Sea Turtle Hatchery Centre, Mahamodara — Attraction in Galle

The old female lady that runs this very unprofessional and very rude. She screamed at us as we left because we attempted to wash our feet with water, she gave no attempt to kindly talk and explain. The whole experience is worth 5 very stinky minutes, with clearly depressed turtles. Genuinely not worth any money and I am even keen to report to authorities as I am suspicious of animal abuse! The lady is the rudest lady I met in Sri Lanka!!! I am from London. Very poor experience for my friends.

Updated response : ⸻

I want to set the record straight because the hatchery’s reply to my review is full of lies and deflection. We did not stay for “two and a half hours” — the entire visit lasted about 30 minutes, and most of that time was on the beach behind the hatchery watching turtles in the sea. Inside the hatchery itself, we spent no more than ten minutes. To claim otherwise is dishonest.

The accusation that I was “hugging and kissing” in public is an outright fabrication. I came with my uncle, my older brother, and my older sister. There was no one to kiss or hug, and there were no families or children present to be “driven away.” Inventing these details to smear me and excuse your behaviour is disgraceful.

From the moment we arrived, the woman at the entrance was screaming at her co-worker and later turned her anger on us simply because we tried to wash our sandy feet with water. Instead of calmly explaining, she chose to shout and intimidate. This is not conservation, it is unprofessional aggression.

As for the turtles themselves, they are crammed into concrete pools with barely enough space to move, let alone swim. They looked depressed, unhealthy, and mistreated. Locals later confirmed what I suspected — that this hatchery has a reputation for harming turtles just to keep them captive, and even releasing babies into rough waters so they are swept back. That is not conservation; that is cruelty dressed up as tourism.

Finally, your attempt to undermine me by questioning my nationality is pathetic. I mentioned I am from London because I am British, and you have no right to assume otherwise or to lecture me for saying so. My family returned to Sri Lanka to learn about our culture and its nature, but your hatchery was a disgrace.

This place is unprofessional, dishonest, and exploitative. The way visitors are treated is shameful, and the way turtles are kept is cruel. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with genuine conservation efforts worth supporting, but this hatchery is not one of them. I strongly recommend people visit the many other hatcheries near Galle, which are cheaper, kinder, and far...

I want to set the record straight because the hatchery’s reply to my review is full of lies and deflection. We did not stay for “two and a half hours” the entire visit lasted about 30 minutes, and most of that time was on the beach behind the hatchery watching the sea. Inside the hatchery itself, we spent no more than ten minutes. To claim otherwise is dishonest.

The accusation that I was “hugging and kissing” in public is an outright fabrication. I came with my uncle, my older brother, and my older sister. There was no one to kiss or hug, and there were no families or children present to be “driven away.” Inventing these details to smear me and excuse your behaviour is disgraceful.

From the moment we arrived, the woman at the entrance was screaming at her co-worker and later turned her anger on us simply because we tried to wash our sandy feet with water. Instead of calmly explaining, she chose to shout and intimidate. This is not conservation, it is unprofessional aggression.

As for the turtles themselves, they are crammed into concrete pools with barely enough space to move, let alone swim. They looked depressed, unhealthy, and mistreated. Locals, my airbnb host, later confirmed what I suspected that this hatchery has a reputation for harming turtles just to keep them captive, and even releasing babies into rough waters so they are swept back. That is not conservation; that is cruelty dressed up as tourism. They harm bc the laws do not allow healthy turtles to be kept in such tanks.

Finally, your attempt to undermine me by questioning my nationality is pathetic. I mentioned I am from London because I am British, and you have no right to assume otherwise or to lecture me for saying so. My family returned to Sri Lanka to learn about our culture and its nature, but your hatchery was a disgrace. This place is unprofessional, dishonest, and exploitative. The way visitors are treated is shameful, and the way turtles are kept is cruel. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with genuine conservation efforts worth supporting, but this hatchery is not one of them. I strongly recommend people visit the many other hatcheries near Galle, which are cheaper, kinder, and far...

One of the worst experiences I have faced as a tourist.

The entrance is about 60 feet from the road through a shaded dirt road. We went around 1 pm and there was no one at the entrance. Owing to the heat, I asked my parents to sit under one of the trees there, and I went to peek through the entrance doorway to check if anyone was there. Immediately, a listless lady came running from another entrance, shouting at me that unless I pay the fee, I can't peek inside. When I tried to explain that I was trying to find her, she scolded me, accusing me of trying to see the turtles for free. All this while, I was counting money to pay for our tickets. I got irritated and told her I'm not interested and walked over to my parents and explained what had happened. She again rushed to us and told us we couldn't be in that shaded area OUTSIDE the hatchery if we didn't pay the entry fee and basically shooed us away. Our cab driver, who was waiting for us to finish, basically faced the same treatment.

While walking out, a Russian couple was walking in, and she basically bent over backwards catering to them. Then we understood her priorities.

If you're a local or from the Indian subcontinent, I urge you to stay away from this place. Most other one-star reviews will basically follow this trend.

The entry fee is LKR 2000 for foreigners, FYI.

Pity I can't rate it below 1 star.

Update: I see that the owner lady has replied to my review with the same charm she showed when we were there. Trying to slander me when she's well aware that I did not set foot in the doorway. I doubt she actually remembers us since it was a couple of weeks ago and is just throwing out the slander in hopes that it discredits us. Our driver who was more than 30 feet from the entrance was chased away with the screams "Pickme people no come here!", which was the final...