Funky Leopard Safari Hostel
Yala National Park Yala Kataragama, Kataragama, Uva Palata, 91400, Sri Lanka
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1 Room With 2 Adults Change Search
Room
Room
Address
Yala National Park Yala Kataragama, Kataragama, Uva Palata, 91400, Sri Lanka
Hotel Services and Facilities
Free WiFi
Free parking
Free breakfast
Pet friendly
Hotel facilities
- Free Parking
- Garden
- Room Service
- Air Conditioning
- Bar
- 24-Hour Front Desk
- Express Check-In/Check-Out
- Shower
- BBQ facilities
- Darts
- Hiking
- Private check-in/check-out
- Shared kitchen
- On-site parking
- outdoor pool
- shuttle service
- kitchenware
- 24-hour security
- Designated Smoking Area
- Free Wi-Fi
- Game Room
- Kitchen
- Off-Site parking
- Restaurant(s)
- Daily Housekeeping
- English
- Sinhala
- Non-Smoking Rooms Available
- Exterior Corridor
- Staff follow all safety protocols as directed by local authorities
- Shared stationery such as printed menus, magazines, pens, and paper removed
- First aid kit available
- Cashless payment available
- Linens, towels and laundry washed in accordance with local authority guidelines
- Hand sanitizer in guest accommodation and key areas
- Invoices
- Access to health care professionals
- Staff trained in safety protocol
- Temperature check for guests and staff
- Free face masks
- Ticket services
- Contactless check-in/out
- Food delivery
- balcony/terrace
- Body thermometer available
- Car rental available
- Daily disinfection
- Entertainment services
- Ironing amenities
- Luggage storage & lockers
- Non-smoking property
- Toiletries provided
- Tour services
- Wake up call
- Physical/social distancing guidelines
- Protective screen or physical barriers in appropriate areas
- Individually-wrapped food options
- Alternative meal arrangement
- Professional cleaning services
- Cleaning products available
- Pets allowed (charges may apply)
- Airport shuttle (charges may apply)
- Bicycle rental (charges may apply)
- Kid-friendly dining
Click here to leave your opinion >>
David (Family with young children)
stayed in February, 2026
Guest Score 7 out of 10
Good
Good location for Block 1 if doing morning Yala safari, friendly staff
Room was as expected nothing flash but comfortable and as per the pix. Everything was good for a convenient place to stay near Yala
Sanjeewa (Family with young children)
stayed in January, 2026
Guest Score 6 out of 10
Pleasant
Calm and quiet, good to rest.
Entering road is terrible for normal cars to enter, part in the road just few yards to the entrance was fully damaged and need quick fix.
Holly (Couple)
stayed in August, 2025
Guest Score 10 out of 10
Exceptional
Andon was an amazing host. He was friendly, helped us out with a safari. The breakfast was great, and the evening meal under the stars was so lovely.
Nothing! It’s rustic
Charles (Family with young children)
stayed in July, 2025
Guest Score 2 out of 10
Poor
Host is nice, food is good
We stayed in the chalet, and reality is far different from the picture. One of the chalet is at the back end of area, looks more like a garage, with dumps next to it. Wifi did not works Ventilator and shower barely worked. When we entered after dinner there were frogs and milipeds all over the room. At 40eur a night in Sri Lanka (you can get 4/5 star hotel for same price), we expected much better quality. Our kids refused to sleep there. They got us a room in the main building for that night (only available 1 night) which was ok, but wanted us to return in the chalet the day after. We finally left, agreed they would refund the 2nd night we did not stay, but 2 days later refused to refund. Location is far from Tissa where most safari depart from and which is a more lively town. Would not recommend, plenty of much better options in Tissa
Raphaelly (Couple)
stayed in July, 2025
Guest Score 8 out of 10
Very Good
Nice place, good size room and cold aircon. They offered a really nice dinner for reasonable price. They offered safari to Yala National Park if you are interested too. We were with a tuk tuk and the road was a bit difficult, we got stucked on our way out but staff helped us.
Claudia (Couple)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 10 out of 10
Exceptional
One of our favourite stays in all of Sri Lanka. Anton went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable and help in any way he could. He lent us money when we didn’t have the right change for the safari on our first day, and thoughtfully provided tea, coffee, and biscuits after our afternoon safari - as well as at 5am before our morning safari - along with packed breakfasts to take with us. He also prepared a delicious three-course meal with two proteins (more generous than most places we ate in Sri Lanka).
After we received some sad news from back home, Anton showed such compassion and humility, offering comfort in a way that felt deeply human and sincere. Saying goodbye the next day was unexpectedly emotional.
