Seabirds conservation

Code: eadd5206-8722-11eb-9ba3-fa163ef8d720 Copied

Cape Verde Youth activities Environment Youth activities Environment +1 Permanent

About the project

📝 Detailed information

🏢 About the local organisation

The missions of our partner are the protection and conservation of wildlife and fragile ecosystems of Sal Island and Cabo Verde. Raising awareness in the community through educational programs, environmental activities and capacity building; working with public and private stakeholders to move towards a more sustainable development; working directly with the tourism industry to reduce their impact on the environment; creating new opportunities in the local community that involve the environment… These are some of their missions.

💼 What the programme involves

During the programme, volunteers will work with the different species of seabirds and the osprey, depending on the period of the year. Under the supervision of the coordinators, volunteers will take part in different activities:

Monitoring and following the colonies;
Ringing of adults and chicks;
Monthly census;
Deployment of GPS and geolocators devices in adults during different stages of the reproductive period to study feeding and migration areas;
Help in the collection of blood, fat, faeces, feathers, and diet samples from adults and chicks;
Deployment of camera traps to better understand the threats the different colonies face.

This is a unique experience where you will learn about seabird conservation techniques and work side by side with experienced conservationists, while enjoying an amazing landscape. You will also work with threatened species that can only be seen in very few places and will have the opportunity to make a real difference to their survival in Sal Island.

🏠 Accommodation on site

Volunteers are based in a shared apartment in Santa Maria with other volunteers and project staff. You will be sharing a bedroom with one or two more volunteers.

🍲 Food

Meals are not provided. Food is not cheap here, but you will be able to save some money by doing communal cooking.

📍 About the location

Sal Island belongs to Cabo Verde, an independent republic since 1975, ex colony of Portugal. It is one of the most stable democracies of Africa and also one of the safest countries. The official language is Portuguese although a local Creole is widely spoken. Sal Island is the main touristic destination of the archipelago, and the tourism is concentrated in Santa Maria (in the south of the island), where the project is based.

The tourism industry is growing very fast. This has a positive influence on the local economy, but a negative impact on the environment. The biggest problem is the nonexistence of waste management.

The education rate is high, being public and widely spread among all the community. However, the quality of education is not so good, even more in nature and environmental issues.

🎒 Leisure activities

Volunteers work five days each week and will have 2 days off to explore and enjoy the island.

As a very touristic destination, Sal Island presents some different options: any kind of water sports with international renown for kite-surfing and surfing. Diving and snorkeling are also very present.

Visits around the island to spots of interest and to other communities, nature excursions such as easy trekking, shark watching, sailing trips and/or bird watching.

The association has agreements with several companies (surfing, diving and nature excursions) that apply very good discounts to all the volunteers.

⚠️ Requirements

Required:

Desire to make a difference in conservation;
At least 18 and under 45 years old;
Must understand spoken English and/or Portuguese;
Very good level of physical fitness;
High level of energy and flexibility;
Able to cope with physically challenging conditions (long walks, early mornings, hot weather, insects);
Must be very comfortable around steep cliffs and mountains;
Must be comfortable handling blood and diet samples as part of the fieldwork;
Ability to work and live with people of different backgrounds and nationalities.

Desired:

Good swimming skills (preferably in the ocean);
User knowledge of working with databases in Excel.

ℹ️ Additional information

Volunteer contributions cover accommodation and utilities such as water and electricity. Volunteer contributions also provide critical funds needed to support basic but essential needs of the project, allowing us to monitor all the colonies with higher regularity, and ultimately, protect more seabirds.

The price is 320€ for one week, 420€ for two weeks and 520€ for three weeks. For each additional week, the price is 50€.

We strongly recommend a stay of at least 3 weeks, but the minimum stay is of 1 week.

At your arrival, you will be required to pay a €100 refundable security deposit against loss or damage of project equipment, and you should bring sufficient funds for any other activities that you would like to do. Once a volunteering period has been agreed, you will be asked to pay via bank transfer 100€ of your fees in advance. This payment will ensure that your place is booked as we have limited spaces and the demand is big. The payment will not be refunded if you cancel your volunteering – unless the cancellation is due to travel bans and/or flight restrictions, as a result of the pandemic. If once you arrive at the project you decide to leave before the agreed date, your total contribution will not be refunded (this does not apply for the refundable security deposit, which will be refunded).

Volunteers are welcomed from the 11th of January until the 15th of December.

Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.