Biosphere Expeditions, a volunteer wildlife conservation organization, offers new volunteer opportunities in 2012, including wildlife conservation in Dubai and one-day scientific work in U.S. national parks.
The Sampler Days packages are one day excursions that give volunteers a taste of what its like to assist scientists with wildlife research and conservation. The Sampler Days will take part in Minnewaska State Park in New York, Lory State Park in Colorado and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in California. Volunteers will work alongside park rangers, expedition leaders, and fellow volunteers.
Or do you want to travel a little further from home? Biosphere Expeditions offers volunteer trips to Dubai, Malaysia and Peru.
Volunteers will monitor wildlife like the Arabian oryx, Gordon's wildcat, and other desert species as part of a conservation initiative at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. Volunteers will stay in a comfortable field camp and travel to the site by Land Rover and on foot. The trip is from January 15-23 and costs $1,490 per person.
Five scuba diving vacationers will travel to Tioman, a Malaysian island, and assist local researchers in their studies of the coral reefs, sharks, dolphins and turtles. The first five days of the expedition are spent learning the Reef Check research techniques while staying at a beach chalet resort on Tioman Island. Next, volunteers move to a 45-foot sloop research yaht, which will take them to remote areas of the marine park. The expedition includes training as a Reef Check EcoDiver; with this qualification volunteers are eligible to apply for PADI or NAUI Reef Check Speciality Course certification after the expedition. Volunteers must be fully qualified divers. Trip dates are from March 18-30 and April 1-13, and costs $2,140 per person.
For one week visit the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Work in a small team to survey cats, primates and other species. Based at a comfortable jungle lodge, volunteers spend their days working on foot in the largest trail grid in the entire Amazon, and in canoes on natural waterways through the jungle. The trip dates are from August 19-25 and from August 26 to September 1. The trip costs $1,690 per person.
Visit www.biosphere-expeditions.org