Privacy Policy

Sea Turtles Sri Lanka Conservation Project (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and safeguard your personal information when you visit www.seaturtlessrilanka.org (the “Website”), make a donation, submit an enquiry, book a volunteer program, reserve a tour or activity, or otherwise interact with us.

By using our Website and services, you acknowledge and agree to the practices described in this policy.

1. Who We Are

Sea Turtles Sri Lanka is a sea turtle conservation and rehabilitation project based in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka. For any privacy-related questions, you can reach us using the contact details at the end of this policy.

2. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information.

Personal information.

• Full name;
• Email address;
• Telephone or WhatsApp number;
• Country of residence;
• Address where required;
• Age or age range;
• Gender, where relevant to a volunteer booking;
• Emergency or contact information, where required for participation.

Booking information. When booking a volunteer program, tour, activity, accommodation, or related service, we may collect:

• Selected package or activity;
• Start and end dates;
• Number of participants;
• Airport pickup or drop-off preferences;
• Accommodation requirements;
• Dietary preferences where required;
• Special requests; and
• Other information necessary to provide the booked service.

3. Payment Information

Online payments may be processed using trusted third-party payment providers such as PayHere or other authorised payment processors. We do not normally receive or store your complete credit or debit card details on our Website servers. Sensitive payment information is processed directly by the applicable payment gateway according to its own security and privacy procedures.

We may retain transaction-related information such as:

• Transaction ID;
• Amount;
• Currency;
• Payment status;
• Booking reference; and
• Payment date.

This information may be necessary for accounting, booking confirmation, customer support, fraud prevention, and refund processing.

4. Automatically Collected Information

When you use our Website, certain technical information may be collected automatically, including your IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages visited, referring website, and the date and time of access, along with general website interaction information. This is gathered using cookies and similar technologies (see Section 6).

5. How We Use Your Information

• Process volunteer, tour, activity, and other bookings;
• Process and record donations;
• Process and verify payments;
• Send booking confirmations and receipts;
• Coordinate accommodation and transport arrangements;
• Communicate important information about your booking;
• Provide customer and participant support;
• Respond to enquiries;
• Process cancellation and refund requests;
• Improve our Website and services;
• Maintain website and transaction security;
• Detect suspected fraud or unauthorised activity;
• Maintain financial, accounting, and operational records;
• Comply with applicable legal or regulatory requirements; and
• Send conservation news, updates, or promotional communications only where you have agreed to receive them.

6. Cookies & Similar Technologies

Our Website may use cookies and similar technologies to enable essential functionality, maintain shopping cart and checkout functionality, remember your preferences, improve performance, understand how visitors use the site, and help protect the Website against misuse.

You may disable or manage cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect some Website features or checkout functionality.

7. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We may share it where necessary with trusted parties that assist us in delivering our services, including:

• Payment gateways and payment processors;
• Website hosting and technology providers;
• Email and communication providers;
• Accommodation or transport providers where necessary for your booking;
• Tour or activity service providers where applicable;
• Professional advisers; and
• Government, regulatory, law-enforcement, or legal authorities where disclosure is required by law.

Service providers are expected to process information only for legitimate purposes connected with the services they provide.

8. Payment Gateways

When you proceed with an online payment, certain information necessary to complete the transaction may be sent directly to the relevant payment gateway. The payment gateway’s own terms, security standards, and privacy policies will apply to information it processes directly. Sea Turtles Sri Lanka does not control how an independent payment provider processes information on its own systems, and we recommend reviewing the privacy policy of the provider used at checkout.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, disclosure, loss, and destruction. However, no method of internet transmission or electronic storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to satisfy operational, financial, legal, accounting, dispute-resolution, and regulatory requirements. Information that is no longer required may be securely deleted or anonymised.

11. International Visitors

Our organisation is based in Sri Lanka and serves visitors and volunteers from different countries. If you provide information from outside Sri Lanka, your information may be processed or stored in Sri Lanka, or in countries where our technology and service providers operate, where data protection laws may differ from those in your country.

12. Your Privacy Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may contact us to request:

• Access to the personal information we hold about you;
• Correction of inaccurate information;
• Updating of your contact details;
• Deletion of information where legally permissible;
• Withdrawal of marketing consent; or
• Information about how your personal data is being used.

Certain information may need to be retained where required for legal, financial, transaction, security, or record-keeping purposes.

13. Children’s Privacy

Our Website is not specifically designed to collect personal information directly from young children. Where a person under 18 participates in an eligible program or activity, booking and consent should be provided by a parent, guardian, or responsible adult where required.

14. Third-Party Websites

Our Website may contain links to external websites, social media platforms, payment providers, partner organisations, or other third-party services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security, availability, or content of independent third-party websites, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

15. Marketing Communications

Where you have agreed to receive updates from us, we may send information about sea turtle conservation, volunteer opportunities, activities and events, fundraising initiatives, donations, educational programs, or related services. You may ask us to stop sending marketing communications at any time.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes to our services, Website, payment methods, or legal obligations. The latest version will be published on this page with an updated “Last updated” date. We encourage you to review it periodically.

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, please contact us: