Responsible family volunteering


Our Family volunteering Holidays
Family volunteering with turtles in Costa Rica
Family turtle conservation volunteering in Costa Rica
Family volunteering with monkeys in South Africa
Hands-on family volunteering with monkeys in South Africa
Family volunteering with bears in Romania
Unique family volunteering holiday at a bear sanctuary
Borneo family volunteering holiday
Encounter orangutans and meet local tribes in magical Borneo
Elephant & wildlife conservation volunteering in Sri Lanka
Help wild elephants and wildlife in Sri Lanka
Family volunteering in Borneo
Family wildlife conservation volunteering project in Borneo
Primate rescue volunteer holiday in South Africa
Providing rescued primates with a better quality of life
Family volunteering in Sri Lanka
Volunteer with your family in tropical paradise of Sri Lanka
Horse rehabilitation project in South Africa
Work hands on with horses on the South African coast
Family holiday with volunteering in India
A truly fun & rewarding experience for families of any size
Elephant conservation holiday, Cambodia
Volunteer with rescued Asian elephants
Family conservation project in South Africa
Exciting family volunteering with the Big 5
Family volunteering in Namibia, desert elephants
Family trip to research and conserve desert elephants
Family volunteering in Thailand
Family wildlife sanctuary volunteering in Thailand
Family volunteering at a wildlife rescue centre, Costa Rica
Families assist in caring for rescued tropical animals
Family volunteering with elephants in Sri Lanka
Family volunteering with elephants in Sri Lanka
Family volunteering in Tanzania
Memorable family holiday which makes a difference
Family volunteering in Peru
Experience sensational Peru with family volunteering
Family volunteering and adventure holiday, Nepal
Volunteer in beautiful Nepal, visit Chitwan jungle & Pokhara
Family elephant refuge volunteering in Thailand
Family elephant refuge volunteering in Thailand
Family volunteering with elephants in Laos
Volunteer with your family to conserve elephants in Laos
Elephant conservation holiday for families, Namibia
Elephant conservation volunteering project for families
Wildlife & environment
From good will to hunting
It is a very appealing concept, going to save the baby lions for a week. It’s safe for the children and it is a great way to learn about wildlife conservation. It might be less appealing, however, if you got to see the whole picture. Which is a lot less cuddly. In South Africa, ‘canned hunting’ is an ongoing issue, whereby lion cubs are tamed, with the help of volunteers’ naïve nurturing, bottle feeding, hugging, walking and playing with them, like kittens, so that they can be sold to hunting industries. Or worse, they are already being habituated on a reserve that earns money as a sanctuary, but then transports the grown lions to another part of the land later on, only to become easy, and now tamed targets for tourist hunters. Who pay thousands for their trophy as well as the all important smug, sick selfie. It’s horrific for the cats – and a gross abuse of the volunteer’s time, money and trust.What can you do?
Always ask the right questions. Our volunteering holidays that work with lions have gone through scrupulous checks that they do exactly what they say on the tin. As opposed to the can. If you spot lots of images of people cuddling or walking with lions, therein lies a big clue. Because lions that are really going to be set free one day are not going to be habituated to this extent. Otherwise they would not survive in the wild. There are some reserves, however, where lions are bred to be released into the wild and everything is hunky dory. Crucially, these projects are not very hands on, as habituated lions without a fear of humans would simply be too dangerous to release.
See our wildlife conservation volunteer guide for more information on this subject.
Not on your Nellie
What you can do
Again, ask questions and more questions of your volunteering organisation. At Responsible Travel, our elephant volunteer placements do not visit any sanctuaries permitting such elephant rides or performances. See our Elephant conservation holidays guide for more information.
People & culture
Orphanages
It is not uncommon for parents to want to bring their families on a holiday which invites them to contribute to the welfare and education of vulnerable children. This is a controversial area, however, and following a campaign that we led in 2013, we removed many trips from our site that involved volunteering in an orphanage – or even visiting one when the children are present. This was for a number of reasons, the main issues being as follows:If you are a qualified expert in working with children and are happy to undergo all the necessary Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, then please do consider this as an option for another time, when you have time to travel without your children and can commit a lengthy period of time. Responsible Travel’s policy for these sorts of placements is a minimum of a month’s volunteering. And if, during your wildlife conservation holiday you are offered a trip to an orphanage, please take all the above pointers into consideration, and find a way of supporting the community in another way.
Respecting local culture
Most volunteers get it, but there are always a few that turn up and just don’t. Dressing in a way that is inappropriate to the local culture is just wrong. Your volunteering organisation will advise you in advance, but really – most of the countries where you are volunteering are not going to understand and, indeed, they will be upset by very short shorts or skirts and low cut tops. Please do follow the cultural dress codes. It is part of our responsibility as adults to teach our children about respecting different cultures, so please discuss this with them too well in advance of your travels.Similarly, our ‘selfie’ culture can feel invasive to local people. The best advice is to put the camera away for a few days until you get to know local people and then always, but always, ask before taking photos, and also before sharing them on social media, especially those of children.
What you can do
Read up in advance what the dress code is locally – your holiday company will be able to offer advice. When it comes to photographs, you might want to consider bringing a small portable printer so that you can share photos of people you have met when you are in situ. And if you promise to send them a copy once you are back home, do make sure that you do so.