Elephant Conservation Helper

Head into the depths of the Sri Lankan jungle and encounter stunning Asian elephants in their natural habitat. Help to promote the protection and survival of these endangered elephants by playing an important role in the initiative to help elephants and communities live together.

Around 100 years ago there was upwards of 20,000 elephants that roamed the forests and grasslands on this beautiful island. Due to increased farming and habitat destruction, just 5000 of these gentle giants now live outside of captivity. Your role on this programme will be aiding the research and conservation techniques to stop this decline from becoming even more devastating.

Travel tips

You should arrive into Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo (airport code CMB) on the selected Saturday start date 09:30 AM onwards. You will be met at the airport by one of our local staff or an appointed driver who will be holding a named sign. They will take you to your accommodation a short drive from the airport where you will spend your first night. You will then travel to the programme on the Sunday morning fully rested and ready to go!

The programme ends on the Saturday of your final week and you should depart the accommodation on this day.

Every day you will be working in the elephant’s natural habitat, where you will be getting hands-on with the ecological research and conservation. Your varied and exciting role will consist of a variety of tasks, including –

ELEPHANT & WILDLIFE MONITORING – During the afternoons you will be located high up in the jungle treetop in a purpose-built viewing tower/tree house, located within an elephant corridor and overlooking the elephants traditional grazing grounds. Here your tasks are split into two categories, the first is noting observations on how elephants and local villagers interact, the second is observing the passing elephants, collecting data on their spatial and temporal distribution. Keep an eye out for the elusive Sri Lankan leopard whilst you’re up in the trees, as you might spot him alongside a variety of other wildlife in the area.

Some of the technology you will get a chance to use here include remote sensors, sound traps, camera traps and GPS tracking in order to help develop strategies to conserve the local wildlife.

HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT – You will be heavily involved within the local communities to help them live in harmony with elephants, with the ultimate aim being to evaluate and subsequently decrease the conflict between the two. Over the past 100 years this struggle has been the main reason for the substantial decline of the Sri Lankan elephant populations, so your input on the programme will play a vital role in restoring the balance between animals and humans.

TRAIL MONITORING – Trekking through dense jungles and over wetlands you will be walking along an elephant grazing trail and recording any findings. The purpose of this is to understand the number of elephants residing outside of the national park, seasonal variations in behaviour and any preferences in their habitat or food selections. You will also get to observe wildlife and various habitats as well as visiting forest hermitages.

ELEPHANT ID – You will get to spend a session at the Weheragala Tank looking for Sri-Lankan elephants to then observe and photograph for ID purposes. You will also have to fill in an elephant identification data sheet, this not only to helps to build up a catalogue of elephant numbers, their movement both inside and outside the park and their social organisation, but also notes any different physical features of individual elephants themselves.

During this time, you will also get to monitor other amazing wildlife including mugger crocodiles, water buffalo, macaque monkeys, birds and maybe even leopards where data collected will be logged into the system.

FENCE MONITORING – The local fence committees regularly require updates on the state of the solar-powered electric fences that have been erected around local villages to stop elephants from trampling through them, so checking that they are still working is a really important part of your volunteering role.

TANK MONITORING – Another important task is to check around water tanks (reservoirs) situated outside of the national park for the presence of any elephant activity, including dung or tracks. The aim is to see whether there are single males and/or herds present outside the national park and what their patterns of dispersion might be and what they are eating.

TEACHING – A major part of conserving elephants is teaching environmental awareness in local schools around the project sites. You will get to become involved within the local communities where you will help to teach English and explain why elephants are so important.