Conservation expedition to Patagonia

Learn leadership skills, how to hike and camp in the valleys, explore the mountains and assist important environmental projects.

This Patagonian expedition contains a multitude of skill development opportunities combined with exciting adventures and important environmental projects. In small groups, expedition members conduct rugged surveys in a remote part of the world that few people ever get to see. Expedition participants must be prepared for a challenge as the expedition contains some arduous trekking through the variety of extreme climates and landscapes found in the heart of dramatic Patagonia. You will develop life long skills along the way including conservation management techniques, leadership skills, Camp craft, Minimal impact camping (following Leave No Trace principles), Wilderness Navigation and Wilderness medicine.

Highlights:Having the unique opportunity to explore various regions of the wild Patagonia; surveying areas for wild boar, red deer, wild cats and cachana parrots; enjoying adventures that range from minimal kit bivi camps to multi-day survey treks deep in the forest or transition zone; Master ice-climbing: train with crampons and ice axes, devlop snow craft skills, learn roped glacier travel and study crevasse rescue techniques, exploring the spectacular nearby volcano; and experiencing the gaucho lifestyle by horse.

Skills recieved:Wildlife biology and conservation, Biological survey techniques and methodologies, Snowshoeing (winter only), Camp craft, Minimal impact camping (following Leave No Trace principles), Wilderness Navigation, Use of GPS, VHF radios, EPIRBs, and Sat phones, Wilderness medicine, safety and survival psychology, First Aid & CPR training (certification optional), Emergency Spanish, Interpersonal skills

Field conditions: Accommodation throughout the expedition will be in basic, three-man shared tents. Water is collected from streams nearby and there is very limited electricity. Toilet facilities are long drops or 'cat holes'. The food will be simple but pays close attention to nutritional needs, ensuring you can work in the conditions of the different seasons. After a quick breakfast at first light, your team sets off on a day-trek to survey parts of the forest several kilometers from camp. Navigating your way towards the start of the transects, you cross several streams and climb many ridges. Enjoying lunch in an opening in the woods, you discover a nest of cachana parakeets close by. Having marked this location for a later visit to collect data for another part of the project, you start the survey transect. Late in the day, the group returns to base where the rest of the team (returned from an overnight transect) have already prepared a hot dinner.

Depending on seasonal differences, the expedition works on several different projects at times in different survey areas. Living and working very closely together, the expedition members conduct surveys and might spend a few days in smaller mobile groups away from each other on other parts of the projects. Within a year, the expeditions' work includes research projects on cachana (parakeets), huina cats, araucaria trees, andean condors, wild boar, red deer, vegetation surveys, waterfowl, mink, guanacos as well as some exotic vegetation erradication and possible other projects.