2h Bentota River Safari: Crocodiles, Monkeys, Mangrove & More

Great trip amongst mangroves but very little animal or bird sighting. 2 hours of calm time. Saw water monitor, crocodiles, a few birds

We did the river safari and it was a very beautiful and interesting experience. The guide was very friendly, helpful, and professional, making us feel comfortable throughout the trip. We had a great time and highly recommend this experience to anyone who wants to explore the local nature.

Excellent. Knowledgeable guide who was incredible at spotting the wildlife. Highly recommend for everyone

The guide Nickolas showed so many animals and birds, a great experience

We felt incredibly lucky to take this tour through protected tropical mangroves. We took our baby and 5yo, there was a sun shade, and we felt safe with our experienced calm guide Nicholas who had sharp eyes and found us a huge water monitor lizard, monkeys, crocodiles, a king fisher, bat, eagle, pelican. When it got to nap time and kids felt a bit hot Nicholas was happy to cut our tour short at our request. An unbelievable start to out holiday.

The guide was incredible he spotted everything and we have the best time, great value and a fab experience for all

Ask for Coco as your guide. He has a great eye for spotting everything!! Took his time to make sure we did not miss a thing. We saw so many crocodiles, monitor lizards, birds and we stopped to feed fruits to some monkeys. He is also a great photographer! Highly recommend this tour.

What a great experience, feeding the monkeys being a highlight

We had a great time on our river trip with Nicholas as our guide. We saw snakes, fruit bats, monitor lizards, crocodiles, monkeys, eagles, kingfishers and cormorants. Nicholas was a great guide. He was friendly and very knowledgeable. It was a perfect morning, just the right amount of time out on the water. The manager also met us before the trip at the meeting point at the Aida Seafood Restaurant. We were able to use the facilities and purchase water after the trip. They arranged a Tuk-Tuk for us, from Kosgoda and back. This was 4,000 LKR (approx £10) extra. It arrived at the agreed time to collect us and was waiting for us on our return. We had the choice of a car also for £20. We booked through Viator before our trip and thought it was excellent value for money.

We had a great time on our river trip with Nicholas as our guide. We saw snakes, fruit bats, monitor lizards, crocodiles, monkeys, eagles, kingfishers and cormorants. Nicholas was a great guide. He was friendly and very knowledgeable. It was a perfect morning, just the right amount of time out on the water. The manager also met us before the trip at the meeting point at the Aida Seafood Restaurant. We were able to use the facilities and purchase water after the trip. They arranged a Tuk-Tuk for us, from Kosgoda and back. This was 4,000 LKR (approx £10) extra. It arrived at the agreed time to collect us and was waiting for us on our return. We had the choice of a car also for £20. We booked through Viator before our trip and thought it was excellent value for money.

A fabulous end to our amazing Sri Lankan holiday. Our guide Ranga excelled in spotting the wildlife and went out of his way to assist me in my photo taking when it was difficult for me. We saw a multitude of different species, however the monkeys were absolutely the highlight. I definitely would recommend this river cruise, with the spectacular sunset to top the afternoon off.

Excellent trip- really friendly crew and very knowledgeable. The sunset was amazing!

Fabulous experience. Right from the punctual pick up from our hotel, we were shown wonderful sights from tiny sea snakes, chameleons, fruit bats, stunning bird life and the opportunity to feed some monkeys. The magnificent sunset was one I will never forget. Highly recommend.

Great experience. The boatman was excellent and patiently took us around The booking was very easy to do

Brilliant few hours do monkeys crocodiles water monitor birds And lots more Lovely guide very experienced

Had a really fun time with Ranga. Very unique and authentic experience with a very knowledgeable guide.

Satisfied with the trip contents, the guide, and the tour management.

Beautiful setting. The mangroves were spectacular (much better than Madu River!!), well looked after, plenty of flexibility re start times. To be fair, we didn't see a huge amount of wildlife but this was a combo of chance and at some tines, too many boats vying for position. We dud have an issue, which shoukd be resolved- we booked from our hotel in Kalutara, believing that pick up was included. Fair enough that it was shown, but it was only 1r hours before that we were quoted £30 for pick up. They then became a bit difficult and refused a refund quoting T&Cs. We initially cancelled but went ahead. RECOMMENDATION - IF OUTSIDE FREE PICK UP, ARRANGE OWN TRANSPORT - TUKTUK ABOUT £5-6 each way.

I took a river safari first thing in the morning with this excellent company. The experience was completely magical and my guide was friendly, considerate and extremely knowledgeable about the Bentota river. I was able to see all sorts of creatures in their natural riverside habitat including snakes, chameleons, monitor lizards, crocodiles and monkeys.I would highly recommend this provider to anyone looking to explore this area’s natural charms.

Booked on line at 6.30pm for a trip at 10.00am the next day. Collection by tuk tuk from the hotel was on time, delivering us to the boat. The guide spoke good English and provided us with lots of information on the trip, including pointing out much of the wildlife that we would probably not have noticed ourselves. The trip was interesting, taking us along the river and through the mangrove swamps, arriving back at our launch point which was also a hotel, allowing us to have a cold beer before getting in the tuk tuk back to the hotel. The trip adveryised life jackets and water which were not provided, but we were not worried about the life jackets and brought our own water anyway.

My guide was very good he tried to show me all the animals that he could . The only thing at the beginning of the tour was the rubbish on the river bank , this was not the guides fault , it got better as I went down the river . Would highly recommend this company .

The service and communication was good and pickup on time. The guide was nice and explained the animals. As we had afternoon trip we did not see many therefore I recommend morning trip.

Awesome experience, really helpful and friendly guide showed us loads of wildlife, highly recommend.

