Elephant Conservation Volunteering
Quick Overview
This project offers volunteers a rare opportunity to work alongside local conservationists, educators, community partners and local villagers deep within the heart of beautiful Sri Lanka. This is a true conservation project where wild elephants are not touched at all as they are all in their natural habitat and it is a genuine research based project involving elephant tracking, monitoring, observations, and education to the local communities, running campaigns and awareness programs.
Wasgamuwa is one of protected areas where Sri Lankan Elephants can be seen in large herds. It is also one of the Important Bird Areas in Sri Lanka. The name of the Wasgamuwa has derived through the words “Walas Gamuwa”. “Walasa” is Sinhala for sloth bear and “Gamuwa” means a wood. There is a possibility that wild animals might catch diseases by coming into contact with domestic cattle, which are released to park’s grasslands by the villagers. Wild animals particularly elephants have to compete with these cattle as they have occupied the grazing lands and water pools. These cattle also damage the park’s electric fence. Illegal logging is a major threat and preventing it has been a difficult issue. Elephants damage the properties of the villagers and fatal attacks on them have reported from the park. Environmentalists have raised concern over proposed resettlement of displaced people from the construction of Moragahakanda reservoir. It is suggested that this resulted in escalating the elephant-human clash. There is an urgent need for strategic action designed to mitigate human-elephant conflicts to save the endangered wild elephants of Sri Lanka and enhance the welfare of captive elephants.
What’s Involved
Volunteering on this elephant conservation program is truly exciting and an experience of a lifetime. You will get the chance to take part in animal identification and tracking through game drives as well as many other amazing activities. Your duties will include gathering information on elephants and other wildlife and tropical ecosystems; Collecting essential environmental and soci-economic data to help develop community-based conservation programs; Participation in discussions with local villagers to help identify practical solutions to human- elephant conflicts. You will observe, assess and document human-elephant conflicts and teach environmental education to local school children. Depending on needs you will also be building and mending fencing to protect agricultural crops and homes from damage by wild elephants.
Imagine an experience that gives you a complete behind the scenes look at what needs to be done in order to protect this grand animal. Not only will you learn an incredible amount about wildlife conservation in one of Sri Lanka’s most popular national parks, but you will get hands on work experience with real conservationists. Besides elephants there is also carnivore tracking such as leopard monitoring. Everyday you will be working for a minimum of 5 hours. In the evenings most volunteers relax in the volunteer house. There is always someone in the house so you are never alone! On the weekends you can stay in the volunteer house or explore Sri Lanka. Anyone who joins for more than 2 weeks also gets a free entry to visit the National Park.
Previous experience in conservation is not required for this program. However we do expect you to be enthusiastic about animals and conservation in general. There is a minimum age requirement of 18 years for this program.
All The Details
Wasgamuwa, Sri Lanka
This program has a Sunday start date which means you need to arrive to Sri Lanka by Sunday as we will be picking you up on Monday morning at 6 AM from your hotel and transferring you to Wasgamuwa. Please note that your accommodation, meals and airport pick up on Sunday is not included and you will need to arrange this. If you have any trouble you can contact our team and we would be glad to sort this out for you for an additional fee.
The below are Sunday start dates – the day you need to be in Colombo by. If you have any confusions about this please email us hello@volunteeringjourneys.com
2019 | 2020 | |||
3rd November | 5th January | 5th April | 26th July | 25th October |
10th November | 12th January | 12th April | 2nd August | 1st November |
17th November | 19th January | 19th April | 9th August | 8th November |
24th November | 26th January | 26th April | 16th August | 15th November |
1st December | 2nd February | 3rd May | 23rd August | 22nd November |
8th December | 9th February | 10th May | 30th August | 29th November |
15th December | 16th February | 17th May | 6th September | 6th December |
22nd December | 23rd February | 24th May | 13th September | 13th December |
29th December | 1st March | 31st May | 20th September | 20th December |
8th March | 7th June | 27th September | 27th December | |
15th March | 5th July | 4th October | ||
22nd March | 12th July | 11th October | ||
29th March | 19th July | 18th October |
All our rates are in USD $
NUMBER OF WEEKS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Cost USD $ | $999.00 | $1,199.00 | $1,449.00 | $1,699.00 | $1,949.00 | $2,199.00 | $2,449.00 | $2,699.00 | $2,949.00 | $3,199.00 | $3,449.00 | $3,699.00 |
Price Includes
- Pre-departure support and materials – to prepare you for your trip
- Shared room- Volunteer accommodation in Wasgamuwa field house
- Experienced bilingual local staff guidance
- All meals in Wasgamuwa field house
- Transfers from Colombo to Wasgamuwa by public transport
- Orientation and Training on arrival
- 24 hour support in your location
- Working with experts in field and contributing to organised conservation efforts
- Transportation in field in Wasgamuwa
Whats Not Included in your program fee :
- Flights
- Travel Insurance (This is mandatory for this program)
- Airport transfers
- Accommodation in Colombo
- Visas (Please check with the Sri Lankan Visas service if you are eligible for free entry to Sri Lanka)
- All items of a personal nature, such as curios, gifts, clothing (work and other)
- Any activities and excursions outside of your planned project itinerary
- The nearest airport for this program is Colombo Airport (CMB). We will transfer you by train and then bus.
- Visas can be applied online via Sri Lankan ETA Visa site.
- Insurance is compulsory on this program.
- For support on any of the above email us hello@volunteeringjourneys.com
What Happens When I Arrive?

Living Arrangements for Wildlife Experience
On our wildlife conservation program in Sri Lanka you will be able to relax in the comfort of your volunteer house outside the reserve after a day of volunteering work. Because we promote community living for a happy, healthy social life, we will house you with other volunteers on the same program so you will always have someone to talk to about what you’ve learnt. Meals are provided daily so you can get an authentic taste of the local cuisine and fully immerse yourself into a new culture. All transport and transfers will be pre-arranged on your behalf. Your house will have a common area and kitchen for your use.

Health and Safety :
When you join our programs you can be assured we have carried out Risk Assessments to identify potential safety and health risks on projects and in the community. We share this information with you in our pre departure documents. Our local staff are well trained and we provide 24/7 emergency numbers to all participants. Please read our Health and Safety pages for more details.