Brazil river dolphins conservation holiday
| country: | Brazil |
| location: | Amazon rainforest |
| departures: | Volunteers can join this project at any time throughout the year |
| price: | From £1195 (2 weeks) - £1595 (4 weeks) excluding flights. Extra weeks available at £200 each. Price includes food, accommodation and all training materials. We can offer advice on flights from the UK |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
We, at the invitation of the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development, have helped develop a number of volunteer programmes within this fascinating reserve in the heart of Brazil. This project is a well-established research project led by one British and one Brazilian Principal Investigator (PI). The objective is to revolutionise knowledge of the enigmatic pink Amazon river dolphin, and in so doing help prevent it following the demise of all other river dolphins worldwide.
There are 300 recognisable dolphins in the local population, and days are spent on the water in small boats following the lives of these animals, finding who is where, doing what and with whom. The project records new births and finds out who is the father from genetics. They follow the development of each calf until it is weaned, through adolescence and as a young adult.
Volunteers will become part of the observation team in the magical environment of the flooded forest. No special skills are required. Volunteers need to be reasonably fit, and not too bothered by heat. This is the Amazon, after all! You must be able to swim! The main attribute needed is an ability to live and work in a small tight-knit community, making small sacrifices as necessary to avoid any possibility of conflict with other team members. All necessary training is provided, including how to live safely both on the raft and in boats. A certificate of completion of the work will be awarded on request.
This project takes you into the heart of a unique area of Brazil's Amazon rainforest. After flying to Tefe in the Amazonas region, you then embark on a two hour boat ride to reach the Mamirauá reserve located in the middle of the Solimoes river. Mamirauá is a sustainable development reserve which combines the conservation of the area with the managed use of natural resources by the local population. The reserve is part of the Várzea ecosystem, a forest flooded by the sediment-rich Amazonian rivers. Bugs, beasts and the weird and wonderful are plentiful. The flooded forest is a fantastic experience not to be forgotten.
There are 300 recognisable dolphins in the local population, and days are spent on the water in small boats following the lives of these animals, finding who is where, doing what and with whom. The project records new births and finds out who is the father from genetics. They follow the development of each calf until it is weaned, through adolescence and as a young adult.
Volunteers will become part of the observation team in the magical environment of the flooded forest. No special skills are required. Volunteers need to be reasonably fit, and not too bothered by heat. This is the Amazon, after all! You must be able to swim! The main attribute needed is an ability to live and work in a small tight-knit community, making small sacrifices as necessary to avoid any possibility of conflict with other team members. All necessary training is provided, including how to live safely both on the raft and in boats. A certificate of completion of the work will be awarded on request.
This project takes you into the heart of a unique area of Brazil's Amazon rainforest. After flying to Tefe in the Amazonas region, you then embark on a two hour boat ride to reach the Mamirauá reserve located in the middle of the Solimoes river. Mamirauá is a sustainable development reserve which combines the conservation of the area with the managed use of natural resources by the local population. The reserve is part of the Várzea ecosystem, a forest flooded by the sediment-rich Amazonian rivers. Bugs, beasts and the weird and wonderful are plentiful. The flooded forest is a fantastic experience not to be forgotten.
a day in the life of a volunteer
Our base is a floating house/lab of 11m x 15m, tethered to trees in the floating forest, with showers and solar power. Accommodation is plain but comfortable, with beds or hammocks in bedrooms, good shower, flushing toilet, gas cooker, running water. We normally share cooking duties. Food is relatively simple but excellent, and vegetarians can be catered for. Laundry is washed by hand on site, and dries in the sun. It’s hot, so shorts, t-shirt and open sandals are standard. The nearest town is 2 hrs away by boat, with telephone and hospital. travellers' tales
Most memorable was sitting on the porch of the floating house and listening to the sounds of the jungle; during the day the gentle blow of the pink dolphins as they glided along the river, then later the howler money, at dusk the frogs and insects. (more)
volunteer travel - what's it all about?
Are you are looking for an adventurous trip with a purpose, or on a gap year or career break? If you want to make a difference in some of the world’s most important conservation areas - and in community projects - then volunteer trips are for you! Volunteers tend to have a sense of adventure, and come from a range of different backgrounds and from all over the world. Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Mamirauá is a sustainable development reserve which combines the conservation of the area with the managed use of natural resources by the local population. New births are recorded and the development of each calf monitored until it is weaned, through adolescence and as a young adult.
Mamirauá is special because it is the largest protected area of flooded forest ('várzea') in the Amazon offering unique scenery and experiences and has an abundance and variety of wildlife (the Solimões river is much richer than the Rio Negro), including endemic charismatic species like the white Uakari monkey.  This is the first sustainable development reserve where the communities actively participate in its management. It is, in fact, a public conservation unit in Brazil managed by an NGO, through an agreement with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT/CNPq), the Institute for Environmental Protection of Amazonas (IPAAM), and international agencies such as the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), among others. The reserve also acts as a large international research project, which assures that there is up-to-date information on the ecosystem and its species. The project is primarily aimed at providing the information and advice on which dolphin conservation can be based in Mamirauá and, more generally, in the Amazon and Orinoco basins and in Asia. We seek to revolutionise our understanding of the biology and ecology of the boto and tucuxi, identifying key habitats and the dolphin/human interactions that most threaten, and least threaten, the populations of these animals. |
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