Sumudu Sanjeewa Perera

Sumudu of Slimline tours organises excellent customised tours and excursions and is a knowledgeable and patient nationally qualified tour guide. I can thoroughly recommend him. I have just returned from 5 weeks in Sri Lanka. For 4 of those weeks, I was working as a volunteer teacher with 3 others. Sumudu was recommended to us by a couple staying in our hotel. We visited him at his office and he discussed and then arranged for us, 2 weekend trips at very reasonable prices. He took care to explain everything that was included in the excursions and arranged excellent hotels of our choice. The first weekend covered Dambullam, Habarana, Minneriya Elephant national park by jeep, an elephant back ride, a gem museum, trying on saris in a silk shop, and Sigiriya. The weekend was well organised and Sumudu kept things at a nice pace - not too rushed. The second weekend was equally good. We visited the Elephant orphanage at Pinnawela, a spice garden where we had a wonderful massage, and Kandy to see the Temple of the Tooth when the evening ceremony was taking place. The next day we visited a tea plantation and the Ramboda Falls. I had one more weekend to arrange another excursion and I was so happy with Sumudu as a guide that I arranged to go on my own with him on a trip to the south. I wanted to experience more of the real Sri Lanka and to see some major Buddhist temples in the south. He arranged a brilliant adventure for me. We visited Wewurukangala and the Pahata Vihara Rock Cave temples near Mulkirigala. We climbed up to the top level in the Rock Cave temple and I received a blessing which was wonderful. We ate at small rest houses and stayed in an unusual hotel in an old dutch building outside Galle. The trip also included Galle, the stilt fisherman and a turtle hatchery in an area that suffered huge damage in the tsunami. Throughout the trip, Sumudu took great care of me and explained everything in excellent English. He is a very kind man and he and his family are delightful. My experience working in the school was wonderful but meeting Sumudu and going on the 3 trips that he arranged made my time in Sri Lanka truly memorable.