Ajeet De Soyza

Ajeet De Soyza is a licensed tour guide based in Colombo with more than seven years of experience helping travellers connect with Sri Lanka on their own terms. He founded Ceymondu Escapes with a clear intent: to move guests beyond the standard itinerary and into the everyday rhythms of the island. Whether that means navigating a neighbourhood market at dawn, discussing colonial history beside a crumbling Dutch wall, or sharing a slow afternoon cup of Ceylon tea with a family in the hill country, Ajeet shapes experiences around genuine human connection rather than a checklist of sights.

Walk Colombo with Ajeet: his signature walk is bookable on Lakpura as the Colombo City Walk with a Local, a private three-to-four-hour walk through Colombo Fort and Pettah with short tuk tuk hops between districts, entry fees included.

What makes Ajeet's Colombo city walk different?

Most city tours treat Colombo as a stopover — a transit point before the beaches or the Cultural Triangle. Ajeet's approach is the opposite. He reads the city as a layered text: Moorish trading quarters beside Art Deco facades, street food stalls carrying centuries of spice-route influence, and neighbourhoods where Sinhala, Tamil, and Burgher communities have shared lanes for generations.

The walk is adapted to the interests of each guest. Architecture enthusiasts might spend time tracing the Portuguese, Dutch, and British imprints across the Fort and Pettah districts, while food-curious travellers can follow the aromas through the street markets and learn how local ingredients shape a cuisine. The pace is unhurried, and the routes evolve as the city does.

For guests who want a broader orientation to the capital before heading out on a longer tour, the Colombo City Tour offers a useful companion framework.

What is Ajeet's background and expertise?

Ajeet holds a licence from Sri Lanka's Tourism Development Authority, which requires formal training in history, culture, first aid, and responsible guiding practice. Beyond the licence, his real credential is accumulated time on the ground: years spent researching communities, visiting sites off the standard tourist trail, and refining the narratives he shares with guests.

He founded Ceymondu Escapes roughly seven years ago after recognising that many visitors left Sri Lanka having seen its landmarks but missed its character. The company name itself gestures toward an older identity of the island — one that predates the brand names most travellers associate with it.

Ajeet works with guests from across Europe, North America, and Asia, and he is comfortable adjusting the depth and pace of any experience based on a group's background knowledge and energy.

What kinds of experiences does Ajeet offer beyond Colombo?

While the Colombo city walk is his signature offering, Ajeet also guides guests across the wider island. He has spent considerable time in the hill country and along the south coast, and he can orient travellers heading to destinations such as Ella or the ancient city of Polonnaruwa.

His approach to nature-focused visits emphasises context over spectacle. At places like Sinharaja Forest Reserve, for instance, he focuses on the ecological relationships within the canopy rather than simply ticking off species. At wetland and river habitats, he draws on local knowledge that rarely appears in printed guides.

He is equally at ease guiding guests through cultural festivals and living traditions — the kind of encounters that require a trusted local intermediary to access respectfully and meaningfully.

How do I book a walk with Ajeet De Soyza?

Ajeet's Colombo walk is booked through Lakpura as the Colombo City Walk with a Local. It is a private walk of three to four hours: it starts in the Fort at the cell where the last king of Kandy was held, takes in the Dutch Hospital, the Clock Tower and the old merchant streets of Pettah, stops at Gangaramaya temple, and ends on the seafront at Galle Face Green. English-speaking guiding, drinking water, the tuk tuk rides between districts and the entry fees are included.

Your guide contacts you the day before the walk and meets you at your Colombo hotel, at the Dutch Hospital or, for cruise passengers, at the port gate. If your interests lean one way, whether railways, architecture, faith or food, say so when you book and the walk is shaped around them.

Bookings can be arranged as stand-alone experiences or integrated into a broader Lakpura itinerary. If you are planning a Negombo city tour on arrival or a Galle city tour on the south coast, Ajeet can advise on how to sequence the different urban stops within a single trip.

What should I expect from a walk with a licensed Sri Lankan guide?

A licensed guide in Sri Lanka is held to standards set by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, covering historical accuracy, ethical conduct, and guest safety. Ajeet's licence is registered with the Authority, and checking a guide's licence is worth doing whenever you book a private guided experience anywhere in the world.

In practice, what this means for a guest is straightforward: the history you hear is researched, the access you receive to private or community spaces is arranged with consent, and if something changes on the day — weather, a local event, a road closure — your guide can adapt without losing the thread of the experience.

Groups typically range from solo travellers to small families or friends travelling together. Larger group sizes can be accommodated with advance notice.

Is Colombo worth exploring in depth, or is it just a transit city?

Colombo is frequently underestimated. Travellers who spend only a night before flying onward often leave with the impression of a busy, sprawling port city with little to hold attention. That impression is largely a product of not knowing where to look.

The city contains one of South Asia's better-preserved collections of colonial civic architecture, a network of waterways and wetlands that sit within the urban boundary, food traditions that trace the arc of Indian Ocean trade, and a contemporary art and design scene that has grown significantly over the past decade. The Colombo Lotus Tower has become the newest landmark on a skyline that still carries the outline of the old fort.

Spending a focused half-day or full day with someone who knows the city well changes the calculation entirely. Colombo rewards attention, and a knowledgeable guide is the most efficient way to give it that attention.