Guest Reviews

The River Resort: "Great hotel"

This is a great place and we really enjoy our stay here. The hotel is very nice with amazing river view from all rooms. breakfast is included with many options. Staff is very professional and attentive with very good English

Cabochon Hotel & Residence: "wonderful place to stay"

A friend and I just had a wonderful 4 night stay in one of the two bedroomed residences in this charming quirky colonial style hotel. It's filled with beautiful things that are either saved over much time or recently acquired by someone with seriously good taste.(...)The staff were friendly and helpful at all times and it was a treat to sit out on the balcony in total peace each morning reading the daily paper and enjoying being looked after with a (complimentary) breakfast before heading into the madness that is Bangkok. This hotel is down a quiet street (ski) in a lovely part of town, so peaceful yet so close to almost everything one needs to see and do.It also has complimentary phones calls to anywhere in the world - I'm a frequent traveller and this is a first for me.

4 Rivers Floating Lodge: "Very tranquil visit"

"We had a great time at 4 Rivers Koh Kong. There is no air conditioning or wifi here, but they had enough fans in the room that it really wasn't much of an issue. They did not provide lotion in their toiletries. When I asked if they had any, they let me borrow some of the staffs personal lotion for my skin. The resort is very remote and charming. One of the chairs and the umbrella were broken on our patio, but it didn't hamper our stay. We really enjoyed our tours with Robbie and Wee, many of the guides are local and still learning English, so it was fun to talk with them! Everyone was so friendly! They had a good selection of food options. The food ranged from average, to good, but nothing was exceptional. My only disappointment was that they have so many local fruits, but only offered orange juice from a box for breakfast. I think that if they had a juicer and could offer an option of local fruit juices that would be a nice touch. I'd highly recommend spending 2-3 days here and just enjoying the beautiful sunsets, and swimming in the river and just being ""off the grid"". The staff was extremely friendly and helpful! Stayed February 2017, traveled as a couple"

Mekong Villas: "Lazing by the Mekong"

I only stayed 1 night this time around but I really wanted to go back as I was in the area again. Once you enter the gate, you are in a secluded area, although the main road is just behind. The peacefulness that emanates from the grounds forces you to switch off. Not much to do at the property but that's the whole point: listen to nature around you, watch the life on the Mekong and just relax!!

Akame: "Must try Taiwanese aboriginal cuisine"

"Amazing dinner at Akame! A modern Taiwanese aboriginal cuisine restaurant in Pingtung, the two chefs Alex and Sky are both Rukai people, creating new styles of aboriginal grilled cuisine. Grilled quail with black garlic sauce and grilled Taiwanese pork are my most favorite. If they have mullet wine, it's perfect match with grilled meat."

Noel Rodrigo’s Leopard Safaris: "Ethical safari company and wonderful staff; game safaris are a bonus! A++++"

