About the Program
Million years ago, turtles were already roaming and thriving in the oceans. At that time, they had little to fear from getting caught in nets set by fishers, or to lose their nesting beaches due to a raising tourism infrastructure or the plundering of their nests for egg consumption. Today, this led to a decrease of the some turtle species or even to their extinction - also in Bali. In 2006 the center opened in order to give them a last chance in being protected from the illegal trade and tourism and getting out in the ocean after recovering. Therefore small or injured turtles are raised in salty-water pools until they finally can be exposed to the ocean again. The Centre is an educational experience, not only for university students and visiting school children, but also for everyone involved.
Social culture visa information
To participate in our program as a volunteer in Indonesia, you must obtain a social culture visa. This visa is issued to applicants who are going to Indonesia for a social/cultural visit, for example, visiting relatives or friends who live in Indonesia; visiting social organizations with the same type of activities; for exchange visits between educational institutions, carrying out research, and attending training program in Indonesia. Social-culture visa holders are not allowed to receive any salary from the visit they do. You have to apply before your arrival in Bali at the Indonesian embassy in your home country, to be able to volunteer or do an internship legally; you do need the Social-Culture Visa. Any other visa type is not sufficient.
Time of application: 2-3 weeks. The visa application process takes some time and due to other reasons (Indonesian holidays or strike of post employees for example) the process can be delayed. Therefore, we recommend starting the application process the latest around 4 weeks prior your arrival in Indonesia.
- Validity: 60 days after arrival
- Extension: can be extended up to 2 times every 60 days
- Costs: 217 Euro
- Cost of extension in Bali: starting from 2,700,000 IDR via private agency, 2,000,000 IDR non-agency assistance extension
This guideline helps you through the visa application. However, we highly suggest you to re-check the information and visit the Indonesian Embassy’s website of your capital or call them directly.
Average Living expenses in Bali
Indonesia is considered to be really cheap to live in. This is something you will find out quickly after your arrival in Bali. Here you will see with which additional costs you have to plan during your time in Bali.
Food: The amount of money you will spend on food depends on your eating habits. If you eat at a local warung you will spend around 2€/2.20US$ for a proper meal with drink. But if you prefer to eat western food you will spend a lot more (at least 5€/5.35US$ but probably even more).
Laundry: In our accommodation you won’t have laundry facilities. So you have to bring your laundry to a laundry service somewhere around your living area. Average laundry costs are around 0.50-1€/$ for one kilogram of laundry.
Phone Credit: In all our accommodations you will find wifi. Therefore 2GB mobile data plus some credit for calling your friends should be enough per month. This will cost you around 5€/5.25$.
Scooter Rental + Petrol: Renting a scooter will cost around 65€/70$ per month. Petrol is quite cheap in Indonesia and 1 liter will be around 0.70€/$. In practice this means, that you won't need more than 6 €/$ per week for petrol unless you intend to to a bike trip around the island.
Trips: How much money you want to spend for trips to explore Bali is eventually up to you. You can minimize expenses if you spend a bit more time organizing as much as you can by yourself instead of using a travel agent or trip packages.
