Wildlife & Conservation Volunteering - the complete guide
As part of writing my book on Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering I have spent a lot of time on volunteer projects in different parts of the world - Greece, India, Namibia, Peru, Seychelles, Zimbabwe as well as the UK. They have all been a very different experiences - on some projects I had to find my own way to the project site, sometimes lugging my own tent or cooking for other volunteers and keeping the the project site clean and tidy. The other end of the spectrum was being picked up at the airport, pre and post checking into hotels and even having a cook prepare all meals, a bar on tap in the evening and staying in a private cabin with shower and air con.
I've volunteered with people who are sixteen and those in their eighties, worked with local guides and university professors, have looked forward to going home and wanted to stay on forever. So, whoever you are there will be a conservation project that would suit you - you just have to find it.
Here is a selection of my wildlife conservation writing:
I've volunteered with people who are sixteen and those in their eighties, worked with local guides and university professors, have looked forward to going home and wanted to stay on forever. So, whoever you are there will be a conservation project that would suit you - you just have to find it.
Here is a selection of my wildlife conservation writing:
- This BBC Wildlife magazine feature is a selection of the top ten projects selected from my book
- Conservation Volunteering is Not just for the Young - worldwide
- Wilderness Europe
- Saving Przewalski Horses, Mongolia
- Marine habitats, Seychelles
- Eco-technology, India
- Big Cats, Namibia - plus photographs
- Amazon conservation, Peru - plus photographs
- Loggerhead turtles, Greece
- Strawbale House Building, Yorkshire
Top Ten Wildlife Conservation Volunteer Projects
Conservation Volunteering is Not Just for the Young
Before doing anything it’s important to be clear about the purpose of your conservation volunteer trip – why do you want to do it? Are you interested in the big picture of climate change and deforestation or do you want to help save a specific animal? Do you hope to learn new skills or perhaps reassess your life/career options? Do you want to develop language skills? Do you want to be with a team of likeminded people or immersed in a foreign culture? Are you seeking adventure and out-of-the-ordinary experiences or are you after a holiday with a feel-good factor? You might just want to get out there and back safely; whatever your reasoning, choosing the right company and the right project is crucial if you are to avoid disappointment.
Be aware that different volunteer projects appeal to different age groups and lifestyles. In Greece I was sleeping in my own tent and pitching in with cooking and cleaning as well as daytime and nighttime work protecting turtles. In the Amazon I lived on a glorious converted riverboat with air-conditioned cabins, hot showers, a cook and a bar on the top deck was our evening respite after a day in the rainforest.
Different organisations offer trips with different emphases, so you need to ensure that the one you choose meets your expectations. Some specialise in long-term gap year-style trips, whereas others cater for those on a fortnight vacation; there are trips led by scientists and others that emphasise working with local communities; some attract a young party crowd, others are more studious and thoughtful. The goals and outcomes of these different types of projects vary enormously, and so will the work. Choose a company that is going to work in the way that suits your expectations.
Remember that websites and brochures are advertising vehicles that only tell half the story – that which the organisation wants you to think. Dubious phrases that suggest more spin than substance include – saving the planet - pristine jungle - a veritable Eden - undiscovered wilderness, such hyperbole is best regarded with suspicion.
When selecting an organisation to volunteer with it is important to identify whether they are a charity, whether they design and lead their own projects or are they simply a commercial agent with no more involvement in the project than a high street travel agent has in a hotel they book for your annual holiday. Companies with the highest profile and biggest advertising budgets are usually commercial agents.
Woman's World, 2012
Be aware that different volunteer projects appeal to different age groups and lifestyles. In Greece I was sleeping in my own tent and pitching in with cooking and cleaning as well as daytime and nighttime work protecting turtles. In the Amazon I lived on a glorious converted riverboat with air-conditioned cabins, hot showers, a cook and a bar on the top deck was our evening respite after a day in the rainforest.