A very enjoyable boat tour on 2 rivers with a friendly, knowledgable and communicative guide. Being on water gives you a different perspective of the area, the flora and the fauna we saw was amazing. Highly recommended.

Very pleasant ride. Our guide had a great ability to spot wildlife and spent effort to make sure we got to see as much as possible even though we choose to take the 10:00 am tour which is a bit late in the day for prime viewing.

Booked via Tripadvisor, including pick up from hotel. Boat and guide took us on the safari The guide was very knowledgeable and pointed out all sorts of wild life flora and fauna He prepared king coconuts for us to drink On our return we were offered a lift back Great trip, friendly people, would recommend

Really great experience, the guide was so good at spotting the animals, and we saw everything we'd wanted to see. Going through the mangroves was like being in a movie! Also great and helpful communications.

An amazing experience, saw wild monkeys, crocodiles, beautiful birds, was so fun and stunning - glad we did it

Lovely way to spend a couple of hours. Cannot believe how brilliant the guide’s eyesight is.

A relaxing boat trip with a nice guide who showed us different birds and animals hiding in the bushes along the river: a crocodile, a snake, monkeys, lizards, flying dogs. + king coconuts to our company 🥥

We did the early morning birding tour - I think most who book this want to see the crocs and lizards, so it's maybe less of a birding tour for birders as such. That being said, it's a beautiful way to explore the river and our guide did stop to allow us to listen and watch birds when we wanted. The early morning tour allows you to explore the waters before it gets too busy and the sunrise over the water is simply stunning.

Lots to see. Knowledgeable and friendly guide. He could spot wildlife impressively. This tour is recommended.

Nikolas was an excellent guide and very humorous! Prompt pickup and lots of interesting information about the area, lagoon, mangrove and wildlife. Saw monitors, monkeys, bats, exotic birds and a huge crocodile! Recommended it to others, who booked the next day.

A great trip on the water with Achilla our friendly guide. We saw monkeys crocodiles iguana birds along the river and mangroves. Efficient service picking us up from our hotel and dropping us back. Definitely recommend

Excellent 2hr river safari with lots of wildlife. Spotted green leaf snakes, many water monitors, crocodiles, monkeys, swa eagles and more. Rica our guide had a remarkable ability to spot the wildlife and was able to tell us about them. Well worth the 2 hours time!

Excellent 2 hours on the river with lots of wildlife spotted. Crocodiles, monkeys, leaf snakes, water monitors and much more. Coca our guide had amazing ability to spot and knew all about the animals and birds. Well worth setting time aside to experience this great little trip.

Fabulous water safari. Our guide was a skilled boat driver and brilliant at spotting and explaining all the wildlife to us. He called monkeys down from the tree canopy to take fruit from his hand. We saw crocodiles, river monitors, chameleons (mid changing colour) , monkeys, kingfishers, herons, and bats. The part through the mangrove forest was magical.

Great experience! We saw many animals and the natural mangroves were breathtaking. Highly recommend.

We thoroughly enjoyed the 2-hour Bentota River Safari with Shiran Tours. Our guide was very knowledgeable, friendly and went above and beyond to spot as much wildlife as possible. We booked the tour a few hours before it started, and communication was excellent; they picked us up from the resort and dropped us off. We highly recommend this tour company.

If you love wildlife, you can't miss this! Feeding the monkeys is an unforgettable experience, the komodo dragons are massive, the birds are so colorful, and the crocodiles are quite a sight to see! And I also loved the serene beauty of the mangrove... Special thanks to Coca for his skilled eye - we didn't miss anything that could be seen on the tour!

Great experience with the excellent guide, showing us a big number of animals along the boat trip. We saw monkeys, crocodiles, snakes, bats, fruitbats (flying dogs), chameleons, different birds and other animals. The guide was very friendly and service-minded, we can highly recommend this adventure!

This experience was amazing! Organising transport from an area outside of the listed ones was easy and efficient. My tour guide was eagle-eyed and managed to spot the tiniest chameleons and snakes. Would recommend 👍

Many animals spotted during this safari by catamaran driver & guide, Visantha. The animals came in fast & furious- saw a crocodile, baby crocodile, kingfisher, fruit bats, chameleon, monkey (managed to feed monkeys), mangroves (entrances are beautiful),snake, monitor lizards. Amazing views! Pls tip ur driver cos they make an effort to find & point out the animals. Full 2 hrs boat ride. Bring a cap & sunglasses & a bottle of water. Lather sunscreen. Highly recommended!

This was such a good experience and just the best value for money. Our captain was Coca, he was knowledgeable and has the eyes of a hawk 😃 On this trip we saw crocodiles 🐊 chameleon, various snakes, water monitors, sea eagles, huge fruit bats and we also fed the monkeys 🐒 This was such a lovely trip and well worth it. I would highly recommend this trip.

Had a really great time on this boat safari - saw lots of wildlife and coca was a fantastic guide and a brilliant photographer!

Fantastic river safari with the wonderful skipper Coca who put so much effort into making our experience a good one. He sought out all the wildlife for us to see.... monkeys, crocodiles, monitor lizards, an iguana, and bats. Loved it!!

What an incredible 2 hours we had along the beautiful Bentota river with the extraordinarily talented Coca our tour guide! I still cannot believe how he spots these amazing animals amongst the trees and riverbanks. His eyes are like a superpower! And not to mention his amazing photography skills! We were lucky to see some crocodiles, large lizards, a chameleon, snake and feed the friendly monkeys. Highly recommend this trip whilst in Bentota!!

Our guide Koka was fantastic. He was friendly and knowledgeable went out of his way to find animals for us. He made me a very cute mouse made from a coconut and the county water was delicious - a first for me.

Great experience. If you’re in Bentota, try it. You’ll find a lot of animals like monkey, crocodile, snakes, and many more.