Volunteering

Volunteering is the best way to experience the project! We aim to give you a special elephant experience which is unique in Sri Lanka. You will be warmly welcomed by the family & team and spend lots of time with the elephant, can do tours and get to know the locals. We offer a real insight in Sri Lanka culture. We are a family friendly place and are happy to accommodate to everyone's needs to ensure you have the best time throughout your stay. We have had volunteers from 9 months to 85 years old! It really is for everyone. 

Activities

Volunteering offers you far more than the usual tourist experience.

You will stay at the beautiful house of the family of Ananda, Malie and Shashini who run the project. We are very small scale and are able to offer you a very personal and friendly atmosphere. The family can use your help with various activities. To name a few: help prepare the elephant food and feed her, help with the elephant exercise walking along through the beautiful jungle area, scoop elephant poo plus a variety of tasks concerned with elephant care, help with maintaining the outside project area, help to improve the project by building or brainstorming and acting on ideas to make things better for the elephant. You can also cook together with us as we show you how to create delicious Sri Lankan food and we can bring you to a nearby school for English conversation with the local children. You will learn so much during your time with us!  And remember, our elephant is not used for entertainment. Instead we aim to give her the best life possible.

Duration

You can stay 1, 2 or 3 weeks.

Fees

• 1 week 375 USD
• 2 weeks 700 USD
• 3 weeks 1020 USD

 (0-2 free of charge, 3-10 50% discount)

You will not find a better price anywhere, this is because you book directly with us. 

Included

• A private room at our home-stay with a warm and most welcoming host family.
• First day - lunch & dinner. Last day - breakfast and lunch. All the days in between - breakfast, lunch & dinner and accommodation.
• All project related transport.
• Onsite English speaking coordinator.
• Lots of elephant time and unforgettable moments, memories and laughter.

From TripAdvisor:

An Amazing and Humbling experience!

Everything was close to perfect. The warm family, the delicious food, the friendly mahoot, the amazing cook, the coordinators who are always going out of their way to cater to you and of course the playful Elephant, Nilame. I spent a week with the Elephant Freedom Project and I got to experience something different every day. This is the kind of elephant project that people should be involved in not the places that encourage riding and have chains over the elephants. It was such a joy seeing Nilame the elephant be at peace and being free. It was a privilege to be that close to him and be able to immerse myself in Sri Lankan culture as well.I will never forget the family, Mr Ananda, Ms Mali, daughter Shashini, the coordinator Kasun, the cook Lila and the mahoot who were always there to make this experience even more valuable and enjoyable than it already was. Thank you so much Elephant Freedom Project!

***

Made the trip!

The Elephant Freedom Project housed me and two of my girlfriends when we came to Sri Lanka for a month. We spent 5 nights with the family and it really felt like home right away.
The program which isn't the elephant part consists of cooking classes (ask to see the recipe cards to take photos of after if you don't want to write it down as you go!), visit to the dung factory (really interesting) , tea factory, English conversation classes at a local school (very sweet kids eager to learn), we also went on a hike.
These were all activities on each seperate day between the elephant parts. These were all run by very keen and informative guides who always had genuine smiles on their faces. Thanks Kasun - we all miss you!
You'd wake up and walk the elephant chain free with the mahout (like an elephant keeper) who would use his words to direct the elephant around. He has to have a bull hook as safety precaution but never had to use it! You would also bathe the elephant daily and Nilame looked so relaxed having the water flow onto him.

The EFP included three amazing meals a day and we tried some wonderful Sri Lanka meals.
We ate with the family and found a real friendship within them and I would highly recommend staying with them! To be welcomed into a home in such a way and share stories with honest people is something not to be missed. You can tell that what they are doing with the elephants here is to give them a better life from those they have to rent them off.
Thank you for the whole experience! I hope I can come back one day!

Are you looking for a great and affordable Bed and Breakfast when you visit Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa or the wild elephants in the national parks?

We know the perfect place for you - click here to visit us. The Gemba B&B is small, personal and beautiful with paddy fields and a large swimming pool.