Elephant Conservation and Community Development Volunteer in Sri Lanka
Maintain the well being of the elephant such as feeding, bathing, collect food from the farm and teach informal English to the local community.
Elephant Conservation and Community Development Volunteer in Sri Lanka
Volunteer in Sri Lanka by volunteering in an elephant conservation programme! Care for Asian elephants whilst building a better future for these gentle giants, their keepers and the local community, all at our young and dynamic elephant and community development project in Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
Help with the washing & feeding of the elephants, carry out standard health checks, clean the elephant beds, expand and improve the information centre, collect fruits for the elephants, learn Sri Lankan cooking, educating the tourist and local community about elephants and more.
The project needs volunteers to slowly and continuously improve the wellbeing of the elephants by educating tourists, the elephant keepers and the community alike in better ways to look after elephants and understand the importance of protecting the species.
Besides education a huge part of improving the elephants’ lives lies in improving the lives of the elephant keepers (called Mahouts) and the local community.
Our young and dynamic elephant conservation project not only needs your dedication, enthusiasm and hard work, it also needs you to tap into your creative side and help to expand the information centre which plays an important role in our education efforts.
Volunteers will also get the chance to meet other people and experience Sri Lanka in an unconventional but very interesting way. Come join us and experience Sri Lanka through elephant volunteer conservation and make your holiday a meaningful one!
This is a young, dynamic and ever growing elephant conservation project. The project was started because the elephants’ owners could no longer look after them. At the project they are well cared for and looked after by the mahouts and you, the volunteer.
The project sees tourists visiting throughout the week. The money brought in from tourist helps greatly to sustain the project sites and guarantee that the elephants have a better place to live than without these funds.
Your volunteering experience
We believe in providing you a safe and secure volunteering experience which will be fun packed with many special and incredible moments, but also one where you are expected to contribute to the project.
The project needs you to slowly and continuously improve the wellbeing of the elephants by educating tourists, the elephant keepers and the community alike in better ways to look after elephants and understand the importance of protecting the species.
Besides education a huge part of improving the elephants’ lives lies in improving the lives of the elephant keepers (called Mahouts) and the local community.
Our young and dynamic elephant conservation project not only needs your dedication, enthusiasm and hard work, it also needs you to tap into your creative side and help to expand the information centre which plays an important role in our education efforts.
Why this project – the suffering of elephants
Elephants have played an important role throughout Sri Lankan history. They played a big part in the building of the most ancient cities like Anuradhapura and Pollonaruwa. It is still common place in Sri Lanka for families and companies to keep domesticated elephants.
Today domesticated elephants are engaged in the following types of work:
1. Logging – elephants are used to log trees all over the world, including Sri Lanka. Their job is to drag the felled logs which is a very hard job, even for such a strong animal as the elephant.
2. Tourism – elephants are used to give tourists rides using what is known as a Howdah. This is a large, heavy platform, for tourists to sit and ride in. These Howdahs can cause a lot of discomfort and harm to the elephants. They are especially bad for the elephant’s back which is already a weak spot for elephants.
3. Ceremonies and Temple Work – Elephants participate in annual temple processions all over Sri Lanka. Often they are richly decorated and central to the proceedings. Other elephants are permanently kept at temples as a status symbol.
Often these poor animals are all alone in captivity, heavily chained and restricted in their movements and left with very little protection from the burning sun. It is a very sad life.
Domesticated elephants in Sri Lanka face difficulties finding useful and gainful employment. And those that are, sadly aren’t treated as well as we would like. The cost of keeping an elephant is HIGH. At around 7,000 rupees a day (£35) one elephant can cost £1,025 a month to keep healthy and fed. This is without taking into account the wage of the Mahout looking after them.
Why this project –Improving the Elephants’ lives
At the elephant project we strive to give the elephants a fast improvement of life compare to logging, being ridden with a Howdah or lonely confinement at a home or temple.
They live in a small group of 3 elephants minimum, are not forced to do any heavy work, no Howdah is used, they are given plenty of exercise, we keep them actively entertained with enrichment games and make certain they are well fed and cared for.
However, elephants are VERY expensive to keep and volunteers alone simply doesn’t cover the costs that come with running the elephant site. To cover the costs of keeping domesticated elephants happy & healthy, day-trip tourists visit to interact with the elephants; bathing, feeding and (without the aid of the Howdah) take short rides on them.
This gives us the perfect opportunity to interact with the tourists themselves and explain the plight of Sri Lankan elephants.
Helping the community
The people in Sri Lanka are welcoming, warm and smiling.
Most of the children go to school and get some form of education depending on where they live.
Living conditions differ from house to house, family to family. In some families the parents can’t support their child and therefore send it to a children’s’ home. Other parents leave the country to find work and leave their child behind at a children’s’ home. And some children, sadly, no longer have parents.
We are supporting one of the many girls’ homes in Kegalle, a local school (not in this project) and a disabled home. We’re also helping some of the local children.
With the help of you as a volunteer these children and the disabled people see a direct improvement in their lives. It is solely by being there that you are making a difference. Teaching English, math, sports, games etc is an added bonus which will help them much in their future. But by simply meeting these strangers from far away their world expands and becomes a little brighter every day.
Especially because there are very little staff at both the girls home and disabled home your help and attention for the children and the disabled is ever so welcome.
And thankfully we have had a good number of donations that have helped these places to carry out much needed maintenance and help them with the running costs of the homes.
We strive to make tourists and locals alike to look differently at elephants and see them as more than money making tools only. With your help, and with your help only, can we make a real change and ensure a brighter future for the elephants, their keepers and the local community.
