Riverside Cabana

Theft Alart!

At the night of Feb 15th 2024, I was rolling up 7000 and 40 rupees with a rubber band to pay the accommodation fee for 4 nights, reminding myself that I would need to add 200 rupees to be exact next day. I put them in a plastic purse and put it in a bag under my bed because there were no lockers, and it had been no problem to do like this in India and Sri Lanka.

Next day, I went to Kataragama to explore for a half day and came back to my hotel. I had some 100 rupee notes, so I thought of combining them with the rolled up money that I prepared a day before.

When I came into the dorm room, I noticed that there was a green cap on the corner of my bed mysteriously. I picked it up and placed it on the table in front of my bed. Then I pulled the plastic purse from the bag and then took the rolled up money from the purse.

At this point, I notice, that there are only one 1000 rupee note and two 20 rupee notes in the rubber band. In the same purse, I kept 700 dollars in a plastic bag, so I pulled it out and checked it. There were only 6 of 100 notes. One was missing.

I immediately reported it to the family who ran this hotel, and the first reply that I received from one of them was "you should be careful about foreigners", so I was like "what? ".

I told them that at least 100 dollar and 6000 rupees had been stolen, and they told me that I shouldn't have left money in the room, which I thought was right. I shouldn't have trusted people so much.

Since I was upset, I totally forgot about the green cap that had sat on my bed. I went back to the dorm, grabbed it, and showed it to them. They said that it belonged to one of their helpers, who had done his last day of work here on the day. Very suspicious.

Since I didn't have enough money left in my wallet, I went to an ATM, withdrew money, and paid what I owed to the family.

At night, a guy, who called himself the owner, approached me and asked what I wanted, probably for the solution. I suggested him install lockers and CCTV for safety and asked if he had made a contact with the guy with the green cap, but he hadn't been able to.

Then he mentioned that he had had many customers this season and made good money. I assumed that he wanted me to tell him that I wanted the money back, but I didn't.

Next morning, while I was working, he brought breakfast for me, but I had had it already, so I declined it. Then he came again with his wife with 10k rupees in his hand. He offered it for the compensation, and I received it thankfully. Then he told me that he had hired the guy with the green cap because he had desparetely needed money as his father had seemed to pass away recently. I assume he was very in need for money at the time.

With this story considered, I still recommend this hotel because of the jungle vibes. Guests usually sat in front of the river minding their things. The family here is very helpful, and they are good people.

I may be an unlikely one as Sri Lankan people are kind and generous in general. Even after this, I would still recommend Sri Lanka to my friends. I've learnt a lesson after this incident and probably so as the hotel hopefully.

Great base camp for your safari and for meeting new people. The only thing that’s more nice than the owners, is their food.

Stayed here for 1 night before a safari at yala national park. It was the perfect place to stay before the safari. Very peaceful, huge rooms, clean and the host was very friendly and helpful. I would recommend to anyone looking for somewhere to stay before a safari or a peaceful quiet hotel in Sri Lanka.

Great place with some jungle feeling, an amazing host and quite possible the best Rice and Curry I've had during my 3 weeks in Sri Lanka.

Big recommendation

I have been traveling for four months, and I have never experienced such a host and hospitality. Kudos to the food, accommodation and organization of the safari. Thank you for everything big boss

Easily the most memorable place I stayed in Sri Lanka. River view from a room was top notch!
I sincerely recommend this place, either if you want a short stay before safari, or a bit longer one to recharge before further travel.
I came as a guest and left as a friend, without exaggeration ;)

The perfect place to stay in the middle of the nature. The host is friendly and makes everything possible that wish for! He even arranged that i could go fishing with a local fisherman. In the night, we cooked the fish. The rooms are spacious and clean, perfect to come to a rest. Wake up in the morning with bird noises and if you are lucky, you might spot a crocodile in the river next to the room. His wife cooks wonderful traditional sri lankan foods.
I would really recommend Riverside Cabana.

Had an amazing experience sleeping in a treehouse 9 meters high. The entire family was super friendly and helpful. I would also recommend having breakfast or dinner there, the rice and curry was delicious. Thanks for the stay Dimuthu

Had a great time here, extending from 2 to 3 nights. We had the two rooms overlooking the river and they were great. Clean, comfortable, cheap and with a nice view! Everyone was very welcoming and cooked us some amazing food, with a chef from north who cooked different to what we were used to in the south. Let’s not forgot the cute family of dogs here that you will fall in love with! Will be recommend this place to everyone!

The place is so peaceful, the owners are friendly and helpful, they offer safari trips to Yala National Park.

Really nice place with views over the river. You can see cocodrils. Wonderful and quiet place. The rooms are spacious and clean, some older than another. They have 3 friendly dogs. You can arrange Yala's Safari with them for a fair price.

Nice place to have a rest.foods were amazing.place was great.team is an innocent pack.experience was good.the tree house is good for a small group.its well built.you can buy foods from near by places also like gamee ambula (ගමේ ඇඹුල). Srilankan genuine foods are in everywhere and very low in cost.lovely.

Really nice and peaceful place, we slept in a Cabana just in front of the river.the view was stunning!

All the staff were kind and so helpful for every kind of need.

We did the Lunugamvehera Safari with their driver, it was quite cheap compared to others hotels prices. We saw a lot of animals, our jeep was completely alone inside the park, so nice:)

I highly recommend this peaceful place to make a Safari (Lunugamvehera or Yala) as well as resting and enjoying the nature!

The room charges (SLR. 2000) are quite reasonable with their status, the tree hut and restaurant also interstingly arranged. Rooms are with beds for three people. Breakfast is free.