Our Team

The Thaprobana-Different Discovery has been family owned and operated by two young brothers since November, 2003. We do not have a hundred years long history, a pretentious company name, or a postmodern synthetic office. Our team is made up of honest, outspoken people who do not over promise, do not use smoke and mirrors and do not speak in cringe-worthy public relation language. We speak with passion, belief and understanding behind us.

In 2009, we incorporated as a partnership business firm and, we have newly partnered with C&C Travel in Copenhagen, Denmark as an International Strategic Business Conglomerate.

Now, our small family business has progressively expanded into a travel agency, tour operator and a destination management company which mainly focus on business & leisure travel.

1.    Different Discovery is our inbound tour operator
2.    Discovery Holidays is our outbound travel arm
3.    C&C Travel Sri Lanka is our Investment & Destination Management Company.

We are specializing in designing and offering individualized itineraries both to sites of world renown as well to locations within the island, which may be less well known, but which is nevertheless of great interest. In no small part, the attraction may also be precisely because they are often not on the usual “tourist” itineraries.
Intrinsic interest may lie in:

1.   their archeological and historical uniqueness,
2.   their religious significance,
3.   the splendor of their scenery,
4.   their ecological importance,

Or, quite simply, may be down to the fact that they are unusual and exquisite locations in which to “chill out”, relax, and restore the batteries.
Clearly this represents just a fraction of the many tasks that we are involved in.

Although a small team, our aim is to provide the very best service to our clients. We are delighted that there are so many people who are happy to endorse our efforts and indeed our success.

Our Team

Discovery Team comprises a small group of innovative travel and hotel personnel with experience both within the country as well as overseas. Team members pride themselves on their competence as “tourist orientated professionals”. Of equal importance, however, is a strong sense of responsibility for conservation and for the cultural integrity of their island and its communities. Team members all speak English competently as a second language, travel regularly, and are thereby able to keep abreast of changing demands within the tailor-made tours sector. As all Different Discovery team members have a personal interest in many of the activities on offer, clients can expect a service which is well informed and highly personal.

Founder-Father

Mr. Rupert Wyndham, was the pioneer whose vision set the standards for the Thaprobana-Different Discovery. The team has been fortunate in having had the benefit of encouragement, guidance and material assistance from two UK citizens, Mr. Rupert and Mrs. Elizabeth Wyndham. Mr. Wyndham, now aged 74, is a graduate of the University of Oxford (Oriental Studies) and, before his retirement, held senior management, as well as directorial, posts within major British companies. The Team has benefited from their experience as dedicated travelers to countries across the world, including America, Latin America, Africa, SE Asia, The Far East, Australia, Polynesia and, of course, Europe.

 

Strategic Partner

Mr. Enrico Harrasser, an honest man with a big heart, a funny Italian, a giving personality, and a prominent business role in Denmark who has unparalleled specialist knowledge, experience and passion for destinations to create the ultimate tailor-made, good-value, top-quality holidays all over the world. He runs C&C Travel in Copenhagen and, Coco Beach Island Resort in Philippines. Takes C&C Travel signature, the flagship premium holiday tour operator, which operates both Cities and Short Breaks to more than 18 countries around the world. As he was well-impressed on these extraordinary “two crazy brothers”, Different Discovery was chosen as the best service provider among the Sri Lanka’s finest travel and tourism management teams and the most recommended visitor management entities.

Dinesh Gunaratna (Big Brother)

root to Leaves, Dinesh is a regular traveler and keen to explore novelty and simplicity in traveling. He has been conducting personally guided tours throughout the island for more than seventeen years. He is thoroughly familiar with the geography of Sri Lanka, its sites of unique interest as well as its finest locations for relaxation and holidaying. He has specialized in Hospitality and Tourism Management. Dinesh supervises all the operational aspects of the business and is the main person in charge of overall sales and operations of this company. He loves travelling Black's Beach-San Diego, CA, but his wife.....