Different organisations offer trips with different emphases, so you need to ensure that the one you choose meets your expectations. Some specialise in long-term gap year-style trips, whereas others cater for those on a fortnight vacation; there are trips led by scientists and others that emphasise working with local communities; some attract a young party crowd, others are more studious and thoughtful. The goals and outcomes of these different types of projects vary enormously, and so will the work. Choose a company that is going to work in the way that suits your expectations.
Remember that websites and brochures are advertising vehicles that only tell half the story – that which the organisation wants you to think. Dubious phrases that suggest more spin than substance include – saving the planet - pristine jungle - a veritable Eden - undiscovered wilderness, such hyperbole is best regarded with suspicion.
When selecting an organisation to volunteer with it is important to identify whether they are a charity, whether they design and lead their own projects or are they simply a commercial agent with no more involvement in the project than a high street travel agent has in a hotel they book for your annual holiday. Companies with the highest profile and biggest advertising budgets are usually commercial agents.
Woman's World, 2012
Wilderness Areas in Europe
Europe isn’t just culture, history and grand cities; it’s also a landscape that’s been shaped and changed beyond recognition. 3-4,000 years ago most of Britain and Europe were covered with forest, as impenetrable as the Amazon is today - the great wild wood of folklore.
There’s not much left but there are still some genuine wilderness areas if you know where to look. Pan Parks is a Europe-wide wilderness conservation organisation founded in 1997, by WWF Netherlands and Dutch tourism company Molecaten, to help save the last remaining wilderness areas of Europe.
National parks are commonplace but in overcrowded Europe they’re invariably popular recreation areas with good access infrastructure and support services. Britain has fifteen stunningly beautiful national parks but none meet the strict Pan Parks criteria of true wilderness and they’re not natural landscapes.
To be certified as a Pan Park a natural environment must have at least 100sq km of unmodified wilderness at its core, where natural processes and wildlife still thrive and significant human interference is minimal. No exploitation is allowed so there’s no hunting, fishing, mining, logging, grazing, grass cutting, road or construction inside of the wilderness areas. This is another side of Europe that even most Europeans are unaware of. Obviously they’re not prime agricultural land or easily accessible - otherwise they would have been destroyed centuries ago.
The national parks within which the wilderness areas are located often have visitors centres, small B&B style accommodation, trail guides and equipment rental but in the core wilderness areas it’s likely to be just camping or rustic wilderness huts.....
The West Australian, June 2011
There’s not much left but there are still some genuine wilderness areas if you know where to look. Pan Parks is a Europe-wide wilderness conservation organisation founded in 1997, by WWF Netherlands and Dutch tourism company Molecaten, to help save the last remaining wilderness areas of Europe.
National parks are commonplace but in overcrowded Europe they’re invariably popular recreation areas with good access infrastructure and support services. Britain has fifteen stunningly beautiful national parks but none meet the strict Pan Parks criteria of true wilderness and they’re not natural landscapes.
To be certified as a Pan Park a natural environment must have at least 100sq km of unmodified wilderness at its core, where natural processes and wildlife still thrive and significant human interference is minimal. No exploitation is allowed so there’s no hunting, fishing, mining, logging, grazing, grass cutting, road or construction inside of the wilderness areas. This is another side of Europe that even most Europeans are unaware of. Obviously they’re not prime agricultural land or easily accessible - otherwise they would have been destroyed centuries ago.
The national parks within which the wilderness areas are located often have visitors centres, small B&B style accommodation, trail guides and equipment rental but in the core wilderness areas it’s likely to be just camping or rustic wilderness huts.....
The West Australian, June 2011
Reintroducing an extinct species to the wild
Some conservation projects are really just specialised forms of tourism; some are even created for volunteers with advertising typically highlighting customer’s interests before conservation priorities. To be fair they invariable leave a lower carbon footprint than an all-in beach or bush resort holiday but do they really make a significant conservation impact?
Some do and some don’t. On the best conservation volunteer projects the objectives are clear, volunteers live and eat like locals, take away their rubbish and engage respectfully with local people. They should never operate in a western volunteer vacuum, local people need to play a central role and projects should generate a self-sustaining life of their own after paying volunteers have left.
