Turtle conservation Project (Kosgoda)

Project At A Glance

Location: Kosgoda (near to Galle) Arrival point: Colombo End Point: Colombo Duration: 2-12 weeks Hours: 30-40 hours per week Food: Local food (3 times a day) Room: Host family or hostel Date: First and Third Monday of each month

Project Summary

Located in Kosgoda (15 miles south of Galle ), the Turtle Conservation Project is the ideal program for nature-loving volunteers interested in conservation efforts. Due to the Tsunami disaster of December 2004 resulting in a tragic loss of equipment, this particular project is still suffering significant, infrastructural damage. Additionally, the crippled turtle populations have been greatly diminishing due to the destruction of coral reefs and marine pollution. Volunteers' assistance is urgently needed for various types of conservation work (on different levels) including monitoring turtle activity , creating informational resources, and rebuilding damaged facilities .

Role of a volunteer

As a volunteer, participants will feed and clean the turtles as well as their environments, simultaneously monitoring and releasing baby turtles from the hatchery. Volunteers will also monitor turtle egg-laying, soon followed by relocating the just-hatched eggs to a safe nesting area. Participants will also assist in creating and maintaining a database of turtle statistics. Volunteers duties also include rebuilding the damage which resulted from the Tsunami which includes:

•  rebuilding turtle tanks
•  repairing the visitors' houses
•  developing informational resources and tourist souvenirs
•  conducting tours around the project .

Skills/Qualifications Requirements

Volunteers do not require any specific qualifications to volunteer in the turtle conservation project. But volunteers should have a deep love for nature and conservation.

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE arranges room, food, and supervision for volunteer from the start to the end of program. During first, week of language and cultural program, volunteers stay in host family in Galle , Sri Lanka (Most likely in the home of our coordinator). IFRE has an office (small) in Galle , a beautiful sea beach and tourist areas 4 hours west of Colombo . IFRE manages local food 3 times a day.

During volunteering (for teaching Buddhist monk), you will mostly stay with host family. Your host family will offer you a separate room. But you will share room, shower, and toilet facilities with host family

With little additional fee, we will also offer the options of staying in sea side motel. Please contact us if you wish to stay in sea side hotel. Volunteers will also have 24/7 access to our office in Sri Lanka as well as the mobile numbers of our coordinators. Our staff also visits each volunteers in 2 week intervals as a part of the program