Join a hands-on seagrass restoration project in Sri Lanka and help protect marine life while supporting local communities.
Whether we like it or not, the travel industry has a significant impact on the planet and we don’t deny that fact. However, we believe in putting in our best efforts to minimize that impact and also contribute to restoring some of it in every way possible. This is an experience that we designed entirely focused on regenerative travel where we go one step further from minimizing our carbon footprint to actively contributing towards conservation.
Early in the morning we head out to the lagoon bordering Kalpitiya and Puttalam for a half day volunteering session on seagrass restoration.
This is conducted in collaboration with the OCEA Sri Lanka project, an environmental charity that operates on the three main pillars of Research, Education and Action. Seagrass is being lost globally at a rate of 1.5% per year. Existing seagrass beds need to be conserved and expanded in order to increase marine productivity, biodiversity, quality of water and fishing resources, all of which directly or indirectly benefits the local communities.
The activity mainly involves collecting plugs of seagrasses collected from a nearby donor seagrass bed and transplanting them in shallow areas of the lagoon. Prior to commencement, a quick briefing will be given on the methods to be followed. The experience also involves a short boat ride and at the end you will be served a simple lunch prepared at a village house.
This is only recommended for travellers who really want to go out and actively take part in volunteering and conservation during their vacation. This involves quite a bit of hard work, working under the hot sun for about 2-3 hours and walking in the muddy areas.
For more information on how to incorporate this experience in our itineraries, please get in touch with us on sales.srilanka@khiri.com.