Night Hike To See Elusive & Rare Loris In Sigiriya

This activity is absolutely worth it! The naturalist guide is very professional and experienced‌. We saw 6 lorises tonight!

Loris walk was great , food was good Getting back was a nightmare . Plan carefully ideally get them to arrange a pick up at the end of the. They suggested to us to use PickMe . No availability. The walk back to hotel is about 55 minutes not a problem except Road is dangerous and unlit and there is risk of elephants. About an hour after end of trip we managed to get an uber driver to get us. It’s a great little trip but be more sensible than us and sort your transport before .

What a great experience, run by such knowledgable and enthusiastic people. Our guides showed us a short info video while we sipped on a cooling juice, issued us with red light head torches, then led us on a night walk through the woods and fields, stopping now and again to search for the tiny primates in the bushes and treetops. We were luck enough to see a few - some just by the reflection of their eyes, others by their silhouettes against the night skies. A great experience.

Amazing experience from two local guides. We were fortunate enough to see 4 Loris as well as turtles and bird species. Well worth doing for a short and fun evening activity!

We were greeted with a cool drink and 15 minute, thorough information session on the loris, held under cover. Clean, western toilets are available to use. After getting our red light head torches sorted, we set off on about a 1.5 km walk through forest, walking quietly in single file. This tour is at night, on uneven ground, through moderately dense foliage - you must wear covered in shoes and preferably long pants to avoid scratches from thorny bushes. The loris is very small and elusive, however, we were very fortunate to spot a single, slender grey loris high up in a tree! This was a magical experience that will be treasured! The location of this tour is several kms out of Sigiriya and you are driving there at night on a dangerous road (possible elephant encounters), therefore, be organised with how you get out there and have your return trip to Sigiraya pre booked.

it’s fun and learn something new at the same time. i really enjoyed it and would recommend people to join if they visit Sigiriya. But make sure you arrange transportation in advance as some tuk tuk drivers may not want to drive at night time.

Rocko café is remote so make sure you organise a tuk tuk to take you back to your hotel after the tour (at approximately 8:45-9pm), as there is absolutely no one around! I really think Viator should offer the same as Get Your Guide & provide included collection & drop off, especially for this tour in the middle of nowhere. One of the guides very kindly took us back as we had originally walked to Rocko’s for the 6:30pm start. I would definitely recommend having the included dinner beforehand & not afterwards as it’s very quiet at 9pm. The video presentation before the walk would have been more interesting & informative if the nature guide had spoken more clearly & not been yawning throughout! Also, the video itself had a thick line through the screen so a lot of information & photos were obscured from view. The local guides who take you on the actual walk tried their best to spot the very elusive loris but unfortunately we only got a very brief glimpse of two. It’s very dark, with just the red light head torch to see by, and there are lots of potential hazards to trip over so be careful! There were also several piles of rubbish on the ground with bottles, cans, plastic bottles etc 😩 which was sad to see! You definitely need mosquito repellent on!

We booked to stay for the night at Back of beyond and stayed in their tree house with the night tour to see the slender Loris in Pidurangala. Situated at the foot of Pidurangala rock with which we climbed in the afternoon before the night walk. The whole experience was fantastic and you can visit Rocko’s cafe next door for fresh fruit cocktails and health drinks as well as delicious food and even a fantastic massage. The night safari started with a naturalist talk about the Loris and their habitat followed by a couple of hours excursion to try and spot them. We had 3-4 sightings but they are extremely elusive but it was an enjoyable experience. The Back of beyond accomodation was excellent with open sided rooms to the forest and mosquito netted beds. The best Sri Lankan shower experience in the open forest style but private bathroom was a treat! The staff are extremely friendly and attentive and made us feel very welcome! The best tea, toast, and lovely breakfast. Thank you.

