"LEO... large enough to care about the big issues... small enough to care about the individual"Sea turtle conservation volunteer project – Sri Lanka
An amazing project saving sea turtles! This sea turtle conservation volunteer project needs you and your friends.
Go beyond the default sea turtle conservation with this exciting project. Experience the night watch and night beach patrol every night, medical sea turtle treatment, sea turtle research and of course the hatching, feeding and release of baby turtles. Book soon!
Project overview
Project days:Project activities:Collect eggs, bury them and watch them hatch. Help the new born sea turtles with a great start in life by hand feeding them and safely releasing them into the ocean when they are strong enough.
Help keeping the sea turtle tanks, the beach and turtles clean and educate tourists about the importance of the conservation project.
Project fee:Project location:Accommodation:
What is includedAccommodation:Food:Airport Pickup:Orientation:Support:Internet:Drop off:
Not included
The sea turtle conservation volunteer project
The new turtle conservation volunteer project is….New, and therefore there may not always be other volunteers at the project. Please keep this in mind when booking.
Want to make sure there are other volunteers? Bring your friends and get up to £75 discount per person!
Protecting the beautiful, but endangered sea turtles is the most important task you, as conservation volunteer, will get involved in.
You will get involved in a number of activities such as:
Night watch – to make sure that the turtles are not disturbed when laying eggs and the eggs are not stolen or eaten by predators there is the night watch, every night without fail. There is also night patrol across the beach to see if there are any eggs laid by the sea turtles and to stop poachers from stealing eggs.
Sea turtle medical treatment- all wounded sea turtles are treated here by natural/herbal medication.
Research – if you are interested in research you can do so. A small number of turtles stay at the hatchery for about three years and fed all the natural food which they would eat out in the sea, i.e algae and the little fish. After three years, when these sea turtles are strong and healthy, they are tagged and released. This experiment is to find ways of increasing sea turtle survival rate.
Egg collection – Your day could be filled with making a log of the different types of turtle eggs collected from the fishermen and beach, burying these eggs, watching them hatch, hand feeding the baby turtles and cleaning their tanks.
Sharing knowledge – After lunch volunteers have the option to stay at the turtle conservation project and act as guide to the tourists. It is very busy with local and foreign tourists and it is important for all to understand the value of saving these amazing sea turtles from extinction so they in turn can help saving these wonderful creatures.
After sunset – Reap the rewards of your hard work and participate in the most amazing activity of this project. Enjoy the last phase of your efforts guiding the baby turtles from hatchling to a promising new life! After sunset you can experience the highlight of the project by releasing the hatchlings in to the sea which really is a breath taking moment.
Sea Turtle conservation ativities table
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 6.30 – 6.45am | Waking up near the beach and the turtles! What better than a nice cup of tea to start the day? You will also get a 1 litre bottle of drinking water every day. |
| 6.45 – 8.30am | The hatchery work begins. You will be kept busy cleaning the area where the eggs are buried & checking the dates of new arrivals. Your help is needed cleaning the tanks, feeding the turtles, especially the blind turtles and checking on the baby turtles (sick ones and unfortunately sometimes deaths).
Thankfully many babies do survive their first vital hours/days and need you to check on them before being released that night. Always keep an eye on the visitors ensuring they treat the turtles right and stick to the rules. After the 1st week you are also welcome to guide tourists around and share your new found knowledge. |
| 8.30 – 9.30am | Finally breakfast for you! Enjoy fruits, bread & curry or butter & jam (if requested by the volunteer), tea or coffee |
| 9.30am – 13.30pm | Continue with the activities from earlier in the day with a lovely tea break between 10.30 and 11.00 |
| 1.30 – 2.30pm | Lunch break with rice, vegetable(s) and dhal curry, fish, chicken or egg. 2.30 – 3.30pm Continue with the activities from earlier in the day with a welcome tea break between 3.30 and 4.00pm. |
| 4.00 – 5.00pm | Take a welcome break of all your hard work and guide visitors around the hatchery. |
| 6.00 – 8.00pm | Accompany tourists to release baby turtles |
| 8.00-9.00pm | Dinner with hoppers, rice, bread. string hoppers, noodles or vegetables and fish, chicken or eggs. Finish with a nice tea or coffee. |
| 9.00 – 10.00pm | Beach patrol (conservation ) till mid night if you wish. This will always be accompanied by 2 or 3 staff members. |
| The turtle volunteer project runs from Monday to Friday leaving the weekends for you to explore the country |
* Changing of sea water will be done once a week which will be a whole days work.
** Please note that the project itinerary is not set in stone and may change depending on a variety of factors.
Your project fee covers not just your accommodation, food, transport, in-country support, our office overheads etc, but also our LEO Project Foundation aid projects. One of these aid projects is helping the hatchery with repairs, maintenance and expansion for which we will donate a massive 10% of your project fee to this special fund.
More information
For more information about Accommodation, flights, host family, local transport, project dates, project locations, sim cards, Sri Lanka itself, the first couple of days, the team behind LEO, the former war, travel & socializing, travel insurance, vaccinations, visa, volunteering in general and why you would pay to volunteer please visit our FAQ.
