‘Tis the season for spring breaks, planning summer vacations and as the weather begins to warm up, many people will be crafting their next getaway. Particularly in American culture, vacations are synonymous with relaxation and rest from grueling everyday habitual tasks. For others it a way to just change the scenery or do something less mundane. For those whom inspire change but desire to also make a difference, an alternative exists: the volunteer vacation.

Various agencies and organizations offer sojourns where willing volunteers spend vacation time working in such places as developing communities, organic farms, and the like in exchange for housing, meals (usually), the opportunity to meet people from around the world, and the chance to give back to a community who benefits from your efforts. One international non-profit organization, Biosphere Expeditions, provides conservations holidays for environmental volunteers around the world; taking the volunteer vacation a bit further by offering individuals the opportunity to work alongside scientists and researchers on wildlife and environmental projects for one or two weeks.

Founded in 1999 by Dr. Matthias Hammer, Biosphere Expeditions’ mission is to contribute to the caretaking and conservation of the Earth’s creatures and resources, as well as to provide volunteers with incredible opportunities to work alongside environmental scientists. At the same time, they also endeavor to create unique and fun life experiences, in addition to providing individuals with a sense of satisfaction and goodwill in having participated in something beneficial for the planet.

Dr. Hammer is no stranger to conservation expeditions and adventure travel. Born in Germany, he served in the German Army before moving to the UK to attend university. There, he was continuously active in organizing mountaineering, climbing, and conservation expeditions. Among his athletic prowess are such activities and qualifications as ski instructor, mountain leader, dive-master, wilderness medical officer, survival skills instructor, rower, marathon runner, and Ironman tri-athlete.

Described as an “in the shower idea”, Dr. Hammer initially began Biosphere Expeditions in the UK after someone proposed the idea that he "take people on expedition with you". “It was a moment of revelation,” says Dr. Hammer. “I started looking at volunteering and decided to set up my own, volunteer conservation organization.” After a couple of years setting up the organization and recruiting the first expedition team, Biosphere Expeditions launched its first expedition in 2001, The group traveled to Poland studying wolves in the Carpathian Mountains, which was later influential in obtaining a ban on wolf hunting there.

With the addition of several more expeditions, the media began to take notice, the organization began winning awards, and the Biosphere Expeditions operation quickly took off. An office opened in Germany in 2002, France in 2004, North America in 2006, and Australia in 2008.

What makes Biosphere Expeditions stand out from other volunteer organizations is that they carefully select their projects and choose those that make a significant conservation impact. The projects are always run by local scientists and Biosphere Expeditions gets actively involved by providing an expedition leader for every project, who stays with the team through the duration of the expedition; working alongside volunteers and making sure the project runs safely and smoothly. The organization emphasizes the importance of the volunteer in these projects, for it’s the volunteer’s work that makes the research possible. “We’re not a travel agency,” says Dr. Hammer. “What we do is not contrived. Biosphere’s slogan is ‘Experience conservation in action’. We do go to interview locals about snow leopards; we do go with bush trackers to track cheetahs. We are integrated into the local community.” Teams are kept to a small size, between 10 and 12 people, in order to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of research activity.

There are three types of expedition experiences: the two-week expedition, the one-week project, and the single-day taster days:

The two-week expeditions last between 12 and 14 days and provide a true wildlife and conservation experience working out in the field with local scientists and people.

The one-week projects are similar in nature to the two-week expeditions, but only last seven days.

If you aren’t sure if an expedition is for you, the taster days are a way to get an idea of the nature of a wildlife and conservation research project without the full commitment to an expedition.

Participants go to a national or state park or wildlife refuge where there are Biosphere Expedition offices and become part of a small team led by an expedition leader, learning wildlife and conservation expedition skills such as working with maps, GPS, and compass; reading animal tracks; collecting animal data; and using wildlife camera traps. Expeditions are all led with English as the primary language, except taster days, which are led in the language of the country hosting the taster day. In addition, Biosphere Expeditions holds several events throughout the year, serving as opportunities for people to talk with staff and have them answer questions in person.

There are no age limits for participation in the expeditions, and there are no skill or fitness level requirements; projects are open to all. It may be surprising to many people that such scientific research projects can utilize the assistance of ordinary people without requiring special skills, but Biosphere Expeditions emphasizes the critical importance of laypeople on such projects. A study in Cumbrae, Scotland on the study of laypeople’s labor on scientific data collection proved that value: “Much of this type of research is labor-intensive but technically straight-forward and volunteers could make significant contributions to it in the future…(data) generated from them (i.e. volunteers) were almost identical to those produced…by an experienced scientist.”