Good fun and interesting evening out in Sigiriya. Be aware though that the experience is quite far out of town and the walk back is dangerous. We and another couple all got stuck for about an hour as we didn’t have a driver to take us back, there were no tuk tuks and no signal nor wifi at rocko cafe which made it incredibly challenging to get back safely, and when we did eventually get a tuk tuk, they charged high prices as they knew we had no other way back.

Wandering throught the nightly jungle was amazing. After a small and interesting introduction ro the Loris we went out on a short hike through the jungle with two guides. We spottet 4 Loris that night - truly magical creatures and experience

We booked this separately from the island tour we were on and before we arrived in Sri Lanka. Communication was first class and we were collected from our hotel for a small charge. The ethos behind Back of Beyond, who run the night walks, is excellent, and they also educate school children from the area and train local guides. After a welcome drink at the lovely cafe, we received an excellent briefing before going on the walk, where we were delighted to spot 4 Slender Loris. While we were staying in the area we did another nocturnal Loris walk with a different provider and it wasn’t a patch on this one. Overall this was excellent value, top service and a very worthy cause, 100% recommended!

Amazing experience - we saw five Lorises and even a cobra! The guides were so knowledgeable and friendly and walking around the jungle at night was so fun.

Had a great time, the whole experience is really informative and they are doing great conservation work. We saw a few Loris from quite a distance. Thank you!

Great tour. Saw 4 loris. The guides were very knowledgeable and informative. They were great at ensuring that everyone in the group were able to see these cute creatures. It is only a short tour (just over an hour). It is about 10 minutes from Sigiriya village along a dark road to the start point, so ensure you have transport to get there. Recommended for a fun thing to do whilst you're in Sigiriya.

Was great! This was the proper company who oversee the conservation. We were super lucky and saw lots! Definitely recommend!!

Really interesting intro talk in a nice tree house setting, lovely well informed staff walked us through the jungle undergrowth skillfully spotting Loris. We included dinner which was really nice, great staff too

Great people giving an engaging experience and supporting the conversation of wildlife in the area.The food was also very good.

Very nice, the food is absolutely amazing, Iam a local and trust me the food is fire. The lorus were also very cute.

We booked this last minute not expecting too much but we are all so glad we did it. It was great learning about slender loris and what is being done to protect them. We saw loris up close and up in the trees, as well as things like snakes, lizard, birds, stick insects. The guides are absolutely brilliant, so we would definitely recommend this for an evening activity in Sigiriya!

Definitely worth learning a bit more about the primates. Enjoyed the walk at night. Spotted 6 lorises and 4 nightjars. Very pleasant experience.

Booked the tour but they didn't show up and I have not been able to contact them. Suggest looking elsewhere if you want to see the loris.

Amazing experience. We were given lots of information about the Loris, then we got our head torches and set off. The guides were fantastic and so good at finding them, we saw so many. The guides also pointed out moths, crickets, lizards and a nesting owl. So interesting, we loved it. Be prepared for lots of bugs 🤣

Our experience started off with dinner.... Simple but great food. This was followed by a talk about Loris and then the night walk. Great guides and an exciting hour or two searching for animals. Saw 4 Loris. Great value for money

We highly recommend this value for money tour. The naturalists are really passionate about conservation, and we very much enjoyed the tour. We saw 5 Loris in total. As we were staying at the accommodation (which we also highly recommend), we enjoyed a delicious dinner afterwards to chat about how much we enjoyed the tour. If you enjoy animals and conservation, you will enjoy this tour. Headlamps are provided.

We booked and prepaid the Slender Loris tour with Back & Beyond, but the guide took the day off without informing us. As a result, we lost our evening, paid for two unnecessary rides, and had to file a dispute to get our money back.

Would definitely recommend this night hike! When we got to the hotel we had a presentation about the Lorises and learnt all about them. We also learnt about the conservation work that the hotel is doing to protect them by keeping the tree canopy and educating local people on how important they are. We were then given head torches and went for the hike which was nice to be in such a small group (only 2 other couples in our group). We were very lucky to see 3 lorises and managed to see them quite clearly without feeling like we were disturbing them.

