Included in the programme fee:

• Accommodation in the volunteer house or with a host family, for the whole placement
• Three meals a day, seven days a week
• Arrival transfer from Jaipur airport or Jaipur railway station, and a drop-off at the end
• Half-day orientation on arrival
• Placement at the shelter, and introductions to the care-takers and the team
• 24-hour in-country support from the Jaipur team
• Comprehensive pre-departure information
• Certificate of participation on request

Not included:

• Flights
• Indian e-Visa and visa fees — there is no visa on arrival, so apply well ahead
• Vaccinations
• Travel and medical insurance, which is mandatory. It can be bought through us at extra cost, or bring your own and send us a copy
• Local transport to and from the placement, and a local SIM card
• Personal spending and weekend travel

The price shown already includes your application fee – there is nothing further to pay us on arrival. Payment can be split into interest-free instalments, with the balance due 45 days before you start.

Arrival transfer is included, and unusually, it works from the railway station as well as the airport.

Most volunteers are met at Jaipur International Airport (JAI) by a member of the local team. But Jaipur has few direct international routes, so plenty of people fly into Delhi and take the train across — around five hours, and a good introduction to the country. If that is your plan, you are met at Jaipur Railway Station instead. Either way, confirm your arrival details with the team in advance so somebody is there.

A drop-off at the end of your placement is arranged too.

You stay either in the volunteer house or with a host family. The team decides which based on availability and what suits you; tell them if you have a preference when you apply.

The volunteer house sits in a lively residential area in the north of Jaipur, close to banks, ATMs, currency exchange, cafes, restaurants and shops. Rooms are shared, dorm style, with bunk beds. There is WiFi, filtered drinking water, geysers for hot water, air coolers, a washing machine and western toilets.

Host families are local Indian households used to hosting volunteers. Rooms are single or dual occupancy, with a maximum of three volunteers to a room, and you share the common areas, WiFi, fridge, cooler, geyser, washing machine and purified water. If you want the deeper cultural experience and do not mind the compromise on independence, ask for this one.

Private room upgrades are available at extra cost in both. The placement is 20 to 30 minutes away, and the team helps you set up Uber and use the local auto-rickshaws.

Three meals a day are included, seven days a week, and all meals are vegetarian — which in Rajasthan is not a limitation so much as the local default.

At the volunteer house: breakfast is self-served and typically bread, jam, butter, porridge, poha, eggs and chai. Lunch and dinner are cooked fresh by cooks who prepare the food at home and deliver it — usually dal, a vegetable dish, rice, roti, yoghurt and often a curry.

With a host family: breakfast is more traditional — poha, paratha, poori-sabji or toast — and lunch and dinner are the same home-cooked vegetarian food the family eats.

Tell the team in advance about allergies or specific dietary needs and they will work around them. Bottled water and anything you buy while out is your own cost.