What 964 DialAFlight clients thought of Indian Ocean

We liked the fact that the telephone was answered promptly and everything went very smoothly

Advice on entry requirements for the Seychelles was poor.

Fantastic experience from start to finish. I have a few holidays in the pipeline and will be using DialAFlight for those.

Eric could not have been more helpful every step of the way - we WILL be using DialAFlight again

They go the extra mile

Great time away -Sam was a big help

Glen was amazing!

Jim Camahin was exceptionally polite, professional, friendly and helpful. He made the experience very seamless and stress free - couldn’t ask for more.

Danny Sharma was amazing in all respects. Thank you

Please tell other visitors to Maldives they need to fill out immigration info online before leaving UK as very stressful doing it in airport after queuing for an hour only to be sent away .. staff member Nicole is a diamond

Roy gets it right every time

Excellent service - many thanks

Again we've had another amazing holiday sorted out by Des Wing. Fantastic service, good value for money. Perfect.

Good overall service

Russell and Mason answered my queries promptly and efficiently and I would not hesitate to recommend the company on that alone. But they also have consistently offered the best deals compared to many other companies - I have used them before and I will again - VERY VERY HAPPY!

Thomas was excellent throughout the whole process from booking to departure. He was extremely knowledgeable and thorough. Communication was excellent and his expert advice helped us to have our dream honeymoon!

Excellent service as always from Stacey Rayner. Great holiday and some wonderful memories. A*

Roy Copeland did a great job as Air Seychelles kept altering flights which meant different hotels and transfers.

Thank you Bradley! Incredible holiday. It was flawless

Jim is an excellent and professional member of your team - second time we have booked with him and he's been amazing.

Lloyd was excellent. Really felt looked after. Thank you

Excellent communication

Excellent arrangements. Darren Is amazing as always. Definitely recommend to friends and colleagues.

I’ve already phoned asking for a price on another holiday!

E-ticket number required by Air Mauritius for online check-in and not automatically supplied. Caused consternation on a Sunday but 24 hour contact line excellent and solved the problem. Suggest always supplying e-ticket number.

Curtis very helpful and supportive as usual.

Excellent as always

Excellent customer service

Excellent service. We will definitely book with you again.

Very helpful and great service

Proper Paradise

So that's what they mean by Paradise!

It's a much over-used description - but Jessica Davies has evidence to prove that stunning Sri Lanka really is paradise

A BIT OF HISTORY

In his 1891 book Palms And Pearls: Or Scenes In Ceylon, Alan Walters highlights a 14th century Icelandic work which names Paradise as an island off India 'studded with flowers', which he believes to be Ceylon, renamed Sri Lanka in 1972.

And French author Hugo Victor is believed to be referring to Sri Lanka when he writes: 'Paradise is a spot in the Orient productive of all kinds of woods and pomiferous trees: it contains the Tree of Life; there is neither cold nor heat but perpetual equable temperature.'

Arrival in Sri Lanka, with the chaos of Colombo airport and the surrounding roads, seemed some way from that early notion of Paradise.

But once you reach the areas of natural beauty, you'll see why the Paradise description is so apt. There are 26 national parks in Sri Lanka, each one teeming with wildlife. I stayed at the Uga Escapes resort of Chena Huts, in Yala National Park.

Cape Weligama beach sunset

A PLACE TO RELAX

The hotel is intimate, with just 14 luxury suites, and they're spread out to ensure maximum privacy.

A sign on the path to the hotel declared that an elephant had last been sighted here just three days before.

One lunchtime, we were enjoying a watermelon martini at the bar when four monkeys sat down just yards away. And on another occasion, we wandered down to the sandbanks below the resort and heard a huge crash. Turning around slowly, we came face to face with an elephant. He was unfazed, but we were overcome with emotion. It was one of the best moments of my life.

You might think that the staff would become blasé about living so close to wildlife, but they delighted in showing us photos of leopards, crocodiles, wild boars and elephants which had all meandered into the hotel grounds. The private suites at Chena Huts are similar to safari lodges: vintage camping lamps, a freestanding bath, a huge bed, colonial style rugs and - a safari essential - Nespresso machine.

Dinner overlooking the see at Cape Weligama's dining pavilion

There's a plunge pool in the garden of each suite, too - as well as an enormous, lagoon-like pool moments away.

Meals and alcohol are inclusive and you can turn up to eat at any time. And once you've tasted the Sri Lankan fish curry, you'll want to sign up for the cookery classes offered by the head chef.

At 6.30am every day you can set off on a safari tour of the park (or at 3.30pm, though morning gives you a better chance of leopard sightings). Driving through the park, you'll suddenly come to a clearing which looks as if you've been transported to Africa, with huge lakes covered with water hyacinths, and mountains looming in the background.

We saw toucans, elephants, leopards, monkeys and water buffalo - a fabulous experience.

Try some delicious Sri Lankan village style food

Following our stay at Chena, we set off on a three-hour drive to Weligama, a popular surfing beach on the south coast. Here we stayed at Cape Weligama resort, perched on a clifftop.

The resort has an activities centre where you can take out surfboards, snorkels and paddleboards. There are also scuba-diving courses. I was happier sitting by the Moon Pool - an infinity pool fringed with palm trees where you can watch the surfers bobbing like buoys, waiting for the next big wave.

Rent a bike and start your day with some cycling at Cape Weligama

A VISIT TO GALLE

The nearby town of Galle is one of the most distinctive on the island. It features a 16th century fort built by the Portuguese. We had tea at the Galle Fort Hotel, the most chic destination on the coast.

Back in Colombo,Residence, another Uga Escapes hotel, is the perfect sanctuary. It's a ten-minute walk from the Town Hall and near the Gangaramaya Temple, so ideal for sightseeing. We sat by the hotel pool sipping a gin and tonic and plotted how to return to Paradise as soon as possible.

First published in the Mail Online - September 2018

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