While you are there, you are able to meet with some local businessmen and women — these are the people who are really helping to keep the local economy afloat. So we`re talking arms dealers, and leaders of authoritarian regimes. But the best news of all is, it`s all paid for by the British government… or the taxpayer.

Most people would ask how this is possible. No normal traveler would ever get an opportunity like this, it`s simply not realistic. Well it is if you belong to the British Army.

Recent revelations have uncovered how delegates from the British Army have been sent on so-called "study trips" to Sri Lanka, with the aim of understanding the culture and political landscape, but actually never really leaving their 5 star hotel.

In the last 12 months, more than 100 officers went on similar three-week trips. The Ministry of Defense sent them on a safari in Kenya as well as a cruise down the River Nile and of course, whale watching in Sri Lanka.

Staying in elegant accommodations and dining out in the plushest restaurants, the attendees were also able to meet with dictators. One of the three-week excursions involved a trip to India that was hosted by the British arms manufacturer BAE systems.

The trips are organized each year for the British and foreign military by the Royal College of Defense Studies and the information was only brought to the attention of the public thanks to a Freedom of Information request by online publication, VICE.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense said: "Overseas Study Tours are an integral part of the Royal College of Defense Studies course to study prospects for security, stability and prosperity in different regions. Any cultural elements are a minimal part of the overall programme which is funded to a significant extent by overseas nations."

More about: