Green Sapphire Holiday Resort Wilpaththu

Green sapphire is a great place to stay! The enthusiastic host Dylan goes out of his way to give an amazing experience during your stay in the resort. Breakfast and dinner are delicious. Rooms are perfectly clean and comfortable. Location is about 5 minutes from the national park which is perfect when you go on a safary and also the safary was awesome. Obviously safarys have an element of luck, but our driver was amazing. He was great at spotting animals, communicating with other guides in the park, and anticipating where the leopards would be. We ended up seeing five leopards,one sloth bear and more elephants, we Would definitely come back!!

It was our second stay in this place. What could one expect? There is a average range of accommodations around Wilpattu National Park. Not comparable to other places in Sri Lanka, like Udawalawe or Yala. Why go? Okay, you may have been to Yala National park? Or to Udawalawe? Or even Kaudulla? Maybe you visited Kumana National Park? Now you have reached the most beautiful one: Wilpattu National Park. An enormous variety of animals (Elefants, Slothbears, Leoprads, all kind of birds) and a wonderful landscape with a beautiful, shady forest. We treid all these parks and even a few more. But this one we like most. Green Sapphire is a small family run hotel, quiet close to the park entrance (around 5km or so). The main house has three rooms and Dylan, the manager, added some new buildings with additional rooms next to the main building. The rooms: they are functional, with good beds (not too hard, not too soft), mosquitos nets and AC, a bathroom with toilet and shower. The price: One should not expect a 5-Star-Hotel, as you do not pay the price of a 5-Star-Hotel. The rooms are definitaly worth the money you have to pay for it. The food: Breakfast und dinner is served outside the house on the terraces. Food is really good and tasty, but the variety is a bit limited. Rhey serve one meal in the evening, you do not have the chance to choose á la carte. If you want to try the full variety of srilankan food, like curries, you should go to a restaurant. A fridge is in the main building with a supply of soft drinks and beer. You write down how much you took. Everything is clean and well kept. A lush garden with huge granite blocks, palmtrees and nice animals (tortoises in the rainy season, some peacocks runnig around in the rice paddys next to the house, geckos are everywhere and so on). The management. Dylan, the manager, does what he can to make everything possible that could be made possible. And he succeeded. He arranged game drives, he took us to the next town, he arranged trips toother places, organized airport transfer and a driver to the next spot. I think that it is not possible to do more!

I wouldn’t go there again and recommend you all NOT to book there. The Owner – a Sri Lankan guy that presents himself as "Dylan" (Ya, right - if his name is Dylan, then I am Elizabeth the dead queen of England 😊 ) is not reliable and not a trust worthy person at all !!!! My experience was so bad that I have no words to describe – I made a reservation an hour and a half before I arrived (when I was on my way) and received a confirmation from Booking . I even received a nice and welcoming whatsapp message from "Dylan" (or whatever his name is ) an hour before I arrived, greeting me for the reservation I made ,asking me if I wanted to book a safari tour for the day after and even describing the dinner menu choice there is. It all looked and felt really nice from his Whatsapp and the price was reasonable and the pictures on Booking looked great so me and my friend had a good feeling coming there…. When we arrived, NOT only he didn’t remember that there was a booking and acted like he doesn’t know what we are talking about (again, I booked 90 minutes before I arrived, received a confirmation and right after his welcoming Whatsapp message) -Not only that BUT few minutes after when he realized his mistake , he did admit that he made mistake and gave our room to someone else half an hour before AND without even apologizing offered us a family room that he still had in a much higher price . When we told him it wasn’t fair that he is asking us to pay more because of a mistake he did and therefore should take the responsibility for it, he kept on saying that if we want to take the big room, we would have to pay more. So not only he made the mistake, he still expected us to pay more for a family room that we didn’t book ( we booked a room for a couple). Even the srilanken taxi driver that took us there spoke with him and explained to him that it is not ok what he is doing but this Dylan didn’t care at all. We had to look for a different place in the dark (it was late in the afternoon) , which wasn’t nice at all but we preferred it than staying at his guest house and accepting his inability to pay for his own mistake!!! I am telling you all – don’t book there. This owner/ manager is not reliable (not to say a lier!!!) and there are so many other nice guesthouses around – that I would really advise you all not to get close to this one.

Dylan welcomed us very friendly with some drinks and was there all the time to make our wishes come true. The room was clean, dinner and breakfast very good. We also rent bikes from him for free to see the lake in the near and explore the area around. Best place to stay near the Willpattu Nationalpark.

Let's be honest, the point of being in accommodation close Wilpaththu is to have easy access to the national park and see wonderful creatures (the local big five plus more, we saw elephant, leopards, sloth bears, crocs, water buffalos, wild boar, eagles). When planning., as long as the accommodation is OK then fine. Green Sapphire, however, is so much better than OK. Wonderful (not over bearing) hosting within five minutes of the park entrance is the headline. Great food for dinner, cool beers on arrival (and as you want one) and your tour sorted with a great driver (however short the notice) and all day meals and snacks whilst out on your jeep, if you are looking for make up the package of options available here. Friendly but not "in your face" hosting from both the host and tour guide make for a perfectly formed experience that is actually your own. Would not hesitate to recommend to others.

Surprisingly cosy place with, helpfull and nice host Dylan, who provides a lot of welcoming, good meals and also arranged pro park driver who combines driver&spotting guide in one person. Picture-perfect paddy fields around and compact but very nice kept territory are included with this place.

We had a perfect stay at green sapphire! We stayed for two days, with two safari's and had a briljant time. The breakfast, lunch and diners are very well prepared.The staff was available for all necessities, They take care of everything (taxi service, safari, pick up from previous destination) and are very friendly and welcoming. Couldn't recommend more!

Highly recommend the safari, accommodation and food package! Such good value for money, the safari was excellent saw leopards, elephants, crocodiles, monkeys etc. Food was great and the accommodations was perfect resting stop. Dylan was such a good host, great at communicating and making you feel welcome

I stayed for 2 nights and Dylan arranged a full day safari. I was made welcome from the moment I arrived and used one of bicycles to visit the nearby lake - a great afternoon in itself. The Safari was arranged using a great guide and Dylan supplied more than enough food, snacks and drinks for the day. The park and safaris are well organised and I had a fantastic day. The jeep was comfortable and the wildlife viewing was awesome and (in my view) ethical. Dylan and his team supply a first class service at a good price. The rooms are clean and comfortable and the meals are good, you will not leave hungry. I have no hesitation recommending them at all.