Sea Turtle and Wildlife Conservation Assistant

If you have a strong interest in marine life conservation, and you want an adventurous experience outdoors, this is the project for you. You’ll spend your days patrolling black sand beaches, searching for turtle nests, and carefully transporting eggs to more protected areas. You’ll release hatchlings, and watch them crawl over the sand to the ocean. You’ll sail slowly around a lagoon, taking notes about the different animals and birds you see for scientists.  

The work we do here is important, and you’ll become part of ongoing efforts to protect marine and coastal life. You’ll do plenty of hands-on work outdoors, and learn a lot from our conservation experts. This is really useful if you’re planning on pursuing a career in wildlife conservation someday. It’s also a good fit if you’re passionate about the environment and actively want to help. 

You’ll also have the chance to hone personal skills like communication and adapting to a different environment. You can apply these skills to any career you pursue. 

You don’t need previous experience to join. You’ll be supervised by experts, and Projects Abroad staff are always available to provide guidance and advice.

Our Sea Turtle Conservation Project runs year-round, so you can join whenever it suits your schedule. The minimum duration is one week, but we recommend staying longer to experience as much as possible.

Your project will be divided into several areas:

Search for and move turtle nests to a protected area

Coastal erosion and poaching are currently the biggest threats facing turtles today. Once a turtle has laid eggs, poachers dig up the eggs to sell at local markets. To protect the nests, we do beach patrols every night. 

When we find a nest, we move it to a safe location at the ecological centre we work with. This is a protected area, and the eggs incubate in peace here. Once the eggs hatch, we release hatchlings into the ocean. 

Ensure turtles tanks are clean and maintained

The ecological centre we work with has permission from the government to keep turtles, especially those who have been injured and cannot be released back into the wild. They need your help to look after all the turtles living here. You’ll help clean the tanks and make sure turtles are fed and cared for. Each turtle is also weighed and measured once a month. 

Biodiversity studies

Every week, you’ll spend time in the Palo Verde estuary and El Chupadero lagoon. Here, you’ll monitor the presence and condition of the local wildlife. We do this in various ways. We:  

• Maintain a register through direct observation and trap cameras for night surveillance
• Monitor and collect data on the state of nearby mangrove forests
• Grow mangrove seedlings in a greenhouse
• Reforest areas where the mangrove forest has been damaged or removed

Working with mangroves is especially important because they: 

• Provide a habitat for marine life
• Protect coastlines from soil erosion
• Help in the fight against climate change

 We need your help to plant as many as possible! 

Educational and environmental outreaches

Education is a big part of the conservation work we do in Mexico. We work directly with the ecological centre to raise awareness in local communities. We emphasize the importance of looking after the environment and animals and preserving them for future generations. You’ll help us with this work by visiting schools and running awareness campaigns in nearby communities. 

Community beach clean-ups

Reducing litter in our oceans is vital for keeping marine life safe. Rubbish, particularly non-biodegradable plastic, is hazardous. The sea turtles that nest here can get caught in the discarded plastic. Or, they may mistake it for food, which can hurt and even kill them. You’ll participate in regular beach clean-ups to remove as much rubbish as possible. 

Work with crocodiles

You’ll visit La Colorada Crocodile Centre, in Cofradia de Morelos, once a week. Here, you’ll help to clean and maintain the pens and the centre’s facilities. You will also be involved in taking biometric data and marking the crocodiles in nearby lagoons.

You’ll work Monday through Friday, for about five hours a day.

Time on this project is split between work at the ecological centre, on the beach, and a nearby lagoon. At the ecological centre, you’ll focus on working with turtles, and do things like: 

• Monitor nests in a protected corral
• Clean adult turtles and ensure they are well-fed and measured and weighed regularly.
• Patrol at night to search for new nests (you can expect to work on rotation for night patrols) 

You’ll work at the crocodile centre once a week, on a Thursday. Here, you’ll collect biometric data and mark the crocodiles in nearby lagoons to track local populations.

There is plenty of time to relax. This is especially true during the hottest part of the day when we stop working because of the heat from the midday sun.

During the hours you aren’t working, and over the weekends, you can explore and socialize with other volunteers. Be sure to enjoy the famous open-air palapa covered seafood restaurants around town!  

With beautiful beaches, arresting art galleries, and buzzing restaurants, there’s something for everyone in Mexico. You’ll have plenty to do during your free time on your project in this dynamic country.

There’s something captivating about touring through old buildings. If you’re into neo-gothic architecture, treat yourself to a trip to the Templo Expiatorio del Santisimo Sacramento. It’s a work of art with its ornate steeples and glowing stained glass windows.

There are also plenty of museums, giving you the chance to immerse yourself in the country’s rich history. For something different, you can spend the day appreciating the wildlife and lush vegetation of Las Peñas Ecological Park.

You can’t take a trip to Mexico without tasting authentic Mexican cuisine. You can spend an evening enjoying pozole or tamales at a local restaurant and watching the vivid orange-red sun melt into the horizon.

We have a host of different projects in Mexico so there’ll likely be lots of other volunteers in the area during your trip. So you can choose to travel and explore in a group or on your own.