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| Our team comprises four professional tour leaders, and several other qualified tour leaders and experts, who have years of experience in observing and studying the birdlife and other wildlife of Sri Lanka. |
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| Expert tour guides for birds & wildlife watching in Sri Lanka |
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 Aruna Ratnayake |
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 An overall naturalist, he is probably on of the most passionate of people and an adorable personality one could come across. It’s no secret that he acquired his skills in his home base, in the environs of Kandy in the central hills. While a school boy he engaged in community based traditional organic agricultural applications and attended workshops to promote these practices hence playing a vital role in conservation efforts in his home turf.
He is a graduate from the Sri Lanka School of Agriculture. He works closely with rural folk promoting traditional organic agricultural methods while engaged in sales of suitable seeds for crop growing.
With over 25 years in the field of traditional agricultural methods he is one of the most knowledgeable personalities in this subject and a member of several bird watching societies including the Oriental Bird Club of the UK. He has been engaged in the Annual Waterfowl Censes organized by the Ceylon Bird Club since 1989 and a contributor the monthly notes as well. We are fortunate to have Anura's expertise in organizing and implementing our traditional agricultural tours of Sri Lanka. |
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| Michael George van der Poorten |
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 Michael George van der Poorten is a consultant lepidopterist who has
extensive knowledge of the butterflies of Sri Lanka. For over 40 years,
he has studied their distributions, life histories and behaviour in the
field. An academic by training with a doctoral degree in plant science,
he has extensive field knowledge about butterfly related plants. He is a
much sought after public speaker on butterfly gardening and the
conservation of butterflies in Sri Lanka. He was the first to promote
butterfly gardening in Sri Lanka and has advised a number of hotels,
schools, hospitals and other private organizations and individuals. He
is currently researching and writing a comprehensive book on the
butterfly fauna of Sri Lanka with his wife Nancy, who is also an expert
on dragonflies. In 2008, he discovered and identified the first new
species of butterfly for Sri Lanka in over 60 years – Catopsilia scylla,
The Orange Migrant. |
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| Himal Warakagoda |
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 The yearning to be in the high seas was a child hood dream for Himal and as soon as the time was right he was out there. Way back in 1989 the opportunity to enrol as a deck cadet arose and with the grace of his parents he was doing what every sailor would do as a novice. Having graduated as a Merchant navy Officer, he traversed the seven seas, and learned all the skills necessary for surviving in the oceans, His immense knowledge of vessels their functions and applications are well known apart from the operational structures and laws pertaining to maritime affairs. This he did up to nine years. With land based encumbrance and not willing to give up his passion he joined a local shipping company engaged in out harbour bunkering for two years and presently is a general manager for a local shipping company who are the agents for few Main Line operators having “Liner services” round the world via port of Colombo. Himal’s enthusiasm and acumen for natural history has not been a secret, he probably is the only Sri Lankan to document pelagic sea bird records for the Ceylon Bird Club, and is very conversant on marine mammals too. We are privilege to have him in our expert collaborators team as consultant in organizing our pelagic trips for watching whales, dolphins and seabirds.
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| Prasanna Weerakkody |
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 Prasanna is a marine biologist and well known personality in the wildlife circles of Sri Lanka for his monumental work in Reef restoration of coral eco systems after the
El-nino effect in the late 90's. His unceasing love since his childhood for the oceans and its denizens is unparalleled by any other Sri Lankan. A warrior in marine conservation efforts during the last two decades has gained him celebrity status over here. He founded the Nature conservation Group way back in 1992 and through it has trained many divers and local communities in marine eco system conservation biology.
He hails from a family of artists and is a acclaimed artist himself. His initial work while at the National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA), and the passion for cetaceans enabled him to illustrate them for the monumental book on whales and Dolphins of Sri Lanka. He is a local cataloguer for marine mammal strandings and beachings, furthermore he has conducted long term studies on marine mammals, reef fishes, corals, it affiliated life forms, coastal and oceanic biodiversity of Sri Lanka. He published his "Reef Help" guide an introduction to assisted restoration of degraded coral environments in Sri Lanka.
further more he has illustrated technically accurate posters on reef fishes for local and international bodies for their marine conservation efforts.
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| Archt. Shaminda Senaratne. AIA(SL), M.Sc.(Architecture),B Sc(B.E)Hons, Dip in Civil Eng. |
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 Architect Shaminda Senaratne acquired his bachelor's degree from the University of Moratuwa with upper division pass and obtained his masters degree, from there too . He has been a council member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects in the past and is a winner of many prestigious awards.
Shaminda is presently a much sort after media personality and is a presenter of the most popular architectural television programme in Sri Lanka. Having built an immense reputation as an architect his web sites www.buildsrilanka.com and www.srilankaarchitect.com are probably the most visited architectural sites in Sri Lanka as at present. Shamindra's work is gaining international repute...
He has been studying the work of the eminent late Geoffrey Bawa from his student day's and is a authority. Apart from Bawa's work he is a specialist in ancient and colonial history and its buildings of Sri Lanka.Shaminda is the Managing Director of Shaminda Senaratne Associates (pvt) Ltd.
It was his passion for structures, art , nature and history (akin to most architects) as a child which drove him to focus his attention on this subject.
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| Suranjan Fernando |
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A devoted conservationist, an overall Naturalist Suranjan began his passion for the wilds as a teenager he studied and subsequently was an instructor of the Young Zoologists Association. He graduated from the Open University of Sri Lanka.
Suranjan has over 20 years in the field working on numerous research projects and was working for the IUCN’s field staff. Its no secret amongst the fraternity involved that his knowledge on Orchids and wildflowers is unrivaled. He is a member of the IUCN’s Orchid Specialist Group.
He co-authored Orchids of Sri Lanka. “A conservationist’s compilation” and is probably one of the most knowledgeable personalities in that field.
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