There are many sea turtle hatcheries in Sri Lanka but this one is the largest and they truly care about the turtles. My daughter was fortunate to do an internship with Isuru for the week and learned a great amount about what they do and the problems facing the turtles. Isuru is the third generation to take over this conservation which must be run as a business in order to survive. The biggest enemy facing sea turtles are humans because of the trash we leave behind. Although we cleaned the beaches daily, the trash just keeps coming back. Sea turtles have a 15% higher chance to survive if people find the eggs ang bring them to the hatchery. Otherwise dogs, reptiles and other predators will eat them. After they are hatched, they are put into tanks for at least 4 days until they are strong enough to swim back to the sea. There are some injured turtles which are resting in tanks. The center pays local vets to treat the animals … some of which have their fins almost torn off from fishing nets. Albino turtles cannot survive in the wild as they are too easy to spot by predators.

This is the oldest turtle conservatory in the region. Our guide Ravi was excellent and showed us the whole process and lifecycle of sea turtles step by step. the hatchlings are kept day wise in 4 pools and released into the sea on day 4. They also have a few sick and injured rescues that they are treating. The experience was so good we went back the next day to see the turtles again. Kids and adults will love visiting this place. A must do if you are in Kosagoda

Beautiful little project that I visited on my way from Yala to Colombo. I’ve read in various well reputed tourism guides that this project practices the best ethics and does really good work and this seemed evidenced when I visited, plus the turtles were gorgeous. Very enthusiastic and funny staff. Loved it.