Earlier this year, Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS) received an urgent appeal from the Principal of Meegolla Primary / Junior Secondary School in the Teldeniya Educational Division, Kandy District. His students — children from the farming villages of Dungolla, Kandeyaya, Govigammanya, Pamunupara and Himbutuwa — were walking several kilometers to school each day, straight through active elephant movement corridors.
What our preliminary assessment found was sobering. Children encountered elephants almost daily on the way to and from school. Morning classes were routinely delayed because elephant movements made the road unsafe. In the surrounding villages — roughly 150 households and 600 people who live almost entirely from subsistence farming — the conflict had already taken a devastating toll: 2 people killed by elephants in the past two years, 2 elephants lost in the same period, 6 family homes damaged by elephants, 3 crop-raiding incidents per day during cultivation seasons. Just two weeks before the relaunch, a young schoolgirl narrowly escaped a charging elephant on the very road the EleBus now serves.
The EleBus Rides Again!
The EleBus is built on one deceptively simple idea: protecting people helps protect elephants. Instead of costly barriers to separate people and elephants, the bus safely carries children through elephant landscapes during peak hours of elephant activity — removing the daily foot traffic that so often escalates into tragedy and retaliation.
The pioneering EleBus was introduced in the Wasgamuwa Elephant Corridor in 2015 through the combined efforts of SLWCS, Asian Elephant Support, and other dedicated partners. During the original program run in Wasgamuwa, the region saw a 90+% reduction in human-elephant conflict incidents involving schoolchildren! After years of providing children with safe access to school, the route was eventually integrated into the government’s rural transport network, reflecting the program’s long-term success.
The EleBus embarking on the rural route once traveled on foot
As soon as Asian Elephant Support approved funding, an SLWCS field team travelled to the project area on 1 July for planning consultations with the school Principal, Department of Education officials, the local Wildlife Ranger and community representatives. Together they worked through every operational detail:
Confirming the number of children needing daily transport
Designing the safest and most efficient route
Securing overnight parking for the vehicle
Arranging accommodation and meals for the driver and assistant
Agreeing shared responsibilities among SLWCS, the Departments of Wildlife Conservation and Education, local authorities and the community
The consultations ended with unanimous support from every agency and community member at the table — and five days later, the bus was on the road.
On the morning of 6 July, the village turned out in force. Schoolchildren welcomed the EleBus with a traditional drum parade beneath rows of Buddhist flags, and an opening ceremony organized by the local Wildlife Ranger brought together the Divisional Secretary as Chief Guest, the area Member of Parliament, officials from the Departments of Wildlife Conservation and Education, community leaders, teachers, parents — and, of course, the children themselves.
The school band led a parade to start the inauguration ceremony
Speaker after speaker returned to the same theme: conservation and community development, working together to solve a problem no fence or patrol could. Parents had grown reluctant to send their children to school at all, the Principal explained — the EleBus gives them back the confidence that their children can travel safely, every single day. Teachers expect attendance — and with it, learning — to improve markedly in the months ahead.
The entire school greets the bus as it arrives
When the ceremony ended, the EleBus set off on its inaugural run, carrying the children home while parents, teachers and neighbors lined the roadside to watch it pass. For these families it was far more than a bus — it was the sight of fear being lifted off their children’s shoulders.
“The smiles on the faces of the children during their first journey home were a powerful reminder that conservation is ultimately about creating a future where both people and elephants can thrive together.”
With Gratitude
The relaunch of the EleBus was made possible by Asian Elephant Support, whose vision and generosity have now put this life-saving idea on the road twice. Your support has done far more than reactivate a school bus — it has restored confidence to parents, strengthened education for rural children, and reduced risks to people and elephants alike.
The EleBus will run as an interim service until permanent government transport is established, and SLWCS will monitor attendance, safety, community satisfaction and conflict incidents throughout.
- The above article is courtesy of Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society Newsletter (July 2026).
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