Name: Ella Jungle Resort
Address: Uva Karandagolla, Uva (Karandagolla), Uva (Karandagolla), Uva (Karandagolla), 90090, Sri Lanka
Rating: 8

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Castlereigh Reservoir Waterdrome

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport

Ella Jungle  Resort

Uva (Karandagolla)

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I believed in all the fancy things they boasted and posted on their Instagram and reserved this place for B&B on April 12th/13th days. In spite of the new year, they still accepted my booking at the same ongoing rate (50,000/= B&B).
During our journey we didn’t get single follow-up call from them to check whether we were safely on the way, that shows how less they care us. After reaching their Café at the bend Restaurant, we tried calling the resort contact Gayan to say that we have come, but he didn’t answer the phone ontime. So we went around the café to see if there is a security officer to inform that we have reached, but the Security Officer seated inside the café and he was deaf, his hearing was so bad and we had to speak too loud so that he would hear and understand what we say. And he wasn’t a presentable, attentive, supportive and vigilant security officer. 
This shows how negligent and careless they are about their security despite the fact the owner of the Resort being a retired Major in the SL ARMY. 
We had to wait for an hour for their Toyota Hi-lux truck to come and pick us to the resort. It was raining, and the truck’s condition was very bad, its roof was damaged and had holes. 
After we reached, we were given a welcome drink, since we personally had some health concern over certain food we consume, we inquired about the ingredients of the fruit drink. The waiter didn’t know what he served us nor did he want to ask the Chef. 
We were escorted to our room, and we came to know there was no hot water shower. Being  located in a cool climate area. So we had to have a shower in the freezing cold water. During the whole night there were power drops, we were in the dark many times, they didn’t have a generator. 
We order dinner from the a la carte menu in 3hrs in advance, but the food came only around 10pm. They gave an excuse saying they were short of staff due to sinhala  new year. But why do they undertake bookings then ? if they are unable to serve food or provide service on time ? 
When we woke up next morning, we realized there was no water in the tap.  We couldn’t use the toilet and we had no way of pooping or urinating.  The management didn’t know that the guests didn’t have water. We tried to call them, but their phone was switched off, so we had to come out of our room and walk all the way to the front reception area looking for a person to complain. So we disappointedly returned back to our room and walked down to the water stream near the resort (Kirindi Oya) and bathed and peed as well in the stream. Such a gross, unpleasant experience ever faced in life in my whole travel life. Then few hours later manager came and said tap is broken, no maintenance staff, they are getting water from the stream, som mud stuck in the T-joint blah blah. So we had to believe whatever he said. We were served a so called English type but very basic breakfast for the price we paid, two slices of toasted white bread, 4 tiny sausages , magarine and jam and omelet with spinach. No Coffee, No Tea, No fruit platter, No brown bread, no meat…They didn’t serve us water, but they had mineral water bottles, the glasses were full of ants. 
We finished our breakfast around 10am, and was going to check-out, Then we realized their cable car was not working due to some mechanical or electrical issue in the tractor engine they use to operate the cables. There was no mechanic to fix it, finally an old person called to be the Chairman of this resort came there 1hr later and he was trying all his skill to fix it. Fire sparks were coming out of the battery terminals and the engine of the cable car machine. Being a mechanic I was 100% sure it has not gone through regular maintenance of battery check-up. They didn’t even have a tool kit to diagnose the issue. While we were waiting for more than 1.5hrs, a retired major guy came tried to lame attempt to pacify us by giving a 150/= 2 FANTA bottles to pacify our frustration. But we rejected it saying we need to check-out ASAP. As were already wasted our money, time and energy which was worth more than 150rupees, and was very late for our next appointment while we were filled with anger and frustration.  
Cable car didn’t seem to be working, we were scared even if it starts working what would happen if  it suddenly stops in the middle in the air while on travel. So we decided to carry all our heavy bags o the shoulders walked on the shaky wooden bridge with great difficulty by balancing our body with fear of our lives and crossed stream to the other side of the land. The walk wasn’t difficult to get to the top, we lost our way, and it was the most terrible unpleasant experience we faced with carrying heavy bags in our shoulders. We had no assurance that there would be a lorry waiting to take us back to the road as the Toyota Hilux what they use had gone to wellawaya town for some other work. So the resort people had to bring a lorry from outside to take us back to the road where our vehicles were parked near the ”Café at the Bend”.. 

MOST TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE,  PLEASE DO NOT BOOK THIS PLACE. 
Management isn’t paying any attention to the guests or the facilities of the resort. Management doesn’t know the problems of the guests, management doesn’t look after the maintenance..

The best way to waste 50,000/= and Fuel by driving 6hrs & 200km from Colombo to Ella DON’T GO!

It is one of the most amazing stay we ever had in Sri Lanka. Exciting surrounding! Starting from the entering it was amazing. We were also guided for a hike. Love the concept! Vegetarian food menu was good. Villa was also well cleaned and beautiful, it was next to the river. Visit the place if you want to experience the surrounding!

Ella Jungle resort you should never miss!

They took out payment, we turned up.. they were closed! Replied once by email to say they would return my money - have ignored me since and not refunded the £180! Do not book with them - it’s a nightmare

Took money, closed, haven’t refunded

Good for someone loving to have a jungle experience with  some adventure activities.  
Sri Lankan vegetarian food was served.
Rooms have basic facilities.  
Cable car experience and trekking to the waterfalls are unforgettable.  
Service could have been improved with better organisation. 