Knowledgeable and friendly staff. As a solo female traveller I really enjoy this short night hike and was lucky to see 3 Loris. Fun activity for animal lovers.

We had a great guide. We saw slender loris close up, and saw a mouse deer. The tree house accommodation is fabulous, right in the jungle canopy. Saw lots of other wildlife too. The food and service are excellent.

Super excited to go on this tour to see this elusive little animal. My naturalist guide was very knowledgeable and helpful and we managed to see some adult lorises and babies. Saw some other wildlife, too, including some birds and a snake ( not to worry as it wasn’t deadly). The tour was so worth it - highly recommended and would go back again. A big ‘thanks’ to the naturalist for a wonderful tour.

We had a brilliant experience. Initially we didn’t see any loris but our fantastic guide kept leading us way past our expected end time to make sure did get to see some and in the end we saw four loris. They are super cute. We also saw and heard other wild life during the walk. We all throughly enjoyed it - one of the many highlights of our whole trip. Highly recommend. (Note to add the organisers really care about protecting the species and invest in their preservation)

For the purpose of the tour (loris viewing) this is 5-stars. We ended up seeing 7+. Views are often quick, but the naturalist and guide did well to ensure everyone in the group got to see them. As an overall tour I would rate it 4-stars. I would have liked more information about some of the other animals seen - this would be more specific to just a "night walk". My background is partially in Zoology, so I have interests in all organisms. The other minor detail is providing better red lights - the one I had only went a short distance making it nearly impossible for me to spot anything beyond ten feet away.

For the purpose of the tour (loris viewing) this is 5-stars. We ended up seeing 7+. Views are often quick, but the naturalist and guide did well to ensure everyone in the group got to see them. As an overall tour I would rate it 4-stars. I would have liked more information about some of the other animals seen - this would be more specific to just a "night walk". My background is partially in Zoology, so I have interests in all organisms. The other minor detail is providing better red lights - the one I had only went a short distance making it nearly impossible for me to spot anything beyond ten feet away.

Very cool nice experience - walking in the nature at night looking for lorises. There were 2 local guides with me who were super nice and professional. The loris is night creature and during the tour you try to get a glimpse of them with the experience of the local guide. It was hard for me at first to see them as they are hiding in the trees however I did had the fortune of having a real good view of one. I do recommend wearing long pant and insect repellent. Give it a go while you stay the night at Sigiriya area!

Excellent experience! We saw four loris and two of them had babies with them. One of them we got to see up close. The guide was very knowledgeable.

I booked the night hike without dinner. They will organize transport to the meeting point upon request. There were three of us in the group. Thusitha, our guide, gave a presentation about the lorises. Then we set off, walking through the jungle with red light lamps. The atmosphere was great and the sounds were amazing. We were lucky and were able to see four Loris. We were out for about an hour. Highly recommended tour! Back of Beyond are committed to preserving the jungle and so it's great to support them by booking the tour. A good camera and zoom is required for good photos without flash.

The guide Thusitha and colleague were excellent, wonderful knowledge and passion for this strange and endangered little animal. We saw 5 Loris and really enjoyed the jungle. They also had lots of information and knowledge about all birds and animals. A great experience.would highly recommend it.

I did the Grey slender Loris tour with dinner included. Can’t recommend enough. The guides were very well educated. We had a very informative presentation and a delicious dinner before going out on our tour. What makes this place great is they put great effort into protecting the Loris through a few different initiatives. I had the most incredible time and I will certainly be back. All the best to the Back of Beyond team! You helped make my visit to Sri Lanka great!

This was a lovely and interesting way to find out more about the wildlife in Sri Lanka. The guide was very knowledgeable, committed to conservation and sensitive to limiting the impact of the tour on the animals. We saw loris on 7 or 8 occasions, sometimes just a pair of eyes peering out from the trees and twice a clear view of the animals climbing.through the canopy and catching insects. We were in a group of four plus the guide and an expert spotter, which worked really well.