I’d absolutely recommend this place to anyone considering a stay, you wont regret it
nothing
Brooke (Couple)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 6 out of 10
Pleasant
Anton the hotel host was great.
Our guide was great for our safari as well.
- Roads weren't great into the property so our driver couldn't get there
- room much more expensive and in worse condition comparable to other properties we stayed at in Sri Lanka.
- Yala safari very expensive and not worth it ( too many jeeps and all a bit aggressive when call comes through after leopard spotting) also must have 2.5 hr break in middle of day. Roads in very poor condition. We went to other parks in Sri Lanka, this was the worst
- dinner was worst meal we had by far. Please offer fresh local curry foods.
Michael (Couple)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 7 out of 10
Good
Anton the manager was helpful.
The evening meal was tasty.
The toilet flush did not work well. Every time it took 3 flushes to be effective.
The toilet cistern refill was very slow, so wating each time for the three flush actions was not good.
The shower water heater did not function. Even though the power light was green and the thermostat adjustment worked, the heating element did not work.
The long driveway from the road was muddy from one end to the other. Only 4wd trucks could use it. Because our car could not use the driveway, carrying our luggage in and out on the muddy path was tricky.
Mosquitos in our room were a real problem.
Caroline (Family with young children)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 6 out of 10
Pleasant
The grounds are very quiet and the location for access to Yala means a very short drive in the morning with a large packed up breakfast. The staff were very friendly and keen to help us as much as possible and were great with my kids (11 and 13), and gave them lots of biscuits! The veranda was very quiet and peaceful at night. Suggest that one night is enough to capitalise on the proximity to the park, accepting this is quite basic accom. Pool looked clean but we only dangled legs in!
This is a tricky review to write but this location didn't work for us unfortunately which was a shame based on other reviews. The bathroom really needed maintenance, the bedding wasn't clean enough and we had ants upon arrival. But mainly it was just too isolated since the road to the lodge is inaccessible. We had to leave our driver and walk the final 200m upon arrival (having been sent a google location to be dropped off at) and to leave we needed a jeep to get out, so our driver couldn't get to us, which left us rather stranded. The evening food was quite inflexible (fixed menu, fixed time of 8pm too late for kids, food not cooked on the premises but delivered which was a big no for me given we were trying to hard to ensure the freshness of food we ate) and wasn't what we hoped based on the idyllic relaxed pictures on the website. There was no option of a beer or a coke or anything beyond water with the meal. The guy at the place was really lovely, but there isn't a hotel per se, you are pretty much in the building on your own at night, and for us, there was basically noone else staying there. We didn't get offered any nature walks etc which was also partially what appealed to us when booking. So unfortunately a bit disappointing and we left a day early. Maybe we were just unlucky.
Courtney (Group Traveler)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 10 out of 10
Exceptional
We stayed for 2 nights in a cabin. The staff were really friendly. We did the morning and afternoon game drive and the safari guide was really knowledgeable. We saw a lot of elephants. We had breakfast and dinner and all the food was lovely
No everything was good
Karen (Family with young children)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 9 out of 10
Wonderful
We loved our two-night stay at Funky Leopard as a family of four. The lodge is very close to the entrance to Yala. Anton, our host, was very welcoming and attentive. He made sure we had everything we needed. The room was fairly basic but great for the price and very clean. Beds super comfortable. Only downside was poor water pressure on shower, but that wasn’t much of an issue. The grounds are lovely with big trees and many visiting grey langur monkeys and peacocks. The pool was great surprise to cool off in at end of hot day. We had breakfast and two dinners there with plentiful food. They organised our full day trip on safari jeep to Yala with packed breakfast and lunch. Yala is so very diverse in landscapes and incredibly beautiful. We paid the small extra fee for a guide, which was a good idea. Driver and guide worked hard to ensure we saw as many animals as possible. Saw elephants, crocodiles, monkeys, water buffalo, many birds, mongoose, hares and the best of all- two leopards. One young male walked right next to our jeep! Highly recommended full day- it’s a long, hot day but worth it to see more.
Charlotte (Family with young children)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 10 out of 10
Exceptional
A perfect stay! Anton and Aruna were fantastic hosts and really looked after us. Anton went out of his way to provide gluten free food for me which was so appreciated. Aruna was incredibly passionate about his work and it was great that he shared his thoughts about Sri Lanka and the wildlife that surrounded us at Yala. Can't fault our stay. Thank you!
