Conservation Volunteers – List of summer projects

 

Conservation Volunteers - Naturewise

About Naturewise

Naturewise provides ecotours that combine visits to pristine areas and conservation activities. With programs in locations such as Montague Island in NSW, Grampians National Park in VIC and Tasmania's wilderness, you can enjoy the opportunity to visit unique destinations, get close to nature and explore the great outdoors, while contributing to the conservation of the environment.

Naturewise holiday destinations are chosen for their significant natural and cultural features. Each program provides an intimate experience with nature, a range of accommodation options and personalised services with no more than 10 people on a program.  

Naturewise offers short holiday experiences from two days to one week. The time spent undertaking conservation activities typically make up 30 – 40% of the trip with the other time spent touring such as bush walks, Island tours, wildlife viewing and visiting National Parks.

Project activities vary with each individual Naturewise location and primarily involve research, monitoring and easy ‘hands on’ projects. No experience is required to participate in a Naturewise program, though you should be reasonably fit and active and declare any pre-existing medical conditions at the time of booking.

Program prices include accommodation, meals, program leader, transfers from the designated pick up point, park or reserve entry fees and scheduled activities.  All programs are led by an experienced guide, and on some programs you are joined by visiting researchers.

Mammal Monitoring in the Grampians National Park

Getting involved with parks can have healthy benefits for you and your community and this unique wildlife experience is a great way for you to get involved – in the heart of the Grampians National Park.

During this program you will contribute to an important research project monitoring vulnerable and endangered native wildlife. Play hands on role in the monitoring of small mammal populations in remote locations within this spectacular and much loved National Park. 

You will work in small groups, alongside a Park Ranger to check traps and collate data. To date the project has helped further the knowledge of small mammals in Western Victoria. The project has rediscovered the nationally vulnerable Long Nosed Potoroo and found new populations of the nationally vulnerable Heath Mouse and nationally endangered Southern Brown Bandicoot.  You will also have the opportunity to explore the National Park and visit areas off the typical tourism route.

Mammal trapping activities require an early morning start and walking on unmarked tracks through flat bush land areas for up to 8 kilometers a day.

Departure Dates

Program Dates - 4 days / 3 night Price from $500 per person, dependant on room request.	Program Dates - 7 days / 6 night From $990 per person dependant on room request.
Thu 6 – Sun 9 Nov 08 Sun 9 – Wed 12 Nov 08	Thu 6 – Wed 12 Nov 08

 

Montague Island Nature Reserve

One of Australia’s best kept secrets, Montague Island Nature Reserve is a breathtaking wildlife sanctuary situated nine kilometres off Narooma, on the south coast of New South Wales. A nature lover’s paradise, the island is teeming with wildlife. Join an overnight tour for an exclusive opportunity to experience this special place, staying overnight in the beautifully appointed heritage-listed guesthouse. Watch thousands of seals as they crowd the rocks and play in the crystal blue waters, tour the island with your National Parks and Wildlife Service Ranger, visit the island’s operating lighthouse and discover 125 years of lighthouse history. Enjoy majestic humpback whales performing acrobatics in the surrounding waters, relax taking in the endless coastal views and spend your evenings watching colourful sunsets, endless stars and little penguins coming to shore.

The island was known as Baranguba by Aboriginal people.  Its fertile hunting grounds and archaeological sites indicate the area has had continuing cultural significance for thousands of years. Local people maintain this connection today. Montague was first operated as a lighthouse in the late 1800’s and, after more than 125 years is still operating today. Overnight visitation to the island has been restricted for many years. Montague Island overnight tours provide the exclusive opportunity to stay in the middle of a nature reserve and explore this special place. This program is operated by Conservation Volunteers Australia and NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service.

This multi award winning eco-tour experience is truly unforgettable. Visitors to Montague Island Nature Reserve support crucial wildlife conservation and research projects.

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There are a number of great ways you can experience Montague Island.

Departure Dates

Tasmania Experience

This one week experience takes you through some of the most spectacular natural areas in Tasmania.  Explore Cradle Mountain and  Freycinet National Parks, stroll along beautiful white beaches, walk to cascading waterfalls and experience close encounters with wildlife.  Along the way help make a difference to Liffey Reserve an area of high conservation value protecting threatened species in the World Heritage Tasmanian Wilderness and, assist with penguin surveys along the East Coast. The Tasmania Experience is a remarkable journey featuring iconic areas, while also getting you off the usual tourist trail and into exclusive areas seen by few.

Departure Dates

Conservation Volunteers – Conservation Breaks

A Conservation Break is a unique volunteer holiday. Starting from $208 for a 4 night mini-break, the program includes all meals, accommodation and project-related travel, departing from Conservation Volunteer network of offices across Australia and New Zealand. Conservation Breaks run every week of the year, and each week the project activities and locations change.

Pelican Lagoon – Kangaroo Island

Help researchers build and maintain facilities and monitor wild echidnas, goannas or Little Penguins. Learn about native animals and "alternative" sustainable living in this almost pristine bushland habitat. $350 project contribution includes Sealink coach and ferry travel between Adelaide and the island.
Dates: 1 to 5 December 2008

Hunua Park – Auckland, New Zealand

Restore the Hunua Ranges. Join a team working on ecological restoration projects in the Mangatawhiri Valley. Projects include checking bait lines in dense bush and track work to keep access to the interior open. Also available is a visit to the nearby Kokako recovery project to assist with bait line checking with the Kokako recovery team. The project may also involve Dotterel habitat restoration on shell banks at Duder Regional Park. Accommodation is provided in the former ranger`s house near the Mangatawhiri Dam.
Dates: 8 to 12 December 2008

Yollinko Wetlands, Geelong VIC

Situated on the picturesque Barwon River, within 5kms of Geelong`s CBD, the Yollinko Wetlands provide significant habitat for native vegetation and wildlife. The team will assist in removing invasive weeds and maintaining the quality of the wetland environment.
Dates: 15 to 19 December 2008

Hay Point Revitilisation

Join us for an exciting project at the Hay Point Coal Terminal! See the inner workings of the coal export industry as you work! This project is aiming to rehabilitate all the unused land within and around the export terminal through lots and lots of tree planting! This project is located on the foreshore of Hay Point with magnificent views of the Hay Point beaches and beyond. 