My prize example is Hustai National Park in Mongolia where an extinct species has been brought back from oblivion.
Back in the Palaeolithic herds of ancestral wild horses roamed Europe and Asia; they were so common that our cave dwelling ancestors depicted them as pre-historic cave art at Lascaux in France (circa 15,000BC).
By 1900 these equine ancestors of all modern day horses had become rare and limited to the open Steps of Mongolia. By 1969 hunting, competition and interbreeding with modern horses along with the widespread capture of foals for zoos and private collectors eventually led to their extinction in the wild.
Instantly recognisable from the prehistoric cave paintings these sturdy pony sized horses are typically dun coloured with a pale underbelly, dark upright mane and dark tail. A dark stripe along their back, dark legs and sometimes rings around their hocks.
Extinct in the wild and increasing genetic inbreeding problems in captured specimens sounded the death knell of this ancient bloodline. Then around 1980 Dutch couple Jan and Inge Bouman decided to change things and formed the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse.
Wanderlust magazine, Feburary 2009
Some do and some don’t. On the best conservation volunteer projects the objectives are clear, volunteers live and eat like locals, take away their rubbish and engage respectfully with local people. They should never operate in a western volunteer vacuum, local people need to play a central role and projects should generate a self-sustaining life of their own after paying volunteers have left.
My prize example is Hustai National Park in Mongolia where an extinct species has been brought back from oblivion.
Back in the Palaeolithic herds of ancestral wild horses roamed Europe and Asia; they were so common that our cave dwelling ancestors depicted them as pre-historic cave art at Lascaux in France (circa 15,000BC).
By 1900 these equine ancestors of all modern day horses had become rare and limited to the open Steps of Mongolia. By 1969 hunting, competition and interbreeding with modern horses along with the widespread capture of foals for zoos and private collectors eventually led to their extinction in the wild.
Instantly recognisable from the prehistoric cave paintings these sturdy pony sized horses are typically dun coloured with a pale underbelly, dark upright mane and dark tail. A dark stripe along their back, dark legs and sometimes rings around their hocks.
Extinct in the wild and increasing genetic inbreeding problems in captured specimens sounded the death knell of this ancient bloodline. Then around 1980 Dutch couple Jan and Inge Bouman decided to change things and formed the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse.
Wanderlust magazine, Feburary 2009
Curieuse Island in the Seychelles
Standing knee deep in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean on the island of Praslin, I can see Curieuse Island, an old leper colony that will be home for the next few days. I’m waiting for Rich, GVI’s base manager and master of their desert island satellite camp, to collect me in his homemade RIB styled boat.
As I wait, I ponder General Gordon’s claim that I am standing in the original Garden of Eden. ‘Eden’ is a rather hackneyed cliché, overused by tourist boards around the globe, but to General Gordon’s Victorian eye there was clear evidence to back up his assertion. The versatile and nourishing breadfruit was clearly the Tree of Life and the brazenly provocative coco-de-mer tree was without doubt The Tree of Knowledge - that should on no account be tasted.....
..... Rich explained how Curieuse is in the centre of a marine national park and that this is the main focus for the small teams of GVI conservation volunteers. The work varies through the year - following the cycles of nature - monitoring and protecting the hawksbill turtles during their nesting season or following the massive whale sharks that appear later in the year. Ongoing work includes snorkel teams catching and tagging juvenile hawksbill, surveying coral reefs to measure their recovery from bleaching and building the fish database for the Seychelles Fisheries Authority.
Jason, the Curieuse Island ranger told how when he arrived on the morning of 24th December 2004 all the giant tortoises had mysteriously disappeared from the beachside. Two days later the tsunami struck but the tortoises were already up on high ground – it seems like scientists are missing a low-tech trick for a tsunami early warning system.....
Wanderlust magazine, November 2008
As I wait, I ponder General Gordon’s claim that I am standing in the original Garden of Eden. ‘Eden’ is a rather hackneyed cliché, overused by tourist boards around the globe, but to General Gordon’s Victorian eye there was clear evidence to back up his assertion. The versatile and nourishing breadfruit was clearly the Tree of Life and the brazenly provocative coco-de-mer tree was without doubt The Tree of Knowledge - that should on no account be tasted.....