Zoë (Couple)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 10 out of 10
Exceptional
Surrounded by nature, with monkeys and peacocks
Brilliant BBQ dinner and a lovely takeaway breakfast provided for the Safari. Tea, coffee and biscuits at both 5pm and 5am!
Anton made our stay wonderful and organised our Safari - we had the most amazing guide (MJ) and we saw a leopard!
Patricia (Group Traveler)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 8 out of 10
Very Good
Great service, food and arrangement of safari
John-paul (Family with young children)
stayed in April, 2025
Guest Score 5 out of 10
Fair
Staff / host was very nice.
Rooms were very old and the mattresses / bedding smelled awful. It was passable for one night and the workers at the property do their best with what they have. I regretted not booking somewhere nicer.
The safari tour organised was a bit of a let down but I think it would have been the same for any tour provider - they cover a very small area and you won't see very much.
Be aware the access road is about 400m and very rough, you can expect a few scrapes of the bumper / exhaust
Ahmed (Couple)
stayed in March, 2025
Guest Score 8 out of 10
Very Good
Leith (Family with young children)
stayed in March, 2025
Guest Score 10 out of 10
Exceptional
The staff at the lodge were exceptionally accommodating and knowledgeable of the wildlife/area. They were flexible and adaptive to providing safari and meals. The setting was beautiful with amazing animals to see within the grounds
We liked everything
James (Couple)
stayed in March, 2025
Guest Score 7 out of 10
Good
Geeta (Couple)
stayed in February, 2025
Guest Score 8 out of 10
Very Good
Nice air conditioned rooms. Bathroom small but adequate. Comfortable bed and nice veranda for good/drinks. Anton was very helpful and did a great job providing our meal and looking after us
There was little to do in the grounds which could have been better maintained
Robert (Couple)
stayed in February, 2025
Guest Score 9 out of 10
Wonderful
On arrival we given complementary tea and each evening before dinner, afternoon tea. The food was excellent, and the staff looking after us were outstanding, so friendly, accommodating and knowledgeable.We also had a night time nature walk which was very interesting.
We were initially booked in to the chalet, which had no air conditioning, and was quite run down with many insects for company?
We asked to be moved but the management told me over the phone I would be charged extra 20$………… I disputed this, and it was wavered, and we were moved to the main block which was great.
Despite this initial issue, we had a great stay and were really happy with our staff, they couldn’t do enough for us ?
Thank you for your information!
Area information
- Yala National Park - 11.73 mi
- Ruhunu National Park - 18.91 mi
- Gal Oya National Park - 51.63 mi
- Kataragama Dewale - 1.87 mi
- Valliamma Dewale - 1.87 mi
- Gal Vihare - 10.20 mi
- Menik Dagoba - 10.34 mi
- Gangarama Dagoba - 12.57 mi
- Kiri Vihare - 19.40 mi
- Kebilitte Dewale - 19.53 mi
- Ratmal Vihare - 26.49 mi
- Diyaluma Falls - 28.34 mi
- Kanda Vihare - 30.63 mi
- Rawanaella Falls - 33.19 mi
- Nanbanna Vihare - 36.29 mi
- Kadurugoda Vihare - 36.98 mi
- Bambarakanda Falls - 40.15 mi
- Naigal Vihare - 40.81 mi
- Kataragama Dewale - 42.31 mi
- Bakers Falls - 43.62 mi
- Galagama Falls - 43.95 mi
- Dunhinda Falls - 43.97 mi
- Slab Rock Falls - 44.28 mi
- Manawela Falls - 44.35 mi
- Elgin Falls - 47.86 mi
- Parawella Falls - 48.65 mi
- Ravanaella Falls - 48.76 mi
- Hiriketiya Vihare - 51.60 mi
- Wewurukannala Temple - 51.82 mi
- Lovers Leap Falls - 51.83 mi
- Uraella Falls - 52.44 mi
- Ganegama Vihare - 52.49 mi
- Kirindi Ela Falls - 52.85 mi
- Fairlawn Falls - 52.94 mi
- Diyanella Falls - 53.48 mi
- Ella Falls - 55.75 mi
- Great Western - 56.07 mi
- Dehenella Falls - 56.82 mi
- Kurundu Oya Falls - 57.29 mi
- Gartmore Falls - 58.06 mi
- Adams Peak Falls - 58.06 mi
- Devon Falls - 58.85 mi
- Dankumbure Vihare - 61.67 mi
- Sri Bhakta Hanuman Temple - 62.07 mi
Other attractions
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Funky Leopard Safari Hostel
Yala National Park Yala Kataragama, Kataragama, Uva Palata, 91400, Sri Lanka