The study goes on to say: “It should be noted that there are also educational benefits from the involvement of volunteers in scientific projects… it is a means of both raising people’s feelings of responsibility towards the environment and increasing their knowledge of environmental issues. An additional benefit is that volunteers may bring ‘new’ skills, experience, insights and enthusiasm to projects, and have the potential, therefore, of contributing significantly more to scientific investigations than simply providing a workforce to collect data.” (J. Foster-Smith and S.M. Evans. ‘The Value of Marine Ecological Data Collected by Volunteers.’ Biological Conservation Vol. 113, 2003, pg.119-213).

Biosphere Expeditions makes a deliberate effort to be aware of their environmental impact of their expeditions. An environmental assessment is always part of the expedition process, which includes information on what an individual can do to minimize his/her impact, what Biosphere Expeditions intends to do, and how they can help local partners and people. They want to emphasize that flying, although impactful on global warming, isn’t something that people should cut down on to reduce their carbon impact, and cutting household emissions should be eliminated first well before travel reduction.

“The argument that we shouldn’t fly is ludicrous; consider the benefits tourism brings to areas,” says Dr. Hammer. “In many countries, the only thing keeping the chainsaws from the rainforests is people going to visit it. You cut this off...it’s going to be made into matchsticks. But be sure you go with a responsible operator that puts back benefits into the local community.”

At the end of the project, the volunteer will receive a full, detailed report on all conservation work done, the data collected, and the results. “We always publish an expedition report six to twelve months after an expedition,” says Dr. Hammer. “The report is written by the scientists and includes conservation recommendations and a budget showing how much money we’ve earned from volunteers’ contributions.” He continued to explain that the research findings are published and a review of the expedition will be sent to the volunteer; volunteers are always credited in scientific papers, and are sent copies of any publications that arise out of the volunteer’s work on the project. “We guarantee that at least two-thirds of our expedition contribution income is spent in the country itself.”

Currently, there are five two-week expeditions and three one-week projects open and accepting applications. Several of these expeditions are near capacity, so it is advisable to contact the expedition as soon as possible in regard to availability and sign up:

Two-week expedition locations and months available include: jaguars and pumas in Brazil, May 2010; snow leopard in Altai, June-August 2010; leopards, cheetahs, and caracals in Namibia, September-December 2010; Arabian leopard in Oman, February-March 2011; and coral reef in Honduras, March-April 2011.

One-week project locations and months include: whales and dolphins in the Azores, April-May 2010; coral reef in Musandam, October 2010; and turtles in Western Australia in November 2010.

Here in the USA, Biosphere Expeditions will be appearing at the Overland Expo in Santa Cruz Valley, AZ outside of Tuscon, from April 16 and 18, 2010.

Biosphere Expedition has won many awards. Some of these include:

· First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards, Best Volunteering Organization (UK)

· Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards, Best for Protection of Endangered Species (UK)

· European Outdoor Group Association for Conservation, Conservation Award

· Greenstop.net, Best Practice Award and Top Rating for Environmental Excellence

· BBC Wildlife, Top Ten Conservation Holiday

· National Geographic Adventure, Best for New Trips

· Responsibletravel.com, Top Responsible Holiday

· Travel and Leisure Magazine, Best Save-the-Earth Trip

· Islands Magazine, Best in Sustainable Travel

Biosphere Expeditions continues to provide invaluable opportunities for people to get out into the world and assist scientists in significant research, have amazing travel experiences, and give people a chance to contribute productively and positively to sustainable change and wildlife/environmental conservation. Says Dr. Hammer, “For me to feel I am making a difference in people’s lives and the survival of animals in the field- there really is nothing better.”

For more information, visit www.biosphere-expeditions.org and browse their extensive and thorough website. Biosphere Expeditions can be found on many social media and networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Google Maps. Offices are located in the UK, Germany, France, Australia, and North America. The North American office contact information is:

Biosphere Expeditions North America

PO Box 917750

Longwood, FL 23791 USA

Tel: 800-407-5761 (toll free)

Fax: 800- 407-5766 (toll free)

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.biosphere-expeditions.org

In North America Biosphere Expeditions Inc. is a domestic 501(c)(3)non-profit voluntourism corporation registered in Florida, authentication number N06000004396.

Photos courtesy of Biosphere Expeditions.