Sheryl Alexander
Australia
May 2018

Great experience volunteering with SLWCS! The staff are friendly, fun and knowledgeable. I learnt a lot about the human elephant conflict. Being part of a project that is implementing different strategies to help with this is important and rewarding plus the Elephants are beautiful.

There’s lots to do from the very physical such as clearing bush, rebuilding houses damaged by elephants and digging holes for lemon trees so bring gloves. But also if you are not into such physical work you can take the GPS readings, record the findings, set up the cameras for the camera traps or go to the school and help the kids with English.

If you wondering am I to young or too old for this, you are not. I was the oldest at the time at 62 and the youngest was 16 (she came with her mum). I had a fun and interesting time which has charged me with the energy to do some more volunteering plus I met such great people who I will continue to be friends with.

Marion Kraft
Germany
June 2018

In the Field House I was warmly welcomed by a very friendly team and volunteers. My two weeks have made me realise how lengthy and time consuming a project can be. How much effort and diligence is involved to make a successful study. I enjoyed my time a lot and wish the SLWCS good luck with the orange tree project and hope its going to be a success.

Yican Zhong( Edna)
China
June 2018

My name is Edna, a student from China and stay here 1 week. It is an unbelievable experience which become a volunteer working with SLWSC. We did some measurement, observed elephants and other animals together. Living in field house, sleeping in the tree hut, I can’t imagine those wonderful activities. This is the real nature life and I will never forget this week.

Beth Andrew
United Kingdom
July 2018

Although me and Lizzy only spent a week volunteering here and it was a very last minute plan, we have had the best experience and it is one that I will never forget. All the activities that I was able to take part in have been really fun and interesting and I feel like I have learnt a lot from my short time here.

Being able to go to the national park and see many wild elephants was amazing and I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to go. All of the team members have been so friendly and accommodating, this has really made my time here more memorable. It has been so nice to take part in a project that is working to help both the elephants and the local people and I wish I was able to stay longer..

Brianna Lewis
California, USA
July 2018

I want to say thank you to the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society for allowing me to be a volunteer these past four weeks. Being able to work with the workers of SLWCS has been a rewarding experience. I knew I wanted to put my time and energy into a project that is making a genuine effort to make a difference.

The slogan here is “saving elephants by helping people” and they really live up to that. Some of our daily activities included helping the local community plant orange trees, and checking the quality of the bee hives. These are good ideas for deterrents but not a long lasting solution. The Orange trees take 2- 3 years to fully mature and the bees are not working as well as it did for other wild elephant projects. But keep in mind any data good or bad will help with future ideas. We even helped to rebuild homes that were damaged by elephants.

Other days we trekked through the forests and looking for elephant dung and prints for data. Nothing compares to the afternoons in the tree hut. Being able to witness elephants in their natural habitat was beautiful. For future volunteers come with an open mind and open heart and soak up everything this beautiful country has to offer. I’m truly blessed to have had the opportunity to come here.

Thank you SLWCS

Xinyu Feng (Ken)
China
July 2018

It is my great honor to join this family for 1 week and I did enjoy every single day. The people all here are kind and nice, especially our coordinators—helps more than a lots and care us more than themselves; other colleagues here are very happy and hardworking which provided us a very enjoyable moments. I would like to appreciate our most beautiful, kind and helpful coordinators Rashika and Akila for everything done for me and every single person.

I like activities which planed by this organization, especially the bee-hives. We were divided into 3 groups and we had own tasks but finally everybody helps each other. Treehut experience was amazing even-though we end up with no elephants, but sitting on trees provided me a great opportunity to feel the nature and gain peace. Finally the national park experience was fantastic! We saw couple groups of elephants, water cows and other wild animals.

It will be hard to say goodbye to this place and everybody, but let’s say until we meet you all again. Finger crossed and all the best!

Hannah Michelakis
USA
July 2018

Although I only spent a short time here, I will remember this experience for the rest of my life. It was really cool to participate in all the different activities that helped both the people in the village and the elephants. I wish I could have spent longer here, but the time I did spend here was amazing.

The coordinators, Rashika and Akila, were very kind and accommodating and the other workers here were really fun to work with. I was a bit nervous coming here, being so far away from home in a country I had never been to, but everybody here made sure that the volunteers were comfortable and happy. I am so glad I got the opportunity to volunteer here!

Photo Credits:

Akila Weerakoon/SLWCS
Rashika Ranasinghe/SLWCS
Chandima Fernando/SLWCS
Indika Sampath?SLWCS
Ravi Corea/SLWCS
Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society

Big, rumbling thanks to our Corporate Partners for their kind support and to everyone who has donated and supported our wildlife conservation efforts!
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