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Help us care for Sri Lanka's Domesticated Elephant's

5.0
(21 reviews)21

The experience

Learn about the harsh realities faced by Sri Lanka's domesticated elephant population in Sri Lanka, understanding the importance for your volunteering and awareness on this issue.

Help us collect food, clean beading, diagnose health issues, and make vitamin balls for the elephants. All of these skills will come along with adept knowledge we pass on about Elephants.

Our primary requirement of you is to assist us with our ongoing activities.

What you offer

5 hours of help per day

Animal Care: Help look after and take care of animals.

Additional fee required

Amount: US$ 350 Per week

Fee pays for: Benefits for travelers, Materials for volunteer activities, and Donation to project

Description: We cannot run this project without charging a fee. It covers all your basic expenses like accommodation, food, water, and airport pickup, and also contributes to our cause. The longer you stay and the more people you bring, the more discounts we can offer. Our week starts on Sunday (Arrival Day) and ends on Saturday (Departure Day), with the program running Monday to Friday. We recommend this for your booking, but we are also flexible.

What you get

2 days off per week

Shared Dorm: You will have a bed in a shared room, which means you will share the same room with other travelers.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Free Hiking Tours: We’ll take you on excursions and hikes around town. For free!

Requirements

Beginner English or Intermediate English

Between 18 and 65 years old

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

Be from outside Sri Lanka

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

The sole purpose of our project is to care for the welfare and well-being of domesticated elephants.

What we are doing at the ECRF is prioritizing the mental and physical health of the Elephants we bring to our project.

We don't engage in activities with our elephants. Mornings start with cleaning the elephant's beds, collecting food for overnight, creating the vitamin balls to feed to the elephants (sometimes containing any relevant medicine), and assisting us with day trip clients.

Renting an elephant is extremely expensive and the project relies solely on donations from volunteers, which is why we ask for a fee if you want to join.
Our dream is to buy a plot of land where our elephants can roam as free as possible.

We aim to educate as many people as possible about the reality behind tourist traps and the logging industry, so we hope you'll have many questions to ask!

Activities & Shift

Here is a rough schedule, including the activities during your shifts.

Breakfast: Around 8:30

Transportation to the project: Around 9:00

Cleaning Elephant Beds: Start upon arrival

Locating and Gathering Food: After beds have been cleaned

Lunch: Between 12:00 and 13:00

Feeding snacks and watching the elephants/extra activities: After lunch

Transportation back from the project: Around 15:00

Dinner: Between 19:00 and 20:00

Please note that our program is scheduled Monday to Friday. Sunday will be your arrival day and Saturday will be your departure day. This is to ensure we can have a break from the hard work that goes into running a project like this. For volunteers staying longer than one week, the weekend is a perfect time to travel, otherwise we are happy to have you relax in the accommodation and explore the surrounding areas. We are happy to be flexible with this, so please make sure to message us if you cannot stick to this schedule.

Every Wednesday, we have an education day, specific to the reality of Domesticated Elephant treatment. Afternoons can be filled with the large variety of extra activites (introduced during orientation) or with the afternoon project activities.

Remember that our times are set but it's up to the elephants to decide when they have eaten enough and are ready to walk to the river, so times may vary. Times may also vary due to weather conditions.

Rules

Please come with an open mind, ready to learn, ready to get dirty and stuck in.