Download brochure here
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Cost
1 week £380
Extra weeks £115 per weekCompulsory for all volunteers
Ecoteer Responsible Travel lifetime membership: GBP 55Includes:
Return airport pick up from Colombo International Airport, accommodation 7 days per week, three meals per day – 5 days per week (volunteers need to buy their own food on weekends), 4-5 hours contact time per day with the elephants.Excludes:
Local transport to the girls home (orphanage) costs 500 LKR return by tuktuk (about 2.5 GBP)
Local transport to the disabled home costs 800 LKR return by tuktuk (about 4 GBP). A bus also goes for much less.
Flights, insurance, visa, Ecoteer Responsible Travel membershipBooking
Please allow a minimum of 3 weeks for us to process your application and payment.
Download the application form here
To make a booking, please complete the application form and email to explore@ecoteer.com. We will then email you back confirming your reservation and how to make the deposit payment. If the deposit is not received within 2 weeks from the date your reservation is placed, your reservation will be cancelled automatically. Full payment is required no later than 1 month before departure. You may pay online by credit card or a direct transfer to our account. Once a deposit has been paid we will email you our Know Before You Go guide, which will give you useful information to help you prepare to volunteer.
Cancellation Policy
a. Cancellation of reservation must be made in writing to avoid any misunderstanding. If the company receives notice to cancel 30 days or more before the date of departure, a minimum administrative fee of RM100.00 or 10% of the tour deposit (whichever is lower) per person will be levied.
b. If notice of the cancellation is received 29 days or less before the date of departure the following charges will apply:
c. 15 – 29 working days before the date of departure = 50% of deposit
8 – 14 working days before the date of departure = 20% of FULL COST
3 – 7 working days before the date of departure = 40% of FULL COST
2 working days or less before the date of departure = 100% of FULL COST -
Daily care of your elephant: Bathing the elephant, clearing the elephant grazing area, conduct elephant health checks, setting us grazing area & maintaining project site, food preparation and feeding for the elephants.
Educate the local community and tourist about elephants
Creating enrichment tools and programs for the elephants.
Learn to cook Sri Lanka dishes by attending the cooking classes.
Learn Singhalese (Sri Lanka language)
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Example:
06:00 A good and healthy start of the day joining the optional running group on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 07:00 Rise and shine (unless you got up in time for the 6 AM activity). Shower and get ready for the day. 07:30 Meet the elephant keepers (Mahouts) and spend time with the elephants; conduct elephant health checks and lead the elephants to the water, help with a quick elephant bath and escort the early bird tourists as they arrive. 08:30 Hungry? Enjoy your breakfast. Bread, egg, jams, fruits, sometimes noodles and string hoppers may be served. 09:00 Eco farming. The eco farm is where extra food for the elephants is grown. This is seasonal. You may find yourself picking fruits for the elephants and for the tourist to help feed the elephants. The eco farm required lots of hard work, weeding, planting etc to grow as much food for the elephants as possible. 10:00 Tea break. 10:30 Clean the elephant beds and make sure to make the elephant paths safe for the elephants. Remove any leftover food and elephant dung from the elephant sleeping area before making the elephants a nice fresh bed for the night. 10:30* Learn how to cook on Wednesdays This is an optional cooking class where you can learn how to prepare local dishes and eat your own creations for lunch. 12:00 Enjoy your lunch time and relax for a while. 14:00 Help out with the tourist activities which include elephant baths and showers around 15:00 down in the river. Although not all elephants are going there at the same time they usually end up together for scrubbing and water splashing with the volunteers. 16:00 Mondays you can learn Singhalese (Sri Lankan language).
Tuesday and Thursday you visit the orphanage to (help) teach English. There are 36 orphans aged between 5 and 18 divided in 3 groups.
Wednesday you can help teaching the local children and adults English and enjoy a variety of games.
Friday we stop early to give you a bit more time for the weekend trips.* We strive to have at least 3 hours of elephant time a day (almost half the working day) and you may gain some basic elephant communication skills.
** Times and activities may vary from day to day. The activities time table is a mere guidance and not set in stone.
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Shared accommodation with other volunteers. 3 rooms with bunk beds (2 persons, 4 persons and 6 persons) Rooms have a wardrobe with a chest of drawers, bed linen and mosquito nets.
There is free filtered drinking water, a kettle for hot drinks, cups, washing machine, two clothes horses, a washing line, television (local TV), Wi-Fi internet and a computer with internet for those without a wireless device.
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Every Sunday all year round. Volunteers will be picked up from the airport on the Sunday from the Colombo airport.
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1. What are the requirements to join this volunteering project?
Volunteers will need to be able to speak English to be able to communicate with the facilitator. Minimum age requirement is 18 years old. Volunteers should also have a positive attitude and willing to participate in all task given to them.2. How many hours do volunteer work per day?
5 to 7 hours a day. However volunteers are able to request for breaks in between. The task are to be carried out from Monday to Friday with off days on the weekends.3. Do I need to apply for visa to join?
If you are coming to Sri Lanka for 30 days and less then you will need to apply for your visa in advance of arrival. This can all be done on line and will cost $20 per person. You can pay by credit card and track the progress of your application which should take 24hours. You’ll then receive approval which we recommend printing and taking a copy with you to show at passport control. You can also apply via your local embassy.The application website: http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/visainfo/center.jsp?locale=en_US
You can obtain a visa upon arrival in Sri Lanka, you will need to head to the Electronic Travel Authorization counter at the airport, fill in the forms and pay a fee of $25.
4. Is this program suitable for families with children?
This elephant conservation program is suitable for families with children age 12 years and above.
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