"Summary: If you want a unique and special experience – come and stay here! Seeing a leopard is just a bonus! The safaris, the camp, and the team are brilliant. The company is ethical, environmentally-minded and the staff is knowledgeable, professional and passionate. You will not regret glamping, going on safari and generally having a brilliant time. I would recommend Noel Rodrigos Leopard Safaris to anyone and everyone! We went on a few safaris during our time in Yala but Leopard Safaris was so superior in every sense of the word! My only regret was not staying longer!!! I recently stayed with my husband and 8-year-old son. After a short drive from the pick area, we got received with a warm welcome and a cold towel. Well, Noel Roderigo’s Leopard Safaris, you had me at cold towel.... it continued to get better and better from there. We got a fresh coconut drink and then shown to our tent. The tent Hailing from Australia we are very used to camping. Often, we just throw down a swag or a very thin mattress on the ground. Glamping is the ultimate in camping – you get a real bed and awesome amenities. You get the excitement of camping with the creature comforts. It makes the entire experience so special. The fact that everything is ecological friendly makes this experience even more unique. The fact they have NO plastic made me so proud of them! What a wonderful thing to do and it just shows that Noel walks the talk of eco-tourism! I would say that getting the tent with the a/c is probably a good idea during hot times of the year. We got the unairconditioned tent and we did sweat a bit. Each ‘bedroom’ and the main area did have a small fan and you did get some air flowing through the tent too. If I had to have one criticism, it was the tent zips. I can see how this would be a hard thing to maintain. Sometimes when you closed the tent the zip would pop open. You could do it but you had to have a few goes. Cuisine Wow, just wow! The meals were some of the best we had during our 2.5 months in Sri Lanka. The chef also made a non-spicy variety for our super fussy son. Our son didn’t eat it but that is no reflection on his cooking ability, as our son doesn’t eat much other than bread! Following each meal, there was an interesting explanation of the ingredients or the meals. They were all traditional Sri Lankan meals and utterly delicious. If you do not cope with spice, as one of the other visitors didn’t, you might want to mention this. It was hot and spicy but that is the way we love it! Each meal was different and the selection interesting. The amount of food was generous. They also source all food locally. Each meal was set up at a different location within the camp and it was beautifully decorated each time. Our son absolutely loved making the string hoppers with the traditional press. You do need to realise you are eating under the stars, literally, and I had bugs come say hello. I am not sure why they decided I was the most exciting. But if you fear bugs, I would say maybe you need to go to a more sterile environment! The camp The entire camp was rustic, practical but also gorgeous. There were many areas just to relax and wind down. At night, it was utterly beautiful - You had small lights guiding you everywhere in the camp at night. The lounge/bar area was beyond beautiful during the day but at night, it was light up with candles and was perfect. We got some light snacks, again delicious and wound down with a wine or beer. Its a really nice way to relax prior to dinner. My husband did open the portable A/C unit in this area and did end up jumping about 10 feet into the air when a small brown snake sprung out of the unit at great speed! It was just exciting and great to see that nature was so chilled it popped in for a swim. It could be free and wild even in the camp! The snake was not dangerous. They were building a new addition - a pool! That will be an unreal addition! I can imagine how relaxing that will be. Ecological and ethically minded tourism Everything about Leopard Safaris is well thought out and has a purpose, yet looked awesome too! You can feel good about staying here. Often I feel a little sick when I see water in plastic bottles, here they stored in glass bottles in the camp and in metal bottles on game drives! What a novel idea! It really should be the NORM!! Electricity is from solar panels and a dual battery system in their safari jeeps. When they are driving it will recharge a battery, how cool is that?! I looked around and everywhere was “reduce, reuse and recycle”. You drink from jars, the basins are upcycled from pots, the fences and bridges are from fallen branches etc. etc.I could go on and on about these examples. As I said before, there is no plastic anywhere! You even had a sink that filtered the tooth paste you spat into the small basin! Our son also got to plant a tree in the camp. It was a lovely touch and great to teach kids about carbon footprint in a practical sense. Plus in the future, you can come visit ‘your’ tree. The company also funds a number of environmental and community programs. Just prior to our safari I was reading about them giving aid to those affected by the 2017 floods - transporting supplies. Again, they walk the talk! It is so refreshing to see! We did have one somewhat unnerving experience. The farmer next door used a VERY loud firework to scare away the elephants 4 or 5 times. We had a mobile to call the team but I think maybe they should have called us to say, “don’t worry the world is not ending”. It was so loud! Plus, I could hear the elephant breaking the trees and I am unsure how close it got but the farmer needed to set off way too many to scare the elephant away. It added to the excitement but I am not sure how great that is for the elephants. We got told it was an unusual occurrence though, as the fence near the camp had been broken a few days earlier. Safaris As I said, the safaris are just the bonus! Even though the leopard did elude us, I know we were very close a number of times. It didn't matter though (well I did want to see one!) but we saw countless other animals and birds, and we had an utterly wonderful experience. A highlight was a crocodile trying to climb a tree to get away from an angry buffalo! The Jeep – was very comfortable, drink bottles, cold drinks in an Esky, snacks, guide books and binoculars. It was well maintained and comfortable. Our Naturalist/Guide – Saamera He is a wonderful person and guide. He is so passionate about wildlife conservation and it really showed. He is very engaging and has excellent English. He is well versed and well educated about wildlife. I really enjoyed talking to him at length about conservation during our meals. He has the world’s most sensitive ears and was constantly on the lookout for signs of leopards and all other wildlife. It was great that he also didn’t talk all the time. Silence is golden at times. He had the mix right. If we asked a question, he answered with knowledgeable answers. Again, comparing to other “guides” we met who clearly made up the answers. The driver – Praneeth He was such a great driver. Actually, he was amazing! He drove at a reliable speed and it was comfortable. I felt like he could have a lot to offer in terms of guiding too, he clearly knew his stuff. He heard so many noises and looked for tracks, and knew all the cues. Other jeeps you can just see screaming around the place with no purpose. The team Saamera and Praneeth worked together and would discuss where to go next if they heard a noise that meant leopards were near. You could tell they liked working together. I feel bad I do not know everyone’s name but everyone was great! I guess my only criticism is – where are the chicks at? Maybe they are a distraction? Haha. Either way! I think having some females around the camp would be great! All that said, I would have loved to have met the “Master” himself, Noel! In his absence, his team does a great job. Conclusion We did a 1-night safari with 2 game drives and I really wish we did 2 nights. 1 night was just not enough! I cannot wait to return to see the leopards that did elude us! We were so close several times hearing many warning calls. I would love to return one day soon and even try out the Wilpattu glamping location you offer. I already know the level of care, service, and diligence will be sensational. Thank you, Noel, Saamera and the entire Leopard Safaris team! You are head and shoulder above 99% of the other operators out there. Please do not ever change your spots!"

