About Us

The organization

With more than 10 years of experience, Walk With Jith is a tour operating company in Sri Lanka which organizes culture, bird watching, wildlife, whale watching, safari, nature photography, honeymoon and other types of tours and holidays. Walk With Jith team consists of well-rounded cultural tour guides, expert birding tour guides and wild life guides, all licensed from Sri Lanka Tourist board.

Our tours and excursions are personally organized by Jith (Prasanjith Caldera). Jith is one of the country's most experienced trekkers and birders as well as a top tour guide. Our mission is to give you a relaxing holiday, a wonderful tour and a taste of Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans live it.

Even though we are well establised in Sri Lanka starting in about 2002, we are not a large-scale venture and we will not promote commercial sales aimed at tourists. Rather we ensure that our rates are reasonable, and that the money you spend will directly and positively affect people at the village level. We seek to improve the lives of the people who affect & conserve the bird habitats by buying products and services including home staying, guiding services etc. In our tours, you will have the rare opportunity to share experiences with local village people, visit their homes, and immerse yourself in their lives and culture.

From us, people around the world can get free travel advice and tips as well as culture, bird and wildlife information regarding Sri Lanka.

'Walk With Jith' is a corporate member of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, University of Colombo and a member of ResponsibleTravel.com. We are aslo linked to "Fatbirder.com".

Prasanjith Caldera Managing Director / Director Operations

Prasanjith is the 'Jith' in 'Walk With Jith' and he is its founder. He will personally lead your tour, showing you some of the spectacular places he's seen in a long trekking career, and introducing you to the friends he's made in his travels.

Prasanjith has had varied career as a Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Navy and in marketing and industry. Interested in nature from childhood, he went back to school to study Wildlife Conservation and Management at the Open University of Sri Lanka. Subsequently, he has worked with several scientific agencies exploring Sri Lanka's bio diversity.

He was a founding member of the National Bird Ringing Program in Sri Lanka. From 2003 to 2005, for about 3 years he has served as the field supervisor of bird studies in the Sinharaja World Heritage Rainforest, studying mixed-species flocks and vocal mimicry. (Goodale, E., Caldera, P. and Kotagama, S. W.  2006. Twenty-five years of research on the mixed-species bird flocks of Sri Lanka. Siyoth 1: 22-28.) In January 2004, he was among the first group to observe the nesting behavior of the rare Sri Lankan endemic bird Ashy-headed Laughing-thrush. Though the bird was first recorded in 1852, its breeding was unknown until March/April 1984, when the first authentic discovery of a nest and eggs was reported. (Jayarathna, A., Caldera, P. & Goodale, E.  2005.  Observations on the nesting and parental behaviour of the Ashy-headed Laughing Thrush (Garrulax cinereifrons). Forktail 21: 163­–164.)

As a nature sound recordist, Prasanjith co-composed the "Sounds of Sinharaja" audio CD. (Goodale, E., Caldera, P. and Jayarathna, A. 2004. The sounds of Sinharaja. Audio CD. Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka.).

Scientific Advisors

Dr. Eben and Dr. Uromi Goodale,

Eben and Uromi have worked with Prasanjith for many years in the past and are pleased to serve as scientific program advisors.

Uromi Goodale received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Colombo (Special degree, Botany) and her Masters in Forest Science from Yale University, studying the allometric relationships of native pioneer tree species. She finished her Ph.D. at Yale concentrating on the ecophysiological adaptations of pioneer species along the forest gap-understory continuum, and their dynamic response to changes in environmental conditions. She is keenly interested in Sri Lankan rural culture and customs and their scientific basis. Currently she is a Post Doctoral Scholar at the University of California San Diego working on understand how ecophysiological constraints influence plant species ranges, and may potentially predict species responses to future environmental changes. Specifically she is investigating fundamental tradeoffs among traits relating to water and nutrient use efficiency.

Eben Goodale received his Bachelor's degree from Harvard University, and has studied mixed-species flocks of birds in Sri Lanka since 1995, working in both lowland and montane forests. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, studying interspecific communication within mixed-species bird flocks. Eben was in Papua New Guinea completing a National Science Foundation International Post-Doctoral Fellowship studying mixed-species flocks of Papua New Guinea where some flocks participants contain toxins in their feathers. With Uromi, he enjoys trekking through Sri Lanka and meeting Sri Lankans.

Webmaster and Promoter

Lalith Manage

Lalith works as a consultant for Walk With Jith. He is Walk With Jith's web master, advertiser, concept builder and promoter.

After studying biology in the University of Colombo and studying Painting in the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts he moved in to web developing and computer graphics. Being an artists, he is associated to Theertha International Artists Collective, Sri Lanka. Laith is practicing martial artist starting first in 1989 and specialize s in Jeet Kune Do. Being certified in guidance &counseling Lalith has a good understanding of business psychology and a clear knowledge of counseling philosophy. When he is not pecking the keyboard, he plays his GG eastern flute...

Bird watching tour guide

Upali Nisshanka

Upali is an excellent bird watching tour guide with more than ten years of experience in the field who receives high praise in our tour reviews. Upali has worked in several leading tour companies in Sri Lanka. He obtained his tour-guiding license from the Sri Lanka Tourist Board in 2005. Upali is a passionate photographer specially on bird and wildlife. He is an active member of the prestigious Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) at the University of Colombo.

Chauffer guide for cultural tours

Pathmaraja Jayawardena

Jayawardena (Jaya), is working with us since 2007. He is a well-travelled, sought-after driver-guide with wide spread experience travelling in Sri Lanka. He has an active interest in Sri Lanka’s history, culture and wildlife. He obtained his tour-guiding license from the Sri Lanka Tourist Board in 2005.