Sri Lanka - Elephant and Wildlife Conservation

Join this inspirational project to help wild elephants and wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka.

The project is unique in Sri Lanka as their award-winning model focuses on researching wild elephants in order to allow the local community to live peacefully with them. They help the local farmers live alongside over 300 wild elephants and other wildlife by running initiatives to reduce potential conflict.

Each day is different but volunteer tasks include helping with:

* Elephant monitoring and observations -
* Bird and butterfly research
* Monitoring solar powered electric fences which protect crop land
* Interviewing villagers to document human-elephant conflict and help to identify practical solutions
* Assisting with the Community Citrus Tree project - planting and monitoring citrus trees which are used by villagers as elephant deterrents

Volunteers work 5 days a week (Monday to Friday) for 6-7 hours per day, starting from approximately 6am, with breaks throughout the day and a lunch break of around 2 hours. You have weekends off and there are plenty of free time activities to enjoy in the area.

The team carry out their work in a variety of eco-systems, from lowland lakes and rice paddies up to mountain jungle villages. Volunteers often travel in the project vehicle to reach conservation locations (around 10 – 40 minutes’ drive) and may walk around 5km a day.