"The most amazing experience was watching the dolphins"
Alina Seitz, Germany
I have been interested in animals all my life and Biology was my favourite subject in school. When I found out about this volunteer programme in Sri Lanka I planned to combine my wish to leave my home town and help animals.
The staff at the project gave me a warm welcome at the Field House. After I met everyone, we took a walk to the beach where I was able to get my first impressions of the surroundings.
Over the next few days, we looked for different sites where we could start collecting information. We picked two sites at the sea and also two sites at the lagoon so we could compare the information.
In the first week, we started watching birds. Every bird we saw was photographed and its species tabulated. With so many different species here, one could see birds of all colours (for example the Blue-tailed Bee-eater or the Purple Sunbird). It was so interesting because I have never seen birds like this before.
In order to work with the pictures, we had to sort them into folders. For this, we always used the time around noon when it was too hot to be outside at the beach.
The most amazing experience was watching the dolphins. Since the dolphins are best seen in the morning, we took the boat out to sea in the morning. The bumpy journey was definitely worth the view. We have seen hundreds of Spinner Dolphins in their natural habitat. Being used to the boats, a few swam right in front of it only a few meters away.
I enjoy getting to know new cultures, that’s why I am glad to live in the field house and not in a hotel because here you can experience the culture more closely. The freshly cooked food is so delicious and the people who live here are very nice.
