Thailand conservation projects on Koh Tao

We believe that travel can change lives! Travelling can change you as a person and, if done responsibly, can have a profound affect on the people that you meet and the places that you visit. We want as many people as possible to experience the heart and soul of another culture in the way that we have, and in doing so, help them to make a positive and lasting impact on our world.

Don’t be fooled- not all tropical Islands are the same. Behind the picture postcard beaches and palm tress they have very different problems; in Koh Tao for example we work with a project trying to protect the damage done by mass tourism. The project is an environmental and educational program run by the Secret Garden Conservation centre in cooperation with the local government, primary and nursery school, to help preserve the island for future generations. The key to the preservation of the country’s beautiful environment is a mix of direct conservation and the education of future generations.

We do not own or operate any project but simply partner with them to assist in achieving their goals for development. It is this continuous stream of committed volunteers that allows the projects the time to focus on making a difference. On this project, volunteers will help in the battle against irresponsible tourism and help protect the environment through environmental research, beach cleaning, fundraising and raising awareness amongst the local community.

You’ll stay in a locally owned guesthouse ensuring that you directly support the local community while you’re there. You’ll also be supported by your local in-country coordinator; Masako who with her team are best placed to understand the specific economic, social and developmental needs of Kenya and the surrounding areas.

On average 48% of your placement fee is distributed in-country for the services included with your placement (i.e. local support, transport & accommodation) meaning that the local communities are directly benefiting from your travels to their country. The remaining funds are required to cover the administration costs associated with sourcing, training, marketing and coordinating your travel experience.

We do not give a financial contribution to this or any of our projects as we believe that money is rarely the answer to complicated development issues; if it was, the poverty problems in the world would be getting better! Short-term aid relief can cause aid-reliance and financial instability and the corruption seen in many developing countries means the guarantee of your money going to the heart of the cause is massively reduced. From our experience (and by learning from our mistakes) projects benefit far greater more from a sustainable framework to ensure they develop rather than short-term financial aid relief.

If money is paid directly to projects then they may become dependent on that income. If that country or project becomes unpopular, or through restrictions in the opportunity to travel to that country, the money dries up and they are no longer able to continue with their work. Supplying projects with enthusiastic volunteers creates a constant supply of helpful hands and as they are not reliant on an income can continue without the assistance of the volunteer travellers, although significantly slower in achieving their goals.

Instead of giving money direct we operate a grants scheme from our Helping Hand Foundation. This is designed to allow all our partner projects to submit applications for funding to achieve a specific objective. In 2007 we supported a number of partner projects including the installation of 20 toilets at a school in India, the construction of a community centre in Brazil and providing a radio communications unit for a turtle conservation project in Costa Rica.