..... Rich explained how Curieuse is in the centre of a marine national park and that this is the main focus for the small teams of GVI conservation volunteers. The work varies through the year - following the cycles of nature - monitoring and protecting the hawksbill turtles during their nesting season or following the massive whale sharks that appear later in the year. Ongoing work includes snorkel teams catching and tagging juvenile hawksbill, surveying coral reefs to measure their recovery from bleaching and building the fish database for the Seychelles Fisheries Authority.
Jason, the Curieuse Island ranger told how when he arrived on the morning of 24th December 2004 all the giant tortoises had mysteriously disappeared from the beachside. Two days later the tsunami struck but the tortoises were already up on high ground – it seems like scientists are missing a low-tech trick for a tsunami early warning system.....
Wanderlust magazine, November 2008
Eco-technology in India
With over 1.2 billion people India is a crowed place. In the past decade alone the population increased by 181 million and India will replace China as the most populous country by 2030. Beyond the National Parks every acre of land seems to be growing food, manufacturing something or someone is living on it. The environmental impact of this expanding population is massive so the conservation of India's flagship tiger and elephant species is impossible without addressing the wider impact of the burgeoning population.
Villages and small towns surround most national parks and for tens of millions forests are the traditional source of food, fuel and a deposit for waste, which make poaching, deforestation and pollution major issues. Native species are increasingly confined to shrinking and depleted protected areas and human-animal conflict is on the raise.
So what could a volunteer do that would make a real difference to these conservation issues?
The West Australian, October 2011
Villages and small towns surround most national parks and for tens of millions forests are the traditional source of food, fuel and a deposit for waste, which make poaching, deforestation and pollution major issues. Native species are increasingly confined to shrinking and depleted protected areas and human-animal conflict is on the raise.
So what could a volunteer do that would make a real difference to these conservation issues?
The West Australian, October 2011
Into the Wild
Travelling is in our genes and few of us would pass up an opportunity to see and experience new places. But there’s more to travelling than simply going to new places, there’s the question of how and why we travel?
Travelling can have a passive tourist style, a self-indulgent hedonistic style or travels with a purpose – travels that can change you and the place you visit. Of course some trips may contain elements of all three styles but the point is all travelling is not the same. I’ve spent the past year researching and writing a book on Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering (Bradt Guides, 2009) because of a long felt need (tinged with a sense of guilt) to offset some of the damage we’re doing to the planet.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet Report, 2006 records how, between 1970--2003 our planet’s biodiversity fell by 30%. The reasons are complex, but no matter how we put it, the cause is invariably human activity. Essentially the root causes are overpopulation and our over consumption of the earth’s resources.
Since the 1980s we’ve been living on ‘ecological credit’ – using up resources faster than the earth can replace them and blindly walking into an ecological credit crunch that will make the current economic credit crunch seem trivial.
Abroad magazine, August 2009
Travelling can have a passive tourist style, a self-indulgent hedonistic style or travels with a purpose – travels that can change you and the place you visit. Of course some trips may contain elements of all three styles but the point is all travelling is not the same. I’ve spent the past year researching and writing a book on Wildlife and Conservation Volunteering (Bradt Guides, 2009) because of a long felt need (tinged with a sense of guilt) to offset some of the damage we’re doing to the planet.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet Report, 2006 records how, between 1970--2003 our planet’s biodiversity fell by 30%. The reasons are complex, but no matter how we put it, the cause is invariably human activity. Essentially the root causes are overpopulation and our over consumption of the earth’s resources.
Since the 1980s we’ve been living on ‘ecological credit’ – using up resources faster than the earth can replace them and blindly walking into an ecological credit crunch that will make the current economic credit crunch seem trivial.
Abroad magazine, August 2009
Big Cat Conservation in Namibia
“Always carry the two-way radio, the poison bite extraction kit and two litres of water and you should be alright.” That was the first piece of advice expedition leader Peter Schuette gave on day one of my leopard and cheetah conservation project in Namibia.
