There really is no better place for elephant watching than Udawalawe National Park - and it’s even more satisfying when you know that the work you're doing directly contributes to their rehabilitation and release back into the wild to live a natural life!

►SUMMARY FACTFILE
Start Dates	All year round - you choose your start and finish dates!
Duration	2 weeks, with the possibility of extending your placement once you're there.
Requirements	No qualifications needed, just a big heart and a love of elephants!
Price	£1,095 / US $1,645 for 2 weeks Full Price List and other Currencies
What's included	►Accommodation ►Food ►Meeting you at the Airport ►Transfer to your accommodation ►Full pre-departure support ►Local in-country team support and backup ►24-hr emergency support ►Free T-shirt.
What's not included	Flights, Insurance, Cost of Visas (if a visa is required, but we'll provide necessary documents and assistance), Return transfer to the airport.
Who can do this Project?	All our projects are open to all nationalities. Unless otherwise stated, you need to be aged between 18 and 70+

Also on this page:

• Accommodation
• Travel and Visas

PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Elephant Centre’s primary objective is to rehabilitate orphaned elephant calves back into the wild, with many of the elephants being released into the nearby Udawalawe National Park. There are currently more than 40 elephants that are under the age of 5 years old at the Centre. Working in such close proximity to these majestic animals offers the experience of a life-time.

Each day you’ll be working to provide the essential day-to-day care that the elephants require, including sourcing the food, preparing the food, helping with the feeding, helping to wash the elephants, cleaning up after them, and generally helping out with the maintenance and upkeep of the centre, amongst other work.

Elephants are highly intelligent, social animals and working in such close proximity to the elephants leaves you in awe and very humbled to see nature’s work at its very best.

Thanks to the continued hard work of the DWC, hundreds of elephants can now call the Udawalawe National Park their home. The National Park is a must-see as it will instantly put all your hard work into perspective – see the section below for a background on the park. See the section Work Content below for more details on the work you’ll be doing during your stay at Udawalawe.

WHAT YOU'LL GAIN FROM DOING THIS PROJECT:

• An exciting, never-to-be-forgotten adventure into beautiful Sri Lanka and its fascinating culture. 

• New skills, more confidence, a greater understanding of a different culture, invaluable personal and professional development.

• An entry on your CV or résumé that will put you head and shoulders above most others in the job market

• And best of all ... an unforgettable experience!

Alternative Project Start Dates: 
It is possible to choose your own start dates to allow you to participate in the programme as best suits you. However, please understand that due to the additional costs involved, any alternative start date (other than the dates specified) will incur an additional charge. This charge will be added to the cost of your programme. For more information on alternative start dates and/or transfer fees please check with us for further details.

WORK CONTENT
Your working week for the most part will generally be Monday to Friday. Your working hours may vary but you can expect your working hours to be between the times of 07:00 am to 17:00 pm – but don’t worry, you won’t be expected to work all that time – it will just depend on what’s happening at the time. Occasionally there may also be some all-night activities depending on the care that needs to be provided to the elephants – as sometimes the smaller baby elephants need round the clock care.  

There can be a lot of physical activity involved in the project, so you’ll need to be fit and healthy. Remember you will be working in the hot sun each day so you need to be careful and pace yourself accordingly, taking regular breaks, especially during the heat of the day.

You will be expected to get stuck in with the cleaning duties – for the most part this means mucking out the elephant sheds. Keeping the centre clean for the elephants takes a lot of work – as you can imagine 40 odd elephants can make quite a bit of mess when they want to. You will also be expected to help out with the food preparation. This may mean collecting fire wood for the fire/stove needed to warm the water used to make the formula/milk for the younger elephants that are still to be weaned on to solids. For the older elephants this may involved collecting grasses, vegetation and palm fronds etc. You should always do this under supervision as some vegetation may not be suitable and could even be poisonous to the elephants.  Elephants need to consume huge quantities of food to keep them going – so feeding takes place at regular intervals throughout the day meaning you’ll have plenty of opportunity to get involved. You will also be able to help out with bathing some of the younger elephants.

The Udawalawe Transit Home is very popular with Sri Lankan’s and with visiting tourists all wanting to get up close to get a better look at these majestic beasts. The upkeep and presentation of the centre plays an important part in the day-to-day operations and you will be expected to do your part whether it’s picking up litter, maintaining signs, or developing infrastructure such as pathways etc. In helping o keep the centre looking good you are helping to maintain the profile of the centre as a world leader in the rehabilitation of elephants back into the wild, which in-turn helps to secure the funding needed to keep the centre running, which in-turn ensures the ongoing care of the elephants.   

There is also a very small make-shift animal hospital on site. Any animals found injured are brought to the hospital to recover. Once fully recovered they are then released back into the wild. This is a very small side operation and at the time of writing there are only a couple of (very cute) monkeys at the centre. Please note that animals only stay whilst they are recovering and that any stays are therefore transitory.

As with any project, your work will depend on what is required at the time your programme takes place. Work can also be affected by factors, such as the weather, the seasonal behavioural patterns of species i.e. breeding seasons etc. It is therefore important to come with a flexible and open attitude and be prepared to take part in any mixture of activities - whatever you find yourself doing its sure to be a lot of fun and no doubt the elephants will want to come and investigate.

ON ARRIVING INTO SRI LANKA
We’ll meet you at the airport regardless of whether you’ve asked us to arrange your flights or not. You’ll fly into Colombo Airport (also known as Bandaranaike Airport) where you’ll be met by our Sri Lanka General Manager, Roshan Perera. You’ll then be taken back to our Volunteer House in Ja-Ela, which is just 15 minutes drive from the airport. You’ll then have the rest of the day to relax and to take some time out to recover from your journey before making the trip to Udawalawe the next day.

The transfer to Udawalawe will be made by minivan with the journey taking around 5-6 hours (traffic depending). Return transfers back to Ja-Ela from Udawalawe will be provided on the Friday afternoon / Saturday morning – you should look to book any return flights for departing on the Sunday to allow sufficient time (but please don’t book any flights without speaking to us first!).

UDAWALAWE NATIONAL PARK
Udawalawe National Park lies around 160km south-east of Colombo. The park was established in 1972 to provide a sanctuary for wild animals displaced by the construction of the Udawalawe reservoir on the Walawe River. The park covers an area of 119 square miles and in the short time since the park was established it has become an important habitat for water birds and (with the support of the DWC) Sri Lankan Elephants.

It’s estimated that there are more than 300 elephants that call Udawalawe National Park their home – there really is no better place in Sri Lanka for elephant spotting.

WHO CAN DO THIS PROJECT?
The only requirements are that you need to be over 18 years of age and that you are fit and healthy! You don’t need any qualifications or previous experience to take part – you just need to be enthusiastic, adaptable and willing to get stuck in! .

HOLIDAYS IN SRI LANKA
Short breaks occur on national holidays such as during Poya Day (for the full moon), Independence Day, and for other celebrations. Sri Lanka has 27 public holidays each year – so you should be flexible to these. Click here to see the Celebrations and Public Holidays for Sri Lanka for 2010.

 
Got any questions? Please email us:
info@travellersworldwide.com

Enhance your Programme with some exciting activities: