Situated on a hill by the southeastern boundary of the Pussellayaya village in Wasgamuwa in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, the SLWCS Field House overlooks on an incredibly scenic and dynamic tapestry of rural and remote Sri Lanka. The environment is a kaleidoscope of colors, moods, weather, nature and atmosphere that is always in constant motion.

To the south along the far horizon stand the most significant and one of the most distinguishing geographic features of the Central Province, the Knuckles Mountain Range. Looming over the landscape the imposing and distinctly knuckle-shaped mountain ridge is unmistakable. By the base of the hill where the Field House stands is the vast expanse of open water known as the Karauw-gus Weva, which is actually a man-made irrigation reservoir or tank and not a natural lake. The tank is like a vast mirror that reflects the skies, the mountains and the ever changing moods of the land while creating a sense of infinite space and freedom.

 

We established the Carnivore Project to gather information on the status of seven carnivore species, including the sloth bear, leopard, rusty-spotted cat, fishing cat, jungle cat, golden palm civet, and the Sri Lankan jackal to develop measures for their conservation. With urban and agricultural development pressure advancing more rapidly in Sri Lanka, the need to know more about the threats faced by the island’s carnivore populations is more urgent today than ever before.

The Project Orange Elephant (POE) was established to encourage farmers to cultivate crops such as orange that are not attractive to elephants so they have an alternative income when elephants destroy their rice crop. Since they have a supplementary income the farmers will feel less hostile towards elephants for destroying their rice crop. The POE received a Most Innovative Development Project Award from the Global Development Network in June 2015. The volunteers help POE farmers with planting orange plants, in plant care and management and to collect data on plant growth and survival. Volunteers also help to harvest oranges and sort them for marketing.



Through our SCIENCE Program we are educating rural school children to value their environment and to become better stewards to take care of it. In addition we get them to create butterfly gardens and organic gardens to increase local biodiversity. Recently we also established the world's first EleFriendly Bus Service to provide safe transportation to school children that have to walk through an elephant corridor amidst elephants every day to school and back. You find more information about the EleBus at this link: http://www.slwcs.org/#!elefriendly-bus/c17ti 



As a volunteer you will be supporting these efforts as well as assisting us in our ongoing efforts to address human-elephant conflicts for the conservation of the endangered Sri Lankan elephant. Through direct and indirect field observations you will help to gather information on elephants. You will also visit villages that have been attacked by elephants to gather information on human-elephant conflicts. During these surveys you will visit village homes and discuss with villagers the problems they have from elephants what could be solutions to address these issues and concerns. In addition you will also get an opportunity to help collect data on leopards and other carnivores, monitor an alternative land use program, participate in an ongoing bird survey, help to collect data on small mammals and assist in our environmental education program. 

The fees for the volunteer program are:

One week: US$950/person
Two weeks: US$1,260/person
Three weeks: US$1,460/person
Four weeks: US$1,660/person

The fees include:

· Project transportation in the field
· Pick-up from hotel (hotel accommodation not included in the program fees) in Colombo and transfer to project site
· All meals and refreshments
· Full accommodation
· Orientation and briefings
· Guidance and training
· Field Programs