With its stunning coastline, abundant national parks and mouth-watering cuisine, Sri Lanka (the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’) offers visitors sensational options. Watching wild elephants, wandering amongst rolling tea plantations, visiting colourful temples and trekking up to the rock fortress of Sigirya - this is just the start of what the country has to offer anyone volunteering in Sri Lanka!
Sri Lanka is a wildlife haven under increasing human impact and has a great need for volunteers to work on conservation initiatives, protecting wildlife and educating local communities. Pod Volunteer is an award-winning non-profit organisation helping people to volunteer in Sri Lanka for as little as 1 week or as long as 3 months.
We find the best volunteer projects in Sri Lanka for you, help you with all the arrangements and provide lots of support before and during your volunteering time in Sri Lanka!
You can get involved in an award-winning conservation volunteering project in Sri Lanka to help elephants and communities to live together in harmony and assist in wildlife research of animals such as sloth bears, leopards, and jungle cats.
Volunteers are needed all year round at the Elephant and Wildlife Conservation project – conservation work is never finished! Climate wise, Sri Lanka is consistently warm throughout the year, with coastal areas averaging temperatures of 25-30°C and the highlands being a little cooler at around 15-18°C. Central Sri Lanka has a tropical climate. Rainfall varies by region and intermittent rainfalls can occur year-round. The Southwest monsoon occurs between May and September, whereas the Northeast coast typically has its highest rainfall between October and December.
At Pod Volunteer we love to travel and have visited the project in Sri Lanka. Here is our insider’s view of our experiences travelling and volunteering in Sri Lanka…
Things we loved: The trains - there are stunning views from the train routes throughout Sri Lanka, from waterfalls to beaches, rolling hills of tea plantations to glistening paddy fields. The food – pineapple curries, noodle hoppers, kottu, roti, dhal…there are so many delicious dishes to try. Watching majestic wild elephants wander through national parks and the rural countryside is an unforgettable experience.
Things we weren’t so sure about! It’s sad to see captive elephants at some temples. Due to the many hills and limited roads it can take a while to travel between areas.
Visit our website where you’ll find a summary of our volunteering projects in Sri Lanka which you can click through to and find out about the volunteer role, location, accommodation and costs, see lots of pictures and read volunteer reviews!
