Two Veterinarian Tours Are Offered Annually in December and February

Ele-Care Veterinarian Tour

Details:

Veterinarians and Guests Visit the Best of Sri Lanka's Culture & Wildlife
Two Tours are offered: December 5 - 19, 2018 and February 1 - 15, 2019

Summary: 
We will join Sri Lankan vets in the field for one week, learning about their challenges and techniques. We then survey wild and captive elephant populations, observing herd health and conditions of individuals.

Week One: join Sri Lanka's vets in the field, focusing on the Ampara and Anuradhapura districts. This will serve to introduce the Ele-vet team to Sri Lanka's standard vet practices, while also acclimatization for work/living in Sri Lanka.

Week Two: Travel to sanctuaries, tourist facilities and temples as we survey the elephants, providing care as needed or allowed. We will collaborate with the most active of Sri Lanka’s wildlife veterinarians.

During the latter period we will remain flexible in our travel, allowing us to rejoin regional vets if and when they have interesting field work. We will be in countrywide contact with Sri Lankan vets and mobilize as opportunity arises.

We will offer cost-free space for wildlife officials, or VIPs - enticing them to join our work as they're available.  

We will have a cameraman on task throughout our tour, documenting our work via our ongoing videoblog, including a new live-streaming series.

Tour's Objectives: Our crews remain immersed in the most controversial issues currently facing Sri Lankan elephants. ElephantsNow.org is the sum of all its volunteer parts! 

Not to be all work - we will sample the best of Sri Lanka too, as our field work is often in proximity to interesting cultural sites. The Ancient City of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Kandy, Dambulla Rock Temple, and perhaps we'll visit an Ayurvedic herbal garden.  We will drive by some of the world's finest tea plantations.

Important Dates: The tour(s) begins on either December 5 or February 1 in Colombo, Sri Lanka and ends on the Dec 19th and February 15th, respectively, in Colombo. There is also an option to join us for our work in Southern India. Guests/volunteers can come and go as their priorities require. A daily rate is provided for this purpose. These add-on tours are currently in planning.

You are responsible for securing your own tickets from the U.S. (or elsewhere) to Colombo.   You will be picked up at the airport and brought to our beach hotel, either in Negombo or Hikkaduwa.  

We will end the tour near the end of the day on Dec 19th at the Colombo Airport, or Negombo/Hikkaduwa (your choice). 

Flying Strategies: We recommend momondo.com, for offering the best international search capabilities.  

All land travel will be arranged by ElephantsNow.org.  Only the incoming and outgoing flights to/from the US are your responsibility - both the booking and the expense. 

Tour Cost and what’s included: This is a joint ElephantsNow/GeoWandering production and all profits serve elephants of Sri Lanka; cost is dependent upon your skill set and involvement - vets, volunteers, interns and more. Generally we ask for double occupancy (shared room), with a single room surcharge of $20 per night. The cost for any personalized services, like Ayurvedic spa treatment, massages, salon services or alcoholic beverages is your responsibility.  Accommodations, meals, park entrance fees, translator, and ground transportation are all included in the fee. 

Additional Information: If you would like to extend your time in either Sri Lanka or India, you are welcome to join any of ElephantsNow.org’s other tours, either immediately before or after this tour. Discounting is available on additional tours.  Most tours are filmmaking in nature, and you are welcome to join and be a member of the crew.  As a working member of our conservation group, all your fees will be tax deductible.  See FAQ page for more details.

Please see FAQ page for more information about deposit and payment requirements, and other important information.

Sliding scale cost depending upon contribution to our causes. Base rate is generally $170 per day for 7 days and less, sliding to $120 per day for 14 days and more.