Bentota River Safari: Mangrove Wildlife

Embark on a unique Bentota River Safari to explore mangroves and spot rare wildlife. Enjoy a 2-hour lagoon safari with free pick-up and drop-off included.

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Bentota River - The renowned Bentota River, located in the southern region of the country, empties into the Indian Ocean, creating a lagoon at its final stretch. This river and lagoon offer the most extensive range of water sports among all the beach resorts in Sri Lanka. Popular activities include jet-skiing, windsurfing, parasailing, and…
What's Included
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Local guide
  • Bottled water
  • GST (Goods and Services Tax)
  • All taxes, fees and handling charges
  • Local taxes
  • Environmental Management Charge (Reef Tax)
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

The Bentota Travel Mart ( BTM ) offers the Bentota River Boat Safari for visitors staying in Bentota, Induruwa, Kosgoda , Ahungalla, Balapitiya, Ambalangoda, Aluthgama, Beruwala, Maggona, Kalutara, Waskaduwa and Wadduwa. Complimentary pick up and drop off services are provided for these areas.
For an exclusive and novel experience of a lagoon safari,…

Location
Bentota
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(102 Ratings)
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Traveltheworld114
Nov 6, 2025
River safari experience - This was such a memorable day. 2 hours approximately on the river cruise, with various animals being carefully shown by the experienced tour guide. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Janpa7557ba
Sep 15, 2025
Very interesting tour, highly recommended - Super nice tour. Pickup and dropoff were very convenient, on time, as agreed without any hassle. Nice and clean tuk tuk's. On the river the guide was amazing. He was devoted to show us as much as he can. And he knew where to look for interesting animals without interrupting their routing. All of us were happy and we agreed that this was definitely above our expectations.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Go599606
Sep 13, 2025
10/10 Bentota Mangrove Safari - We had an amazing boat safari experience on the Bentota River! Our guide, Harinda, was absolutely exceptional. He patiently showed us the beautiful mangroves and pointed out various wildlife along the way, explaining everything with great knowledge and passion. Harinda was polite, humble, and very well-behaved throughout the 2-hour journey. He even surprised us with complimentary king coconut and fresh pineapple, which made the trip extra special. He made sure we were comfortable and truly enjoying ourselves at every moment. We’re so glad we booked this safari — it was the highlight of our trip. Highly recommend this experience, 10/10!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Valeriad895
Sep 2, 2025
Exciting experience - Beautiful boat tour along the Bentota River! Friendly and helpful guide. Many sightings!! Excellent snack with coconut and pineapple in the company of monkeys 😊
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Traceytb
Sep 2, 2025
Fantastic experience, loads to see and very well organised ! - This was one of our favourite ever excursions, we were collected and taken to the river by our driver Janith. Our guide on the boat was super kind and knowledgable, and was great at spotting wildlife as we drove along the river and through the mangroves! All in all in was a couple of hours long and we saw lots of wildlife along the way, including monkeys and crocs! Our daughter got to hold a baby croc which was her best moment ( you’ll need a few rupees to tip the guy who boards the boat so you can handle one) - a lovely touch was added by us stopping in the mangroves and our guide prepared fresh pineapple and coconuts for us to drink! Organisation was fabulous, this company is very very reliable, efficient and their attentions to detail make your trip super easy and enjoyable !
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Louisewy4276qu
Aug 19, 2025
Fun and fascinating River Safari - Excellent trip. Picked up by Pasidu and Dinesh in two cars. River safari lasted a couple of hours and we saw alligators, kingfishers, lizards and a lot of monkeys. Our guide gave us lots of opportunities to feed the monkeys fruit, which my children really enjoyed. We had a really refreshing snack of real coconut water and a lovely sweet pineapple. Great guide, very thorough and knowledgeable. Went onto the Turtle Hatchery, which was interesting and informative. It was a bit sad to see such big turtles in such small spaces, but the alternative for many is worse. Overall, this was a fab tour and Bentota Travel Mart excelled again!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bomberharris_11
Aug 12, 2025
Wonderful experience! - 5 star experience from start to finish : lovely pick up from our hotel in 2 cars for our family of 6 and a smooth ride to the riverside . Met by our super guide Harindra who took us out in his boat where we saw multiple kingfishers , monitor lizards, chameleon,baby crocs ( and we held one - all very carefully done) , monkeys and a variety of beautiful native birds . . Harindra was very knowledgeable and a super spotter ! All the family from 5 to 75 had a fantastic time : even when it rained ! Many thanks to This travel company for showing us more of this wonderful country 🙏😀
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Catherine
Aug 12, 2025
Excellent trip. - Again booked through Bentota travel mart. Excellent communication, drivers and guides. Our river guide was fantastic, we saw fruit bats, large monitors, fed monkeys as we went through the mangroves on the Bentota river. Our guide had brought pineapple and coconut from his own garden and shared great knowledge of the area and its wildlife. Well worth the trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tonyvf5398lb
Aug 8, 2025
River Safari - This turned out to be the highlight of our Sri Lanka holiday, as our guide took his time to show us the amazing camouflaged animals in the mangroves, while always respecting the animals themselves. Much more than we expected and highly recommended.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Vicky
Jul 24, 2025
Definitely recommend - Was a brilliant trip. We saw far more than we expected and the river tour guide was superb. He really spent the time pointing out different animals and telling us about the area. There were 9 of us and we all really enjoyed it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $20
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).