Wildlife conservation travel guide

You want to cuddle cute animals – wildlife conservation work is very much hands-off. You want to go somewhere to party: a wildlife conservation trip is the wrong trip for you – don’t confuse a relaxed environment with the fact that you’re actually helping out as part of an important environmental picture. You want air-conditioned, resort style accommodation and umbrellas in your cocktails – the locations may be 5*, but they’re not 5* resorts and conservation work is far more about local people and living how they live than creature comforts. You need a regular sleep pattern – particularly when working with monkeys, you may be required to wok through the night, so your sleep pattern will be more erratic. You’re a stickler for a set routine. Flexibility is a must for any type of conservation trip because you are working within nature, which essentially has no rules, so you need to be prepared for changes to your daily plan. You’re not able to manage your expectations: one day you might see lots of wildlife, the next you might see none - there is little rhyme and reason to the behaviour of animals.

A wildlife conservation trip is essentially a working holiday. You’ll join a team of trained researchers and professional wildlife monitors working on a long-term project to protect and help conserve our planet’s wildlife and wild places.

A lot of the work that goes into conservation requires large amounts of manpower, so volunteers are needed to muck in and can choose from a variety of trips: working in sanctuaries with animals that have been rescued from zoos or cruel tourist entertainment; working in rehabilitation centres with animals that have been injured but need assistance before being released back into the wild; working in research centres, which sounds very scientific, but often isn’t, and is very much focused on observing behaviours and noting down patterns and sightings; or working on game reserves doing tracking, monitoring, and land conservation work such as clearing trees or planting seeds, which is vitally important for the wildlife that dwells there.

The biggest misconception about wildlife conservation holidays is that people think they can go on holiday, stay somewhere exotic and cuddle lots of cute animals, but this really isn’t the case. Though some elephant care placements and others working with monkeys may require a small element of practical hands-on work, this should never be a priority for you when deciding on a wildlife conservation trip – generally it isn’t in the best interests of the animal concerned, something which you can read more about on our responsible tourism page.

Without question, what you absolutely need before booking a wildlife conservation trip is a passion for the animal world, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn – learning how to track, monitor, and care for animals accurately requires commitment, and you’ll also be learning about conservation on the job so a genuine interest is imperative.

Their idyllic locations often run the risk of people presuming wildlife conservation trips are a bit more of a holiday than they actually are; they can be very hard work and demand long days with quite physical, but very rewarding work involved and although your accommodation will be provided and some is more plush than others, you should approach wildlife conservation expecting a 5* experience, not a 5* resort.