For adventure and jungle experience 

We stayed here in early September. 

Positives:
- Thoroughly enjoyed the waterfall trek where we could jump into the waterfall and swim. The water was clean and the two ex-navy guides who came with us were very friendly and helpful. When I got stung by 2 wasps they were quick to clean my stings with antiseptic and provide some topical medicine. Obviously have a lot of knowledge about the jungle. 
- Surrounded by beautiful nature, in the evenings you can sit and read a book, while listening and watching the wild peacocks, cows grazing, duck waddling and other animals. 
- All the staff were very friendly and helpful. The young man who served us food was very polite and always trying to do his best. Also, we asked about improving the water pressure in our shower along with getting a fan for our room, and this was provided within the hour we asked. 
- Staff helped us book our bus ticket to Colombo. 
- Organised a bonfire for us in the evening which was very nice.

Negatives:
- The room. While the room initially looks aesthetic and in pictures looks beautiful, the actual practicality of the room is lacking. The top half of the room was totally open and you couldn't lock the glass doors on the balcony. Unfortunately this led to an extremely poor night sleep. We appreciate we are in the jungle, however the fear of monkeys, bats or anything else being able to enter our room easily was disconcerting especially with all the noises you can hear in the night. In addition, theres very little security in the resort so while it might be dramatic to say, with lack of service on the mobile, it can be a bit worrying to be sleeping with a glass door open to anyone who could enter. 
- Food was average - it was nice and personally I liked the vegetarian aspect as I eat a plant based diet. However, my partner did get a bad stomach after breakfast. 
- Not sure what bug, but woke up with many bites on my body, not mosquito but some kind of midge. So would be nice to have a mosquito plug. 
- No receptionist on arrival, she was only there on check-out which we felt was slightly unprofessional. 
- Also we asked if we needed to bring water bottles to which they told us they would provide water bottles. However, on check out we were charged around Rs. 1400 including tax for the water bottles we consumed. We literally would have brought our own had we known this.  
- Curtains had many holes in maybe from moths or rats. 

Overall, the staff really carried our stay and without them we would have left before the night. Higher management of the actual property needs to be dealt with, i.e. renovating the rooms. In addition, not worth the money you pay. It was the same price for us to stay here as cinnamon lodge hotel in habarana which is a 5 star hotel (with facilities such as buffet, swimming pool, in room dining, bicycles etc), and this resort does not live up to that standard.

Great staff but lacking higher management and not worth the money :(

Best place to stay if u are a nature lover .. the food was amazing and the Front Desk Udeni was very helpful and attentive to the guests ..she made our visit a wonderful one by guiding us through the hotel ..thank u Udeni and staff for the wonderful service 😊

Thank you Udeni 😊

Let me start with the one negative - the drive down to this place is not easy! You have to take an off road vehicle and it’s about 4km of windey, bumpy travel. We were seriously questioning our choice in hotel … then we got to the bottom and had to take a gondola across the forest/river and all our doubts vanished! As we got down from the gondola we were greeted by the amazing view of a rice field, with peacocks wandering around. Behind the rice field was towering trees. Our rooms were next to a bumbling stream, beautiful and so picturesque picturesque. The food we ate was all grown in the 280 acres. It’s 100% self sustainable. They grow all their rice and vegetables. They are 100% organic and make their own worm compost. As an avid Gardner I was fascinated and delighted to walk around the fields and observe all the fruit and vegetables.

There is no Wi-Fi in the cabins, it was the perfect opportunity to just relax and unwind. We had dinner under the stars with a roaring bonfire. This place has so much to offer. The staff was very attentive and kind. If you are a bird watcher, lots of birds to see. We saw a huge flock of the native Hornbill!

Magical experience

This is the one of the best place i have ever visited. Good self sustainable food. Home grown organic fruits, vegetables and rice.  Amazing food.  Very caring staff. Very good environment. Middle of jungle. So many activities and bonfire and candle light dinner. Simply amazing.  Highly recommend. Good for everyone.

Amazing holiday

Ella Jungle Resort is such a unique place that you would not be disappointed if you want to go in an adventure. It is located some what far away from the Ella town. Once you go in there, it takes time to come and go out. So before you go there, plan your trips to other places in Ella accordingly.  Plan on spending more time at the venue once you go there, since there are many places to watch. It will give you a great reboot to you system.

Plan on spending more time at the venue

We led on a journey with an adventurous off-road drive into the Ella jungle and a rare cable car experience in Sri Lanka. The hotel and rooms are located in riverside and jungle environments. 

The food and beverages are organic, and most of them are vegetarian. Organic meals are delicious and ideal. They maintain large organic cultivation and a poultry farm to fulfill their vegetables etc supplies. There is an indigenous herbs cultivation that is done with the hope of renovating Ayurvedic medication. As they mentioned they wish to start an Ayurvedic medication center as their next project.

It was observed that some services were unable to be fulfilled because of side effects of Covid19 and the prevailing economic crisis, but we give a big tribute to staff continuing the resort at that level.

We had a great set of experiences that could not be taken from any other place.

Highly recommend it for nature lovers, adventurers, and calm seekers. I hope the resort will reestablish to a level which it was before COVID19.

Ella Jungle Resort

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