Think Namibian deserts, Sri Lankan jungles, ancient Finnish forests and magnificent mountain ranges and you are starting to enter the world of wildlife conservation volunteering placements. They are really ‘out there’, with up at dawn trekking to monitor where bears have gone the night before, or where elephants have passed with their young. They are about living with remote communities, such as the Orang Sungai tribe in Borneo, working to preserve habitats for orangutans and other primates, or the island people of Ko Phra Thong in Thailand, seeking to preserve their visiting sea turtles. As well as expert conservationists and scientists who know and love these landscapes and their inhabitants like they are their own family.

There aren’t too many of these that work with young people, but they do exist and so if you have water babies these are trips of a lifetime. You all need to be passionate about the ocean, happy to live a beach life that is very much in keeping with the local community, and be willing to participate in conservation tasks at strange times of the day. In Thailand, for example, you may have early starts to avoid the heat of midday, and late night sessions monitoring sea turtles. It won’t all be ducking and diving, however. You might be putting data into a computer, talking with local communities about conservation efforts or doing boring old cleaning jobs. In marine conservation placements, it’s all hands on deck. But the Blue Planet moments will be numerous too. Experienced divers can jump right in and newbies can include a PADI course as part of the trip.