My Nonprofit Reviews

As other volunteers here, I was looking for a true opportunity to assist scientists in their fieldwork while spending my holydays abroad. I am a wildlife lover but also very curious on a scientific level. Unfortunately, my career choices have led me away from these interests and I have always tried to find a way to make up for that.

I was very sceptic at first, having seen many places where volunteers were just sent on car safaris or in petting farms. One day thankfully, I stumbled upon the Biosphere expedition website and after reading many expedition reports and seeing the awards/sponsors, I decided to give it a try. Since that first expedition I have committed to do one expedition each year. Every time i come back to my "normal" life feeling very privileged.

A Biosphere Expedition is not simply another opportunity to give some of your time and money to help a wildlife conservative project and feel good about yourself. It is a unique and amazing experience both on a social and personal level. You get to meet truly interesting volunteers from all around the world, passionate scientists and locals. You find yourself discussing about life (wild or not) late at night around a fire, overseen by thousands of stars in the purest of the night skies. But you will also be exploring remote and truly unique locations, with beautiful landscapes, or sometimes have the privilege of accessing otherwise restricted areas of wonderful natural preserves.

Not only that, but you will also be helping a scientist or a group of scientist in their studies in a very practical and direct manner, somùehow helping to protect the wildlife you respect and admire. Along the way you will learn a little more about the complex ecosystems you will be exploring, learning to decipher the behavior of some truly amazing fauna and sometimes have the chance to get up close with wonderful creatures. Maybe the most important aspect in these studies is the level of trust that is given to the volunteers. You will be lent high quality gear (telemeters, lenses, jeep…) trained on the first day or two, and then after a good breakfast, sent on your own by teams in order to complete the targeted surveys, set up or recovering traps... Of course the participant’s safety is the main concern for the Biosphere’s team and everyone is thoroughly briefed. At the end of the day the data is generally collected and immediately processed by the scientists. Any interesting result will then be debriefed the next days during the dinners. The cooks hired on the expeditions are also always incredible, managing some truly delicious dishes with little kitchenware and sometimes a capricious environment.

Biosphere Expeditions is really well organized with very serious and helpful staff members who love what they do. Each expedition is well prepared and thoroughly described in a specific documentation available on the website or sent to you by email. Regular reports are also sent to everyone you whish to include.

In these expeditions you are really doing something useful and learning a lot while operating in amazing environments.

I am happy and proud to be part of this specific biosphere