As part of this years holiday we decided to travel around a bit and part of our travel was here to the Kani Lanka resort in Kalutara.
Having flown in from the Maldives on a 1.5 hour flight with emirates we arrived in Colmbo and were greeted by our transfer to Kani Lanka with no problems. The transfer it self was approx 3hrs long, although not very far the state of the roads and traffic congestion was terrible.
On arrival at the Kani Lanka we were greeted not only by fiendly staff but also one of the beach boys that we had been e mailing with regards to certain trips we wanted to do. His name was JAMBO and had organised everything prior to our arrival, he was very good and i would recommend him to anyone, just contact me for his e mail address, all he asks is that you contact him prior to arriving and e mail him a photo of yourself so that he can recognise you. We only stayed here from the 21st -24th sept 08 so time was of premium to us.
We had originally only booked half board in the resort, but on arrival we upgraded to AI for a cost of $40 per day for two pers which was very good compared to the brochure prices. This resort is graded as 3*+ but iwould definately say it was higher.
As the hotel sits on the estuary of the Kangu Delta and the Indian ocean the hotel was completely devasted during the Tsunami what it has achieved since then is fantastic. Previouspeople have mentioned that the staff/management were very surly and un approachable we never found this to be true in fact it was totally the opposite.
The rooms were very comfortable but in some cases quite small, bathrooms were clean and presentable. The one down side is that you have to keep the air con on all the time as condensation does build up quite quickly.
The restaurant in the hotel was really good the staff there also very friendly and helpful catering to all your needs. The food there was fantastic with lots of choices for all your meals, there is also an outdoor snack bar where you could order food outside whilst round the pool. The bar area is very pleasent and had a lovely ambience to it, non of your football lager swilling yobs, the entertainment in the evening was very limited but it passed the evening whilst sitting on the terrace chatting to othe guests on the days activities.
The hotel also provided free internet acces and had a gift shop but the goods were very limited.
One of our trips was as everybody wants to do is to go to Pinnawela elephant sanctuary, as previously mentioned JAMBO arranged this for us.Leaving at 0530 in the morning as its approx 4.5 hours travel. The journey was broken by a visit to a pineapple garden and then the elephants. We wanted to wash,feed and bathe the elephants, you cant do this at Pinnawela but again JAMBO came through with a solution, this was what my partner had wanted to do and she was not displeased. On our return we stopped of at a local restaurent and had a lovely curry for lunch, not just any curry but this one contained 13 side dishes of local cuisine all for the cost of £3.50. The day after Jambo took us to a turtle sanctuary in BENTOTA in his tuk tuk an experience not to be missed. If you go there after dark you can assist in the release of turtles back in to the sea. he also took us to the gem museum where my partner bought a white golde and sapphire ring that was made within 24 hrs and brought to the hotel.
Would i recommend this hotel /Sri Lanka to other people most definately