Peter’s second piece of advice was, “when driving the 4WD Land Rover Discovery on a dry riverbed use the low stick, never dip the clutch and keep the revs up, if you get stuck use the diff lock.” All very disconcerting on your first off-road experience but the trusty Land Rover soon became a good friend and life support in the arid savannah of central Namibia.
Namibia may not be most people’s first (or second) choice for a holiday but then this was no ordinary holiday, it was a scientific conservation holiday. I’d had enough of self-indulgent holidays that were essentially purposeless and in these times of environmental degradation and wildlife destruction I wanted a holiday with a purpose.
It was fascinating to see how wary and skittish different animals were. Zebra’s would approach in small groups but wait in the bush looking around before slowly approaching the waterhole, suddenly one would race away and all the other immediately follow. Ten minutes later they would repeat the whole process again.
A large caracal (cat) crept stealthily towards the waterhole just like a domestic cat stalking a mouse – stopping every few steps to look around and then running at a crouch before stopping again.
Baboon troops approached the waterhole like a disciplined group of soldiers on night patrol. The large alpha male stayed behind seemingly marshalling others forward and others out to the flanks and finally meeting up at the water.
Warthogs were the most brazen, appearing not to give a jot and trotted directly to the water and then trotted off, barely looking around.
The Lady magazine, 2009
Peter’s second piece of advice was, “when driving the 4WD Land Rover Discovery on a dry riverbed use the low stick, never dip the clutch and keep the revs up, if you get stuck use the diff lock.” All very disconcerting on your first off-road experience but the trusty Land Rover soon became a good friend and life support in the arid savannah of central Namibia.
Namibia may not be most people’s first (or second) choice for a holiday but then this was no ordinary holiday, it was a scientific conservation holiday. I’d had enough of self-indulgent holidays that were essentially purposeless and in these times of environmental degradation and wildlife destruction I wanted a holiday with a purpose.
It was fascinating to see how wary and skittish different animals were. Zebra’s would approach in small groups but wait in the bush looking around before slowly approaching the waterhole, suddenly one would race away and all the other immediately follow. Ten minutes later they would repeat the whole process again.
A large caracal (cat) crept stealthily towards the waterhole just like a domestic cat stalking a mouse – stopping every few steps to look around and then running at a crouch before stopping again.
Baboon troops approached the waterhole like a disciplined group of soldiers on night patrol. The large alpha male stayed behind seemingly marshalling others forward and others out to the flanks and finally meeting up at the water.
Warthogs were the most brazen, appearing not to give a jot and trotted directly to the water and then trotted off, barely looking around.
The Lady magazine, 2009
Conservation in the Amazon
There can’t be many people who aren’t enthralled by the Amazon. There’s its vastness, its exotic wildlife, undiscovered tribes, Inca gold and an indefinable magical ambience. It’s a place of adventures, mysteries, lost cities, Amazonian warriors, fearsome creatures, magical cures and despotic invaders.
Perhaps not everything you hear about the Amazon is true - but most of it is.
I’m joining a conservation project with the international environmental charity Earthwatch Institute – a team of scientists and volunteers on board a restored nineteenth century riverboat, left over from the rubber boom era. The city of Iquitos is our assembly point where we meet our science leader, Dr Richard Bodmer, and board the riverboat, the Ayapua, for the next 16 days.
The research site is an unmapped conservation concession 350 miles down the Amazon to the Peruvian, Columbian, Brazilian border and then 250 miles up the Yavari River into deepest Amazonia.
Our work is surveying river dolphins, macaws, caimans, giant otters, monkeys and fish, which are key indicator species for measuring the success of current conservation initiatives.
The Lady magazine, 2010
Perhaps not everything you hear about the Amazon is true - but most of it is.
I’m joining a conservation project with the international environmental charity Earthwatch Institute – a team of scientists and volunteers on board a restored nineteenth century riverboat, left over from the rubber boom era. The city of Iquitos is our assembly point where we meet our science leader, Dr Richard Bodmer, and board the riverboat, the Ayapua, for the next 16 days.
