The Biological and Cultural Ecology of Sri Lanka
January 2006

The Biological and Cultural Ecology of Sri Lanka was a three-week course offered by San Jose State University but taught by the faculty of the Post Graduate Institute of Science on the campus of Peradeniya University, in Sri Lanka.

There were nine participants: five students and four faculty members (including me). We were from six different universities! Some of us left from different airports, but we all managed to arrive in Sri Lanka at the designated time and place.

For most of the time our group was housed in Mahakande Bungalow, a large old mansion that used to belong to the manager of a large tea estate.

Most of our meals were served by Siri, our personal caterer.

A 16-seater bus took us to lectures and on field trips.

Lectures

Here are the titles of some of the lectures we attended:

Herpetofauna of Sri Lanka

Theravada Buddhist Philosophy & Practice

History & Culture of Sri Lanka

Ex-situ and In-situ conservation of plants

Myths & Rituals

Geography & Geology of Sri Lanka

Gems of Sri Lanka

Cultural ecology of Sri Lanka

Elephant conservation

Ecosystem diversity of Sri Lanka

Bats of Sri Lanka

The lectures were given by the top scholars in Asia.

Field Trips

In addition, we accompanied our lecturers on several field trips.

Peradeniya Botanical Gardens

Kandy and the Temple of the Tooth

Nuwar Eliya and Horton Planes

Giritale, Minneriya, and Polonaruwa

Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, and Dambula

Pinawala

Ratnapura and Sinharaja

Colombo and Mount Lavinia

Negombo, Ranweli

The Participants

There were nine participants: five students and four faculty members (including me). We were from six different universities! We left from different airports, but managed to