THE HIGHLANDS OF ICELAND - THE FAMOUS KJÖLUR ROAD
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About the project
THE HIGHLANDS OF ICELAND - THE FAMOUS KJÖLUR ROAD
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
SEEDS Iceland was founded in 2005 as a non-governmental, non-profit volunteer organisation with international scope. Our main activities relate to the promotion of environmental protection and awareness, intercultural understanding and peace, through voluntary work on social, cultural and environmental projects in Iceland. We aim to empower, inform and expand the horizons of people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds, to inform and share with them about the world in which we live and to take an active role in its future development. SEEDS provides opportunities to live, learn, understand and experience, while sharing and cooperating with others from different cultures and backgrounds.
💼 What the programme involves
SEEDS volunteers will support this project for the thirteenth year in a row. We started cooperation in 2009 and the results have been very positive. The hosts are a group of locals developing the area with alternative tourism services, including running a series of huts in this isolated area in the highlands and offering services to visitors and hikers. In this camp SEEDS volunteers will work on diverse environmental outdoor tasks, including maintenance and development of walking paths and landscaping around the huts in the area. Volunteers will also help with the revegetation in some areas around, clearing litter on the walking paths, and assisting with general maintenance and preparations within the area before summer. As the landscape is rough, the work can be physically demanding and might require a good physical condition. No previous experience is needed. As it is outdoors work, volunteers shall be ready to adapt and be flexible with the working and free-time schedule, as depending on the -changeable- weather, we may not be able to perform some of the tasks or activities planned. Volunteers need to be prepared for working and walking in a wild landscape in one of the most isolated areas of Iceland. Be prepared to experience all kinds of weather and bring warm winter clothes as the tasks take place outside and it can get very cold in the highlands. Bring warm under-layers, waterproofs, walking shoes/boots, a good sleeping bag, hat scarves and gloves.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Volunteers will be hosted in a local mountain hut, sleeping in shared rooms on mattresses on the floor. Please bring your own sleeping bag. The facilities are very basic and volunteers are expected to show consideration for their companions.
🍲 Food
Volunteers will receive food ingredients and will be in charge of cooking and cleaning. Do not forget to bring some traditional/typical food, drinks, music and recipes from your country for the international evening.
📍 About the location
The Icelandic highlands, or “the interior”, are a true pearl to nature lovers and outdoor people. It is accessible by 4WD cars only and most routes involve crossing rivers where there are no bridges. If you really want to get away from it all, the interior of Iceland is like nothing you have ever experienced. The mountainous centre of the island, with its rocky deserts, craggy mountain peaks, ice caps, volcanoes, hidden valleys and hot springs, is an awesome and untouched wilderness. The interior was almost totally inaccessible until recently. However, outlaws managed to hide out for years at a time in the highlands, rustling sheep and keeping away from law-abiding citizens. Folklore stories tell of both natural and supernatural beings that lay in wait for unwary highland travellers. Travellers going between the north and south of Iceland sometimes had to cross the highlands. To get to the assembly of Alþingi (parliament) each summer, delegates had to ride from every corner of the country to Þingvellir in the Southwest. Volunteers will be staying close to the glacier Hofsjökull, near the rivers Hvítá and Þjórsá. The mountains in the area that reach up to 1500 m were formed during a volcanic eruption in the later part of the ice age. The area is still dynamic and great geothermal activity takes place in the surroundings. The environment is very diverse, both in shape and colour. The mountains are weathered and have very little continuous growth, as the forces of nature, like glaciers, water flow, ice bursts etc. have been fast working in these mountain highlands.
Closest international Airport: Keflavík/Reykjavík (KEF). Bus station: Central Reykjavík (BSÍ).
🎒 Leisure activities
The location of the camp is remote and very isolated. Free time activities are mostly hiking and trekking in the area as there is no transportation available, nor the possibility to organise transport to different sites.
⚠️ Requirements
English will be the official language of the camp; high proficiency is not required.
🤝 Meeting point
Meeting & Departure time will be at 7:00 am in the morning on 22 August, at SEEDS’ office in Reykjavík. We will return to Reykjavík in the evening of 4 September.
ℹ️ Additional information
Participation fee EUR 350 (Euros). Please note that the fee can either be transferred in advance via bank transfer, or paid for on arrival. The fee includes transportation from the meeting point to the campsite & back (on the first and last day of the camp)
Volunteers need to be prepared for physical, demanding work. Weather is unpredictable and it can be very cold or rainy in the highlands. We recommend bringing good walking shoes/boots, warm/winter and/or waterproof clothes (underlayers, overcoats, scarves, gloves and hats) as most of the tasks and activities take place outside.
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📷 Project photos
📅 Available sessions
108
25/08/2018 → 08/09/2018
SEEDS 031.
07/06/2020 → 19/06/2020
SEEDS 033.
08/06/2020 → 22/06/2020
SEEDS 084.
24/08/2020 → 07/09/2020
SEEDS 017
02/06/2021 → 15/06/2021
SEEDS 044.
10/06/2019 → 24/06/2019
SEEDS 018
06/06/2021 → 19/06/2021
SEEDS 059
22/08/2021 → 04/09/2021
SEEDS 038.
02/06/2019 → 14/06/2019
SEEDS 108.
25/08/2018 → 08/09/2018
SEEDS 076.
26/08/2019 → 09/09/2019
SEEDS 020
12/06/2022 → 25/06/2022
SEEDS 028
10/07/2022 → 24/07/2022
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–99 years old
Solidarity donation
350.00 EUR
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
Reykjavík, Iceland
Iceland
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Iceland Krona (ISK / kr)
Exchange rate
1 ISK = 0.007321 EUR
Rate as of 31/05/2026
Timezone
Greenwich Mean Time
Local time: 22:16 (12/11/2026)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🏠 Accommodation
🗣️ Languages spoken