Marine Mammals

Had a wonderful, great tour with many highlights each day. Thanks for working overtime to help us see such great wildlife, reptiles, snakes, mammals and birds. Also appreciate your knowledge about Sri Lanka in general and history. Thanks so much. Hope to see you in the future

Thank you so much, I appreciate all of your hard work helping us find great snakes...

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and helping us find some fantastic wildlife. I really enjoyed Sri Lanka.

Thank you so much, I appreciate all of your hard work helping us find great snakes. I really loved seeing your country and I cant wait to come back.

Our custom-designed 3-week exploration of the natural world of Sri Lanka was expertly designed by Classic Wild and Rajiv. Our group of 6 photographers enjoyed our time spent in the National Parks and preserves searching for and photographing so many species found in Sri Lanka from butterflies to leopards. Rajiv designed our tour to meet the diverse interests of our group and to introduce us to a variety of habitats and species found in Sri Lanka. Thank you to Rajiv and his team for all of the efforts that went into planning our adventure!

Island Fever

Cannot thank Rajiv and Classic Wild enough for the two trips (and more planned) executed for my small groups. Great places to stay, excellent wildlife opportunities and no detail not taken care of from start to finish. This is the only way to experience the wilds of Sri Lanka…in comfort!

I went on the last weekend Yala tour with Rajiv Welikala and had a great trip, great organization, very comfortable and pleasing accommodation with good food. He is a true wild life enthusiast and it was lovely listening to his experiences in the jungle . I have been spreading the word to family and friends about the trip and I look forward to organizing another one to Yala with Rajiv and I plan to take a full contingent of my friends along as well.

I am writing this review to thank 'Rajiv Welikala for organizing the most memorable tour to Habarana ( Minneriya & Kaudulla National Parks) This was my first trip with Classic Wild and it was fully worth and very highly recommend. The naturalist guide 'Supurna Hettiarachchi (Hetti) was professional, polite and really patient. He had a very good eye for spotting birds, if not for Hetti, I would not have spotted many different varieties of birds. Overall I am highly satisfied with the entire journey and it was an adventure to remember. I am looking forward to joining Classic Wild for many other wildlife tours.

Good luck & God Bless you all !!

Had a wonderful 3 night excursion to Sinharaja arranged by Rajiv and his team at Classic Wild.

All arrangements with regards to transport, accommodation, food and guides were well taken care of and as promised. The birding guide Hetti was exceptional as were the local driver/ guides Tilak and Dhanuskha who went all out to seek and show us a pair of Frogmouths and a pair of Serendib Scops Owls amongst the many other endemic birds we were able to see. We had a fun trip and would definitely go back to Sinharaja with them.

We did a safari tour of Yala National Park with Rajiv Welikala and thoroughly enjoyed it. Rajiv was very attentive and ensured we enjoyed our stay. He and the other tour guides took extra effort to show us and the rest of our tour group the rarer animals in the park and as a result we did. The drivers were also extremely skilled and went out of their way to get us a rare sighting as well. All in all the trip was very enjoyable and we will not forget this amazing experience!

I've been to Yala National Park countless times and never truly experienced or appreciated the park until my recent trip with Rajiv Welikala and Classic Wild. Rajiv's enthusiasm for wildlife and photography makes him an expert guide and host, and I learned something new about our island's rich natural heritage with every sighting. I came out of the tour with a greater appreciation for wildlife, better photography skills under Rajiv's mentoring, great sightings and a wider circle of fellow animal enthusiasts and travelers. The trip to Yala was an absolute treat and Classic Wild is to be praised for its exceptional organization. Travel was smooth and comfortable and our stay at Yala was fantastic with truly great food, cosy rooms and brilliant service. I cannot recommend the trip highly enough for budding photographers or nature enthusiasts like myself. It isn't every day you get the opportunity to travel with a legendary wildlife photographer and enthusiast like Rajiv and learn so much.

Took part on a birding tour to Sinharaja with Classic Wild, it was a very well organized tour, our birding guide Hetti was amazing with his knowledge on bird calls and local knowledge on the whereabouts of each endemic bird species which made bird watching all the more easier even though the damp weather. A big thanks to Rajiv and Classic Wild for organizing the tour

Natural Selection Tours

Took part on a birding tour to Sinharaja with Classic Wild, it was a very well organized tour, our birding guide Hetti was amazing with his knowledge on bird calls and local knowledge on the whereabouts of each endemic bird species which made bird watching all the more easier even though the damp weather. A big thanks to Rajiv and Classic Wild for organizing the tour

The Blue Whale is the largest and heaviest animal presently existing on earth. Reaching 30m (98ft) in length and over 100 tons in weight. Long and slender, the blue whale's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. The species ‘Balaenoptera musculu indica’, found in the Indian Ocean, may be another subspecies all together and is the only known race of Blue Whale found in tropical waters.

With a basic diet consisting small crustaceans known as krill, the primary threat for blue whales in Sri Lanka are the large number of shipping vessels colliding with them. There are several shipping lanes in the same habitat as the blues which become a threat to these giant mammals and there have been proposals raised by conservation groups to move out the shipping lanes further out to provide a safer passage for whales in these waters.

In Sri Lanka the continental shelf comes in towards the mainland off Mirissa in the south, Kalpitiya in the north-west and Trincomalee in the east coast, which can be dubbed as Sri Lanka’s whale watching triangle. Sri Lanka today is the best place in the world for Blue Whale sighting. International television documentary film crews, professional wildlife photographers and whale watching enthusiasts are flocking each year to Sri Lanka for Blue Whale encounters as a part of a day excursion.

Blue Whales are mostly seen in Mirissa and Trincomalee are two of the highly reported places for Blue Whale sightings. Blue Whales have been observed with young calves and very rare courtship displays have also been observed indicating that they are breeding off Sri Lankan waters.