Rasith Gunaratna (Young Brother)

Apparel merchandiser and a supply chain administrator transformed into a travel professional. Being one of the dynamic young tourism chaps, Rasith is always keen in travelling & learning around to discover new things offer fresh experiences to his clients. He is locally and internationally qualified in Marketing & Tourism. Rasith contributes more on marketing, and is mostly interested in community tourism, camping and in special interest tours. Rasith loved New York since the best city for singles and best nightlife but, he is not single anymore.

Nuwan Samaratunga: Reservation Executive (Booking Buddy)
Nuwan is young and yet seeking for a girlfriend from heaven. He is following a diploma in Airline Reservations. He manages all the bookings with his colleagues. He is well-connected to most of the hotels, resorts, guest houses and home-stays throughout the country. He hopes to be the best booking manager in Sri Lanka in 2099 but he sometimes send inquiries like “01 Single BB with Twin Bed”.

Udeni Samaratunga: Administration Assistant (Paper Girl)
Udeni, a young and energetic hotel school graduate related to two-brother’s family is backing up the team by undertaking all the paperwork and records related to business & leisure travel. She loves nature-photography and swimming, but she cannot swim continually more than 3 minutes in a baby pool.

Dayan Samaratunga: Fleet Coordinator (Wheel Guy)
Dayan is an exceptional young character in personally guided tours in Sri Lanka. He is comprehensive in the knowledge of vehicles and roads of Sri Lanka. He is a very good driver and never gets a complaint from our guests as he is always service oriented. He is dreaming on a BMW but he has to repair his own tricycle twice a week.

Darshana Chathuranga: Web Administrator (net-to-kin)
Darshana is a high-qualified web developer. He has completed Advance Multimedia Web Design and Development course at University of Colombo and a creative administrator who always keep our web site up-to-date. He is very good in content management and SEO but sometimes he is looking all over the keyboard for “@” symbol.

Our Chauffeur Guides Our well experienced chauffeur guide team is an asset to our team as they are always service-minded and honest. Their target is to deliver the best service and delight our guests with remarkable holiday experience. We are eager to see a complaint on them!!!

Namely…….Dayawansa, Thilak, Chinthaka, Sujith, Suganda, Liyanage, Sada, Tharanga, Hetti, Sumith, Sunil, Some, Milroy, Wasana, Janaka, Jagath, Samare, Gratian, Joshop, Lal, Erik, Jayantha, Wiky, Roland, Ranga, Geeth, Melan, PND, Ginige, Ari, Nihal, Alex, Sanath, Asantha, Sampath, Anura, Roy, Gamunu, Vijay and endless. Most of them speak English competently as a second language and some can talk with you in Tamil, German, and Hindu. Good news!! They all going to night-class to learn Danish as well.

Friends Network....
We are newly started to promote our tour packages in selected countries. Now our clients can directly connect with our international representatives online for more information and bookings.

Uditha Liyanage: Ontario
uditha.ca@toursrilanka.info Uditha is a Tourism Management graduate in Sri Lanka and a national tour guide lecturer. He focuses on special interest, wild life and community tours. He lives and works in Canada since 2007.

Maduka Pamuditha: Melbourne
maduka.au@toursrilanka.info A Social Sciences graduate from Sri Lanka with a special interest in community, cultural and conservation tourism. He works in Melbourne since 2008

Rushan Dilupa: Dortmund
rushan.de@toursrilanka.info Rushan, a young Sri Lankan national living in Germany since 2001, is very passionate about tourism in Sri Lanka and his all-round knowledge on many aspects of Sri Lanka is quite a creditable asset. He is fluent in the German Language and is the main person handling advertising and marketing activities related to the German Tourism market

Lalantha Kadupitiya: Udine
lalantha.it@toursrilanka.info Lalantha is yet another well experienced young tourism professional in Sri Lanka. He is living in Udine, Italy and promotes our programs to his friends.