Volunteer in an Expedition
Persons interesting in participating in an expedition should email us at dittus@sltnet.lk and request anExpedition Briefing for guidelines and further useful information about participation. We consider participants in our expedition as “paying volunteers” whose work and payments support our program activities and objectives. Volunteers contribute their time and effort – mostly recorded observations – as well as financial support.
In order for us to offer the best quality experience for volunteers, we limit the total number of participants in any expedition to 12 persons. Expedition sizes can vary from 3 to 12 persons. Participants are expected to arrive at our Field Research Center at Polonnaruwa on the 1st day of the Expedition, and to follow our schedule. This is important because the first 3-4 days of the expedition are designated for training volunteers in the research protocols that they will execute. For purposes of observing monkeys in the forest, members of any one expedition are subdivided into teams (you or we choose you team mates) of usually no more than 3 volunteers accompanied by one of our staff naturalists.
The following dates are available for participation in the “Volunteer – Be the Scientist” expedition. All expeditions begin on a Monday at Polonnaruwa and end on a Saturday, 13 days later. Participants are expected to arrive at our field station by Monday evening. We can arrange transport from our rendezvous site in Colombo, to our location at Polonnaruwa. Participants are advised to arrive in Sri Lanka a few days before the expedition begins in order to acclimatize to the new setting. We can assist in arranging tours of Sri Lanka after the expedition.
Expedition dates available: contact us
Later expedition dates to be announced.
Payments
The cost of participation in any one expedition is US$ 1,500 not including international transport. The cost includes all accommodation and food, local transport between the Field Research Station (monkey camp) and field research site in the Polonnaruwa Nature Sanctuary and Archaeological Reserve.
Payments must be received in full at least one month before the expedition begins. There will be no refund for cancellations made 30 days or less before the start of an expedition. There will be a 10% cancellation fee for cancellations made more than 30 days in advance of the start of an expedition.