Can’t recommend this highly enough. My partner and I went for the option with dinner included and it was great. The place is a conservation project we’re they put money towards buying land that has been turned into empty farmland and re-wilding it, giving new habitats for local wildlife. They told us how they have built to minimise their impact on the local environment. The tour was great with multiple slender loris and even a wild jungle cat. Afterwards we had barbecued food in the jungle lit by candles and lamps, cooked right there. Was one of the best meals I had had all holiday.

My partner and I did the loris nighttime walk with dinner included, and it was the highlight of the holiday! The team made a huge effort to find as many loris for us and also other animals as well. It is a conservation project, so the team took the right precautions to ensure the animals safety at all times. When we got back from the walk, we had a jungle BBQ - a huge highlight, I would definitely recommend!

The loris walk at night is arranged in the Back of Beyond Jungke Hideaway property. We started around 7 pm and finished in around 1.5 hrs. We saw 4 loris including a baby ! They give us infrared lights so that we don’t disturb the animals ! We even saw several birds including an owl ! Highly recommended this unique experience to anyone traveling to Sigiriya !

We didn't actually stay at the location; we simply joined the loris tour. Unfortunately, we had the misfortune of being assigned a substitute guide, which made the experience a bit frustrating. I can't speak for the regular tour with the proper guide, but in our case, the guide seemed to be poorly trained. They struggled with using the red lamp effectively and had difficulty tracking the animals. Although we did manage to spot a loris, I was the one who actually spotted it, and we didn't spend much time observing it. We departed from the area rather swiftly, as the guide didn't seem to respond when we alerted them about seeing shining eyes. It was quite a disappointing experience overall. While I understand that everyone has a learning curve, it was the attitude of the guide that was particularly bothersome. Their lack of enthusiasm made it feel like we received subpar service. Considering the relatively high cost of the tour, it's disheartening to have had such a negative encounter.

We had a very nice tour with a very knowledgeable guide. He was able to spot the lories up in the trees and also showed us some other animals. In total, we saw 7-8 lories. Great experience and great initiative to create awareness about these cute animals

We were very lucky to see not one but seven Loris. But don't expect them to show everytime you do the tour.

I thoroughly enjoyed our walk in the forest. The night vision lamps made the forest come to life. We spotted 3 separate loris — their red eyes peering in the dark, and with the help of our guide were able to briefly see the animals in white light. We even saw a mom and baby. Do not book expecting to shoot photos— it is dark and the loris are fast. Do expect a peaceful glimpse into the hidden wonders of insect life in the forest at night with fleeting Loris sightings.

This was a fun excursion. Our guide Thusitha was enthusiastic and knowledgeable. We were provided with head lamps and torches -- boots in the case of my friend. The Back of Beyond resort is located on the edge of a jungle and is nature conscious with low lighting, so the transition to the dark forested area was easy. The trails were as clear as they could be in a forest with few if any hazardous areas. We spotted three Loris and one had a baby. To be honest, what you see mostly, unless you are lucky, is Lori eyes, red eyes reflected from the red lantern. They do move quite fast when the white light comes out. It was interesting seen how many insects lit u under the red light. We included a nice dinner and Lion lager with our ticket. I thought it was a great experience.

IMPORTANT: Do not go to the meeting point by bike, by motorcycle, and if possible not alone, because the road is in the dark and passes through the middle of the forest, where elephants can cross. That said, the activity is structured with a theoretical introduction to the loris led by a specialized naturalist, followed by a walk in the forest accompanied by two guides. Although there are better activities, it was wonderful to be able to see these rare little animals in their natural habitat. The staff is prepared and works to the best of their ability. Recommended.

Superb trip.nice journey. Best service.

Very dedicated and likable guide. We saw some lorises and he can also organize a pickup from the hotel. Something special and you contribute to the protection of these wonderful animals.