Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
The last 50 to 100 years have seen a marked increase in the killing of all age classes of turtles for their eggs, shells, and meat. Hawksbill turtle populations have been severely depleted and as a result have been listed as a critically endangered species by the IUCN.
In Vanuatu a grassroots effort to stop this decline has sprouted up in rural communities across the country. The Vanua-Tai (meaning of land and sea) Natural Resource Monitors is a national network of community members that are working within their communities to institute bans on the harvest of turtles and their eggs.
As a volunteer with this project you will have the opportunity to work side by side with community members as they begin the first year of a long-term nesting survey. This first year will be a real learning experience for the community as they learn just how many turtles use this nesting beach and how to manage the survey for themselves.
The owner of this company did a gap year trip in the early 90s which involved building a bandstand for a small village in Patagonia. While he was there, he realised the project was only helpful in developing the Western traveller as the village didn’t want a bandstand and only argued about who owned it. And so he set up a volunteer organisation which is useful to communities and provides them with resources and help with funding. Today, his projects offer travellers an opportunity to fully integrate into communities and to make a real long-term difference to the local people’s lifestyles.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