4 Rivers Floating Lodge: "Amazing and unique"

This is one of the best places we have stayed at. The Floating tents are so unique, in a very tranquil and beautiful location. Everything about it was different. We felt very special, as the service was very personal and nothing was too much trouble. The food and all amenities were very good. The 'swimming pool' is the river, which was brilliant as it was clean and calm with access from each tent. I just wished we had stayed longer. Thoroughly recommend this.

Supanniga Eating Room: "Like it so much that we went again within 5 days!"

The night that we went for dinner, the restaurant was packed! Good thing we made reservation. We're ushered upstairs our table was a low table with 2 armchairs near to a window. Restaurant is small and it is a tight squeeze. Staff is very friendly and helpful. Food is yummy. We had the mixed appetizer, the Ma Hor is fantastic, spicy morsel of meat goes well with the tangy orange. We also ordered the crab fried with yellow peppers amongst others. It was this dish that made us go back! And we didn't regret it. For our 2nd dinner we had other dishes beside the crab. All turned out to be so good! Definitely a must try place. Oh yes, don't forget the drinks, the cocktails are very good too. We didn't have dessert there as we planned to walk down the street to Maevaree for their fantastic mango sticky rice.

Rahai’i Pangun: "Wonderful relaxing and informative weekend"

"We flew from Jakarta on Friday and stayed the night at Aquarius hotel (probably best available even though only mediocre, but food surprisingly good, especially dinner) We were picked up at 8.30 am by Eva who proved to be an excellent, charming, chatty, well informed and intelligent guide who really made the weekend an excellent one. The company should be very happy to have her on the staff, even though the others were also good and friendly. Everything was good or excellent: - two of us had the boat to ourselves -in fact the only improvement would have been some extra interesting guests - but we enjoyed it anyway - ample, delicious food - interesting trip to the village, even though rather more modernised than one might hope - apparently it's now rather difficult to find a genuine untouched forest village - charming ""oldest man"" who sold us some delicious spiced coffee made with beans from his own garden - beautiful, serene boat trip on the big boat, and even better when we switched to the small boat for the last trip through the swamp to the information centre - awesome trips in the small boat round the islands where the Orang Utans live before they are released - boat is better than walking as you can get very close without disturbing them - highly informative and thought-provoking briefing at the information centre Important thing to remember is that the Borneo Orang untan Society are doing a great job for an animal which shares 97% of its DNA with humans and showed us many aspects of their behaviour (such as the playful greeting at the information centre) which made them seem like us. They are also successful both in rehabilitating, reclaiming habitats and educating people not to kill the animals. And every trip with Wow includes a donation to the BOS, as well as showing local people they can earn a living from conservation-related activities (in line with their traditional beliefs of respect for nature)."

Nimmu House: "Un coin de paradis"

"Magnifique maison ancienne, restaurée par le propriétaire par ailleurs fondateur de l'agence Shanti travel (spécialiste des voyages en Asie et particulièrement au Ladakh). Accueil familial, très bonne cuisine et cerise sur le gâteau, des tentes de 30 m2 disséminées dans le jardin, sous les abricotiers, avec lits de repos à l'entrée, grand lit king size dans la chambre et salle de douche magnifiquement décorés. Le bonheur après un trek. Rafting sur le Zanskar pas loin. C'est l'ADRESSE à connaître."