The research site is an unmapped conservation concession 350 miles down the Amazon to the Peruvian, Columbian, Brazilian border and then 250 miles up the Yavari River into deepest Amazonia.
Our work is surveying river dolphins, macaws, caimans, giant otters, monkeys and fish, which are key indicator species for measuring the success of current conservation initiatives.
The Lady magazine, 2010
Protecting Loggerhead Turtles in Greece
All around the globe volunteers are engaged in wildlife and environmental conservation. In September I joined a group of young volunteers at a campsite on the Greek island of Crete organised by Archelon - the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece. Most came from the UK, American and Germany, some for four weeks, others for 12 weeks but all were there to help save the endangered Loggerhead turtle.
The commitment and enthusiasm of volunteers was undeniable as they worked on rotas from 6.30am until 10pm. Their tasks focused on all the turtle risk areas including night patrols during the nesting season, dawn patrols during the hatching season and a rescue centre for injured turtles. They also educate tourists at information stands, present hotel slide shows and assist environmental education in schools.
My first activity was a dawn beach patrol in one of four groups inspecting every nest on the 25 km beach and we found one nest swarming with tourists from a nearby hotel. They were trampling over the nests, blinding hatchlings with camera flashlights, blocking their access to the sea and attempting to pick them up.
Reading Eagle, November 2007
The commitment and enthusiasm of volunteers was undeniable as they worked on rotas from 6.30am until 10pm. Their tasks focused on all the turtle risk areas including night patrols during the nesting season, dawn patrols during the hatching season and a rescue centre for injured turtles. They also educate tourists at information stands, present hotel slide shows and assist environmental education in schools.
My first activity was a dawn beach patrol in one of four groups inspecting every nest on the 25 km beach and we found one nest swarming with tourists from a nearby hotel. They were trampling over the nests, blinding hatchlings with camera flashlights, blocking their access to the sea and attempting to pick them up.
Reading Eagle, November 2007
Strawbale House Building
This BTCV event was part holiday, part education, part social networking and part personal skill development all within a context of a sustainable building project. The purpose was to build an environmentally sustainable building with a low carbon footprint.
The project was on a north Yorkshire valley farm where the owner has developed a natural living project called the Clow Beck Eco-Centre, Croft-on-Tees. The cost was £150 for one week, including all food, accommodation and local transport....
.....By using an annually renewable resource instead of non-renewable mineral and fossil resources they are saved for future generations. Instead of generating mountains of carbon dioxide and consuming vast quantities of energy in the production of artificial building materials our straw bales are actually locking up carbon dioxide and therefore reducing the impact on climate change.
When being used the building we will consume 75% less energy that a conventional one therefore reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide generation for many years into the future.
No cuddly animals were saved during this project but its conservation credentials are impeccable. Instead of adding to the worlds carbon burden we actually locked atmospheric carbon up within the walls and created a building only requiring 25% of the energy to heat it that a comparable brick structure consumes.
Wildlife & Conservation Volunteering, Bradt Travel Guides, 2009
The project was on a north Yorkshire valley farm where the owner has developed a natural living project called the Clow Beck Eco-Centre, Croft-on-Tees. The cost was £150 for one week, including all food, accommodation and local transport....
.....By using an annually renewable resource instead of non-renewable mineral and fossil resources they are saved for future generations. Instead of generating mountains of carbon dioxide and consuming vast quantities of energy in the production of artificial building materials our straw bales are actually locking up carbon dioxide and therefore reducing the impact on climate change.
When being used the building we will consume 75% less energy that a conventional one therefore reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide generation for many years into the future.
No cuddly animals were saved during this project but its conservation credentials are impeccable. Instead of adding to the worlds carbon burden we actually locked atmospheric carbon up within the walls and created a building only requiring 25% of the energy to heat it that a comparable brick structure consumes.
Wildlife & Conservation Volunteering, Bradt Travel Guides, 2009