2/10
We came to Sinharaja NP and as nature lovers, we hoped to experience the primary rain forest and the unique birdlife. Unfortunately, the owner talked more about the potential of making billions with this prime location. After talking to a biologist staying at the hotel (who spent several days and a LOT of dollars at the hotel w/o actually being able to enter the primary rainforest/park!), and after a horrible “”night tour”” involving getting lost in the forest/banana plantation in the middle of the night, we had no credibility in the owner and just wanted to stay at the hotel as guests but go to the park entrance ourselves and get a guide there (for a LOT less money than what was charged at the hotel). Unfortunately the owner kept an eye on us and warned us about getting a guide for ourselves and misinformed us about the opening hours etc of the park. Nontheless, we got a guide and also planned going with him the next day into the “real” primary rain forest, but then followed a sequence of events, involving the hotel owner calling the police/park officers to report on this guide (even though the owner himself didn’t follow the park regulations!) and getting his license retracted etc. In short, the owner does not understand what eco tourists wants, and when we didn’t conform to his trips etc he actually sabotaged our plans. We felt that we ended up in the middle of an manipulative conflict. It was very uncomfortable to be “trapped” at this remote location in this situation.