South American Experience

This tour brings you to Peru and Ecuador in South America! You start your first week in lively Cusco with some one-to-one Spanish lessons in to improve your individual level of knowledge so you can directly apply it on the way! With some lessons in your backpack we then head off to the famous Machu Pichu and on the Salkantay Trek which we will explore during the upcoming week - breath taking all along the way and worth every step going. After coming back from this trek we relax some days on the beaches where you might want to try some surfing, snorkeling or scuba diving. Next stop on our way then is the first volunteer project in the Amazon in Ecuador at an Animal Rescue Center: Here you can help harmed animals to recover in an incredible setting deep in the jungle. The team over there is extremely dedicated to its work and this will truly inspire you. We regularly get incredible feedback on how much this project impressed and lasted on volunteers. It is appreciated a lot as it provides direct and immediate support where it is needed. We stay here for 2 weeks before we then move on to an indigenous community who lets us participate and experience their life in the jungle also making sure to support here in their conservation efforts. It will be interesting for you to see how a community living in this surrounding achieves it to support as much protection of their environment as possible. With this last project successfully finished we fly over to the Galapagos Islands as a final highlight of the tour. The perfect end for all nature-lovers!

A typical day in the Animal Rescue Center starts with a basic breakfast at around 7:30 am. Ca. one hour later you start your day! Tasks can be to prepare the food for the animals or doing other support in the centre that is needed and can change daily. After that the supervisors take you to the rainforest to look for injured animals which need help in the Rescue Center. At lunchtime which is around 1 pm you will get e.g. a soup or Quinoa before you continue your work one hour later. Then you get directly to work with the animals - this might be measuring them, keeping track of their weight and other data the staff needs for keeping informed about the conditions of them. Around 5 pm your day ends and you might want to take relax in the pool, take a walk in this amazing area or take care of the animals. At 6 pm you have a talk with someone of the staff who will give more insight to his work and you end the day with dinner! Within the indigenous community you will, besides supporting their conservation efforts, get to know their traditions and learn some practices they have been doing for generations.