Greece, turtle volunteering for families

Planet

By joining this trip you will be directly helping the endangered turtles by helping to rescue hatchlings, protect their environment and monitor their behaviour and welfare. The project works closely with the local community and visitors to the island on the importance of protecting sea turtles and conserving these endangered turtle species. You will learn about and take part in the amazing work being done to help save the sea turtles of Greece from extinction and help protect coastal ecosystems that are so important for the planet.

Every season the conservation team have helped thousands of hatchlings to safely reach the sea and this project is part of this vital work. The team also conduct scientific research on the reproductive cycles of the turtles and their natural coastal habitat, this being done in collaboration with local and national authorities. The team’s research helps guide best conservation practice and identifies threats facing loggerhead turtles on Kefalonia. This project will help contribute to this important research.

The island of Kefalonia is susceptible to plastic pollution and waste which affects turtles, sea birds and many other marine and terrestrial species. The team carry out regular beach and coastal clean-ups which you will help with.

While our volunteers and customers are overseas, we identify and encourage simple steps to minimise their impact on the local environment and suggest ways they can reduce their carbon emissions.

People

By joining this project you are helping to provide employment for local Greek staff year-round as a research base. While volunteers are in-country, we encourage them to buy locally and support local businesses and locally owned restaurants. Volunteers are also able to assist with a community projects whereby children from the local community can learn about environmental issues.

Volunteers join the project and will help to educate locals and tourists on the best way to interact with turtles and help to educate them on the problems of feeding turtles unhealthy fatty fish snacks, rather than allowing the turtles in the harbour to find their own food. This will help to improve the health of the turtles.

The project studies the Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows and the sand dunes along south-east Kefalonia, categorised as vulnerable on the Red List.
Seagrass meadows are a larger carbon sink than the rainforest and play a critical role in mitigating climate change. They form an important ecosystem, providing vital habitats and nursery grounds for turtles, fish and lots of other marine life and organisms. This research will allow the local environment agency to have a greater understanding of the ecosystem in order to give it the correct protection.

Protecting the environment through beach clean ups is a key aspect of their project. The team also act as positive role models to tourists at popular tourist resorts to help encourage others to take their rubbish home with them and not leave it on the beach, where it becomes a hazard for turtles and pollutes the environment.

The team and volunteers are highly regarded by the local people since they are helping to conserve the environment and protect the turtles which are a tourist attraction, bringing in tourist income to the local community.

Social responsibility: Before volunteers travel we provide them with a detailed volunteering guide on the area they will be visiting. We try to educate and encourage our volunteers to understand and respect the local population and way of life, and to protect the environment they will be staying.

Economic responsibility: For over 15 years we have been providing volunteers to support charitable projects around the world to fulfil their aims. A UK charity was launched to build on this success by providing financial assistance to overseas causes as well. The organisations we work with are often struggling to fund the invaluable work they are doing so every penny raised makes a real difference.