives them a steady income from tourism. In Digana you stay in a remote, off the beaten track village in an eco friendly lodge where you can take the kids to the school and help teach English for the day and even sing with the local choir! Great ways for the kids to interact with the local children of the village and homestay too.

Also, our drivers know the best places to stop for food/drinks/snacks and will stop at small places where the locals will profit from much needed income. They also stop at the best places to see local artisans at work so you can purchase locally made handicrafts where your spending money directly benefits the community.

Our local partner also runs a lot of charity projects in Sri Lanka and supports many local communities. They have funded include providing food and rations to local charities, helping restore the homes of some of Sri Lanka's most needy, and paying for cancer drugs for patients at some local hospitals. In 2008, they provided emergency lights and installed lights at a girls home in Nugegoda. In 2013 they bought 40 new mattresses for a retirement home near Colombo. Other projects that they have funded include providing food and rations to local charities, helping restore the homes of some of Sri Lanka's most needy, and paying for cancer drugs for patients at some local hospitals.

Before you set off we will provide you with a Know Before You Go that gives you plenty of tips about the country, with cultural information and phrases to help you get by. Also our Responsible Traveller document has useful info on local customs to ensure mutual respect between our customers and locals. We inform our customers to wear white at religious ceremonies and the drivers encourage them to use the local lingo for small talk during their interactions with members of the community.