Kosgoda Turtle Care
Kosgoda Turtle Care
4.5
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 6:45 PM
About
Kosgoda Turtle Care program aims to protect sea turtle eggs and increase hatching rates. We not only do hatching, but also we treat disabled Turtles and treat the weak ones due to fishing. Our staff patrols the beach all night looking for mother sea turtles that come out of the ocean to lay their eggs. Entry fee 500 RS, release of baby turtles (in the evening) 1000 RS. Please tip your guide if you enjoyed the tour. Additional donations to the centre is warmly welcomed. Call Santha if you are in any doubt or want to experience a turtle release in the dawn.
Duration: < 1 hour
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.5
53 reviews
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traveller150988
Vienna, Austria19 contributions
Jan 2025 • Couples
Unfortunately, the turtles are attacked by the tourists, causing stress in the animals. The idea of hatching the animals in a protected environment so that they have a better chance of survival is good, but the animals are kept in small tanks for too long and especially longer than necessary for tourists to see and attack. Conclusion: good idea, but too touristic implementation, which does not put the welfare of the animals first.
Automatically translated
Written January 8, 2025
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michael C
Melbourne, Australia5,925 contributions
Dec 2017 • Couples
Interesting experience but was not sure that tourists should be handling the baby turtles. Our 'guide' was also quick to leave us when we hesitated at the 'donation' box (we did later contribute).
Written January 26, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sofie F
Stockholm, Sweden40 contributions
Mar 2017 • Family
We visited during the day and got a guided tour with information about all the different turtles, we got to take pictures and handle them with help. We also got to see babies crawling out of their eggs.
The next evening we got to visit again and go down to a beautiful deserted beach at sunset. We released about 30 baby turtles and watched them swim away. Many turtle places in Kosgoda this one has an albino turtle and is run by Santha. An unforgettable experience for us and our children.
The next evening we got to visit again and go down to a beautiful deserted beach at sunset. We released about 30 baby turtles and watched them swim away. Many turtle places in Kosgoda this one has an albino turtle and is run by Santha. An unforgettable experience for us and our children.
Written February 28, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ari569
Southern Finland, Finland18 contributions
Feb 2020
Visited Turtle Care center in teh mornign. We were told about the turtles and thei operation, where they spot turtle mamas when rising to shore, protect them while nesting, and then carefully remove eggs from open beach to safe and guarded hatchery. We were allowed to transfer some newborn baby turtles to water pool, where tehy are cared and looked after for few days before releasing them to the sea.
They also take care of injured turtles.
They also take care of injured turtles.
Written March 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
LivCallan
Melbourne, Australia29 contributions
Jan 2019
Paid 1000 rupees to get in. My guide was friendly and informative.
This is a family run conservation centre where you can also stay and volunteer.
I believe they truly care about the turtles and it is good to have places such as this to improve the number of turtles who successfully hatch by keeping the turtle eggs safe from predators.
However:
*the pools for the long term turtle residents (injured and albino) were way too small. Please improve this, it is very sad to see such grand creatures kept in small shallow pools
*the focus on touching all the turtles made me a bit uncomfortable, I don’t think this is good for them? My guide kept on encouraging me to touch each turtle on the tour (even after I declined a few times) or even pick up a big turtle. I wish they would not tell people to touch them so much. Where I am now (Hikladuwa) there are signs on the beach specifically prohibiting people from touching the turtles and saying it is an offence.
This is a family run conservation centre where you can also stay and volunteer.
I believe they truly care about the turtles and it is good to have places such as this to improve the number of turtles who successfully hatch by keeping the turtle eggs safe from predators.
However:
*the pools for the long term turtle residents (injured and albino) were way too small. Please improve this, it is very sad to see such grand creatures kept in small shallow pools
*the focus on touching all the turtles made me a bit uncomfortable, I don’t think this is good for them? My guide kept on encouraging me to touch each turtle on the tour (even after I declined a few times) or even pick up a big turtle. I wish they would not tell people to touch them so much. Where I am now (Hikladuwa) there are signs on the beach specifically prohibiting people from touching the turtles and saying it is an offence.
Written January 30, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Staidthere
Jakarta, Indonesia2,600 contributions
May 2018 • Couples
On Youtube we can still watch Katherine Hepburn's "Sebastian saw the face of God," a scene from "Suddenly Last Summer." In the story, Sebastian found truth watching newly-hatched baby sea turtles race to the sea to escape the flesh-eating birds that tore their soft undersides open and ate them. Now fishermen dig out and sell as many eggs as they can, leaving fewer turtle babies every year. Nature's balance is restored by a few caring humans who buy eggs, hatch them, and return turtles to the sea. One of several hatcheries on the west coast of Sri Lanka is conservationist Amarasena Fernando's Kosgoda Turtle Care. They sell some T-shirts and tote bags in a small store and they ask for voluntary donations after you pay Rs. 1,000 per person for admission and hear of their programs and activities. We feel a visit is enlightening and worth the cost. We wish them well in their endeavors to overcome what economists call the "Tragedy of the Commons." It's hard to find, so best to phone first.
Written May 30, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
George B
Brighton, UK39 contributions
Apr 2018 • Couples
My wife and I visited while staying at at the rui hotel it's only ten minutes away. Our guide was excellent and spoke good English. It's not expensive so worth a visit to see the turtle's and learn of there care. I'm against anything in captivity so it was nice to go back in the evening and see them returned back to the sea
Written April 16, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
CarolVonTrapp
Yorkshire, UK59 contributions
Aug 2017 • Friends
This was hands down the best thing I did in Sri Lanka. It was great to see the care shown to the injured turtles who are cared for here, and getting the chance to release the babies into the sea at sunset was just incredible.
Written September 9, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dan B
1 contribution
Apr 2022 • Family
Really enjoy I friendly and caring people have a lot of care for rescuing turtles would highly recommend!
Written April 5, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sarah B
1 contribution
Apr 2022 • Friends
Fantastic place that does excellent work with Rescue turtles. The volunteers have worked hard all year around and have struggled through covid.
Written April 5, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Guys, any recommendations for a good seafood restaurant closeby?
Written November 24, 2016
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