How to choose a wildlife conservation holiday
Think of wildlife conservation trips as essentially working holidays. You’ll be joining a team of professionals and other volunteers to take part in often long-term projects aimed at protecting animals and /or their natural environment, which may well be profoundly affected by human influence. This kind of project tends to be reliant on huge amounts of volunteer manpower engaged in everything from basic research to physical labour on manual tasks. It may be hard work at times but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun: you will be in the company of likeminded people, you’ll learn a great deal, and you will go to sleep every night knowing that your efforts are making a real difference.
Our Volunteer travel Holidays
Volunteering with bears in Romania
Volunteer at an inspiring bear sanctuary in Transylvania
Namibia wildlife sanctuary volunteering holiday
Care for rescued animals in Namibia
Orangutan conservation holiday in Borneo
Meet Iban tribes and encounter orangutans in Borneo
Endangered wildlife conservation in South Africa
Award-winning, Fair Trade certified wildlife conservation!
Borneo wildlife volunteer project
Encounter orangutans and elephants in the Bornean jungle.
Wildlife conservation in Borneo
Conserve orangutans and elephants in Borneo's rainforests
Volunteer with monkeys in South Africa
Help re-habilitate orphaned monkeys in beautiful rural South Africa
Family volunteering with bears in Romania
Unique family volunteering holiday at a bear sanctuary
Brown bear tracking in Northern Greece
Track wild bears & explore the wilderness with park rangers
Family volunteering with turtles in Costa Rica
Family turtle conservation volunteering in Costa Rica
Malawi volunteering holiday
Volunteer at Africa's top wildlife sanctuary
Dolphin conservation holiday in Greece
Holiday on stunning Greek Island with daily dolphin tours
Orangutan volunteering in Borneo
Volunteer at an award-winning orangutan rehabilitation centre in Malaysian Borneo
Conservation volunteering in Belize
Join an award winning research team in Belize
Namibia carnivore conservation & research project
Assist the team as a Big Cat Conservation Volunteer!
Wildlife rescue volunteering in Costa Rica
Assist caring for rescued animals in Costa Rica
Mountain gorilla project in Uganda
Work towards conservation of the majestic gorilla in Uganda
Family volunteering with elephants in Sri Lanka
Family volunteering with elephants in Sri Lanka
Turtle conservation in Costa Rica
Join a conservation team protecting sea turtle populations
Lemur conservation project in Madagascar
Work alongside an award-winning NGO in Madagascar
Thailand wildlife sanctuary volunteering holiday
Volunteering break at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand
Elephant & wildlife conservation volunteering in Sri Lanka
Help wild elephants and wildlife in Sri Lanka
Whale & dolphin research in Ligurian Sea, Italy
Whale and dolphin conservation trip
Costa Rica wildlife conservation
Work with sloths and other wildlife in Costa Rica.
Orangutan conservation in East Kalimantan, Indonesia
Work with orangutans & sun bears in stunning East Kalimantan
Shark conservation in South Africa
Conserve sharks, whales and penguins in South Africa
Madagascar conservation volunteering holiday
Conservation in beautiful Madagascar
Family volunteering in Thailand
Family wildlife sanctuary volunteering in Thailand
Wildlife photography and volunteering in South Africa
Enjoy amazing wildlife photography while giving back!
Northern Greece bear conservation tour
Brown bear conservation in Pindos & birds of Prespa Lake
Types of wildlife conservation holidays
Field research
There are a number of options for volunteers wanting to engage in practical field research, often involving tracking and monitoring wild animals. You may be studying the behaviour of elephants in Malawi, setting camera traps and mapping sightings of big cats in Namibia, or helping to measure, tag and release sea turtles in Costa Rica. These projects are vital for keeping an eye on population numbers and making the case for conservation efforts.As you will usually be joining established projects performing important work, there may well be a necessary training period before you can be sent out into the field, but experience is rarely required. For that reason, it is better to stay as long as possible on this type of wildlife conservation holiday, so that both you, and the project, get the most from the experience. Some marine conservation trips can involve scuba diving, and in most cases it will be useful if you already have at least a basic qualification to skip having to earn it at the start of your trip.
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation holidays can be physically demanding, but this is one of the most essential and effective tasks in conservation. Even a couple of days as part of a longer trip can make a massive difference. Many species are endangered, some critically, due to the degradation of their natural habitat, which sadly is more often than not the result of human activity such as unsustainable agricultural practises (palm oil plantations and logging in Borneo have drastically reduced orangutan territory), urban sprawl, and overfishing, which has badly damaged many coral reefs. In order to ensure the continued survival of these species in the wild, and indeed protect the biodiversity which we ourselves depend on, we need to restore these natural landscapes.On this kind of trip, the majority of your time is likely to be spent on work such as clearing or planting vegetation using provided tools. Regular breaks are included of course, but you can expect to be working quite long hours in order to get as much done as possible. You will, then, need to have a decent level of fitness, and for families, it’s suitable for older kids only. Projects vary, from planting the fruiting trees that lemurs love in Madagascar, to maintaining nature trails in the rainforest of Belize. You’ll have limited or no contact with the actual wildlife itself, but you may well look up now and again to meet the curious stare of a monkey or a macaw keeping a close eye on you.
Volunteering with animals
Our top Volunteer travel Holiday
Volunteering with bears in Romania
Volunteer at an inspiring bear sanctuary in Transylvania
Flexible departures available throughout the year, minimum stay 1 week
Community engagement
For a wildlife conservation project to be successful, it’s vital that the local community is on-side and, preferably, actually involved so that conservation efforts are not frustrated or misunderstood by local people, and after the experts and the volunteers have moved on, their work can be continued. For this reason many wildlife conservation volunteer holidays will involve spending time with local people, perhaps giving simple presentations at schools to make children aware of the project’s work and why it’s important, or accompanying visitors around the sanctuary you are volunteering at.In some cases community engagement can actually make up a large part of a wildlife conservation volunteering holiday. One example is an elephant conservation trip in Namibia, where as well as tracking animals you might also be building schools in rural villages, putting up walls to protect water supplies from elephants on isolated farmsteads, and getting to know local farmers to learn about the lifestyles and how their needs must be balanced against those of the elephants in order for them to coexist without conflict.