The Team

Tour Leaders - Scientific Advisors - Administrator

Prasanjith Caldera, Founder/Tour leader/Bird watching activist

Prasanjith is the 'Jith' in 'Walk with Jith' and 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, and among the first researchers to record and band the European Wryneck, an unconfirmed migrant to Sri Lanka, until banding in 2002. For the last two years he has served as the field supervisor of bird studies in the Sinharaja World Heritage Rainforest, studying mixed-species flocks and vocal mimicry. This last January, he was among the first group to observe the nesting behavior of the rare Sri Lankan endemic bird Ashy-headed Laughing-thrush.

As a nature sound recordist, Prasanjith co-composed the "Sounds of Sinharaja" audio CD.

Prasanjith holds a Tourist Guide License from the Tourist Board of Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, the Oriental Bird Club (UK) and the National Geographic Society (USA). A cricket enthusiast, he serves as a cricket umpire for "The Association of Cricket Umpires Sri Lanka" in his spare time.

Lalith Manage, Web master/Promoter

Web master in the lab
working in a Sinharaja Research Project

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. He is one of the few people in Sri Lanka who works with the Plone web based content management system. He is a consultant for Theertha International Artists Collective, Sri Lanka on web developing.

Being certified in guidance &counseling Lalith has a good understanding of business psychology and a clear knowledge of counseling philosophy.

His favourite travel destination in Sri Lanka is Sinharaja Rain Forest. When he is not pecking the keyboard he plays his GG eastern flute.

his business website is www.xnin.com

Co-tour leaders

    Chandima Jayaweera, also known as 'Jaya' is a qualified Bird Tour Guide in Sri Lanka. He has conducted tours for over 10 years and is a holder of "Ceylon Tourist Board" guide license. He has previously worked with two major travel companies in Sri Lanka. He is knowledgeable in mammals and butterflies as well.

He followed a Certificate course in Wildlife Conservation & Management at the Open University of Sri Lanka. He also an active member of the "Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka"  (FOGSL). During his carrier he has worked with  Professor Sarath Kotagama, Dept. of Environment and Science, University of Colombo, Professor Jeremy Gray ERM Dept. University College Dublin, Republic Ireland and Professor M. T. Sivajothy, Dept. of Animal and Plant Science, University of Sheffield, UK, and  is a reputed bird watching Tour Guide in Sri Lanka .

   Ashoka Jayarathna, was born in Kudava, a village on the edge of the Sinharaja rainforest. Since the age of 15 he has been working on scientific projects, both in botany and zoology. He worked as a field assistant to Eben Goodale for four years, studying the mixed-species flocks of the forest. He has a particular interest in nesting behavior in birds, and has conducted studies of nesting in three endemic species, the Ashy-headed Laughing-thrush, the Scaly Thrush, and the Orange-billed Babbler. He also enjoys recording bird vocalizations, and many of his recordings can be heard on the CD "Sounds of Sinharaja".

Dr. Eben and Uromi Goodale, scientific advisors

  Eben and Uromi have worked with Prasanjith over the past several years 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 is now working on her Ph.D. at Yale, studying the physiology of native tree pioneer species for their potential use in forest regeneration. She is keenly interested in Sri Lankan rural culture and customs and their scientific basis.

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 the Delvala, Sinharaja and Wellankanda forests. He is currently working on his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, studying interspecific communication within mixed-species bird flocks. With Uromi, he enjoys trekking through Sri Lanka and meeting Sri Lankans.

Administrator / Coordinator

  Nirosha Kannangara is the tour coordinator in Walk With With.

E-mail: walkwithjith@hotmail.com