Travel for change with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (www.slwcs.org), an international, community-based, nonprofit organization. For over two and a half decades, the Society has been working to protect Sri Lanka’s endangered wildlife and natural resources through scientific research, volunteer programs, and community-based conservation projects.
The biggest challenge for the survival of Sri Lanka’s wildlife is human impact. Every year thousands of animals are killed due to human wildlife conflicts, poaching and habitat loss. The SLWCS is striving to make it possible for people to coexist with wildlife by making wildlife more valuable to the local communities alive rather than dead, by engaging, training and paying locals to be involved in their conservation together with scientists and volunteers through our volunteering program, Travel 4 Change©: Real wildlife, Real challenges, Real volunteering, Real impact.
Travel 4 Change provides an opportunity for any person with an interest in natural history, wildlife conservation, different cultures, and wilderness adventure to obtain a truly exciting life changing experience while contributing in meaningful ways to save wildlife, their habitats, and help rural communities. Volunteers by their presence, participation and financial contribution help to send a strong conservation message to the local communities to value and protect their environment and wildlife.
Volunteers participate in elephant, carnivores and other wildlife conservation activities. The biggest challenge to the Sri Lankan elephants’ survival is human-elephant conflicts (HEC). Annually on average 275 elephants are killed by people and elephants kill 100 people. The Society’s HEC mitigation efforts over the past 23 years have made it possible for elephants and people to coexist in a region that used to be rife with conflicts.
The Carnivore Project studies the status of seven carnivore species, including sloth bear and leopard. The Project Orange Elephant (POE) provides farmers with an alternative income while deterring elephants. The Butterfly Conservation Project is increasing habitats for butterflies and conducting programs to conserve butterflies. The world’s first EleFriendly Bus Service provides safe transportation to safeguard school children from elephant attacks. The Marine Project is addressing the conservation of Sri Lanka’s marine wildlife at the same time creating ecotourism and alternative sustainable livelihood development to promote marine wildlife conservation.
Volunteers support these efforts by working to address human-elephant conflicts, protect marine life, collect data on leopards, sloth bears and other carnivores, study bird species in various landscapes, monitor and help in the orange cultivations, maintain and expand the Butterfly Sanctuary, and help local communities to coexist with wildlife.
