Change by Doing Explore the world of volunteering and service

Photo: Biosphere Expeditions

Remember Career Day in school, when a few fathers and mothers would come to your class and talk about what they did for a living? “Hi kids, I’m a firefighter” “My work as a college professor is very rewarding” “You, too, could be a CPA if you study hard and stay in school” (Never did we get an astronaut in Mrs. Spencer’s class—it was the only thing I really wanted to hear about…though firefighter–at the time, fireman–was pretty cool too).

In the realm of responsible travel, you can now check out conservation and volunteer research holidays with Taster Days from Biosphere Expeditions. One roadblock for many people when they are first toying with the idea of a service travel vacation, is how much work it will entail, and whether they really want to give up valuable vacation time. (It is rarely a problem AFTER someone does it the first time. Volunteer vacationers have a remarkable recidivism rate.) Now you can try it on for size. Spend a day in the field with Biosphere Expeditions to get hands-on knowledge of what it is like assisting research scientists delving into wildlife and conservation issues. You may be setting camera traps, finessing the telemetry tracking systems, manning the GPS, collecting data on flora and fauna, and reading animal tracks.

The Taster Days are coming up in the UK on June 26 and July 17—there are also Taster Days in Germany, Finland, and Australia. The majority of the fee (about US$100 for a full day, 9-5) is applied to the cost of a full conservation trip should you choose to go whole hog. As their catchphrase so aptly says, “You won’t know until you try.”