Dates: 5 to 9 January 2009 & 2 to 6 February 2009   

Coomonderry Swamp, Seven Mile Beach National Park 

Coomonderry Swamp, in Seven Mile Beach National Park, is the largest freshwater on the NSW south coast and supports a diverse range of arboreal mammals, migratory birds, reptiles and frog species. Join volunteers to carry out water quality monitoring, tree planting, bush regeneration, seed collection and propagation, vegetation and photo monitoring. 

Dates: 14 to 15 January 2009 & 11 to 12 February 2009

Tom Thumb Lagoon, Wollongong

Tom Thumb Lagoon Wetland is an endangered ecological community in the heart of Wollongong. Join volunteers to carry out water quality monitoring, tree planting, bush regeneration, seed collection & propagation and vegetation & photo monitoring. This project runs from 6:50am until 1:50pm and volunteers must make their own way to Tom Thumb Lagoon Wetland. 

Dates:26 to 27 January 2009 & 9 to 10 February 2009 

 

Conservation Volunteers – World Conservation

About World Conservation

World Conservation Programs give you the opportunity to volunteer overseas with a local conservation organisation. You will be volunteering on conservation and cultural projects in an environment quite unlike anything in Australia. Projects run for between two to five weeks and with most projects you will be part of a team of volunteers.

Destinations include USA, Asia, Europe, Central America, South America & Africa.

The program price includes meals accommodation, project related transport, program management fee, development fee, and part of the program price also includes contribution towards conservation programs here in Australia.

The program price does not include, airfares, travel and medical insurance, visas, vaccination related costs, airline and departure taxes, or passport related costs.

Help to protect sea turtles in Costa Rica

 

Project activities on this long running leatherback nesting project involves night patrols and day hatchery shifts.  There are generally multiple nightly patrols between 8pm and 4am and each patrol is led by an experienced Research Assistant as the group walks multiple laps of the 1.3km long beach searching for nesting females.

Once a turtle is encountered on a night patrol, the volunteers work directly with the turtle taking carapace (shell) and nest dimension measurements, collecting eggs and assisting the leader tag the flippers of the turtle. The collected eggs are either left natural, relocated to a safer place on the beach or taken to the hatchery where the volunteers will build a new nest to specification and transplant the eggs. The number of eggs, nest location and turtle identification information (tag numbers) are then recorded by the hatchery attendant for further data analysis including hatchling survival rate.

Playa Langosta is a significant nesting beach in Parque Nacional Las Baulas (the Leatherback National Park) and together with data from nearby Playa Grande, the projects help to determine the rate of decline of this species in this important fishing region of Central America. Green and Olive ridley sea turtles also nest at Playa Langosta but in smaller numbers.

Playa Langosta (Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica)

Program dates: Monday 1st December - Saturday 13th December (12nights/13days)

Program Price: $1,680 includes

• One night Backapcker accommodation on arrival
• Briefing and information kit
• Bus transfers to the project site
• Accommodation full duration of the program
• Meals, breakfast, lunch, tea daily
• Program fee does not include international airfares, visas, passport    .. costs, or travel insurance.

South Africa

Let your heart beat to drums of Africa, and immerse yourself in the land famous for its exotic wildlife, ancient cultures, and pristine landscapes. As part of a team of volunteers you will be given a unique opportunity to experience this amazing country like no other tourist. You will be involved in critical research in one of the most spectacular locations on the planet, Greater Kruger National Park.  Staying at Balule Game Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park volunteers will be involved in the monitoring of African game and vegetation species in a typical “Big Five” environment.  The “Big Five” consists of lion, rhino, leopard, elephant and buffalo and you could see them all.

Traditionally the reserve has been subject to a “hands off policy” of management and therefore monitoring is essential to determine trends in population, and the relative effects on all species BIG and small.  

A typical day on the project will consist of volunteers undertaking two game drives, one in the early morning, the other in late afternoon. Game counting is time consuming and requires late nights and early mornings. Therefore, the schedule will be rotated with every person getting the opportunity to participate in morning and evening game counts, as well as the routine camp duties.  Volunteers will also assist in compiling a database of information through a consistent and standardised data capture process.  

The accommodation is at ‘Paradise Camp’ which is located on a small hill, approximately 700m from the banks of the Olifants River. The accommodation consists of five double chalets, of wooden construction, elevated above ground. The chalets can accommodate a maximum of 10 people. The accommodation is in an isolated location and is only used by research staff or special project groups. Amenities are minimal, but provide for a very raw and authentic wilderness experience.

Program Date: Sunday 1st February - Saturday 14th February

Program Price: AUD$2,000

Program price covers all costs relating to:

• Meals
• accommodation
• project related transport for 14 days and 13 Nights.
• Merchandise: Mosquito net, wide brimmed hat, gloves, safety glasses.
• 12 Month Membership Conservation Volunteers Australia.
• CVA expenses relating to Team Liaison Officer, program marketing, and administration fees.

Program price does not include international airfares, travel insurance, or visas.

It’s easy to get involved simply:

• Email info@conservationvolunteers.com.au or freecall 1800 032 501
• You can also read voluteer stories
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