from 345€

Outstanding 4.9rating (66)

Short Term - in a self-sustaining Eco Farm

location
1 - 12 weeks  ·  Age 18 - 50+

rating  Outstanding 4.9  · 
  Verified by Volunteer World
  Very high response rate

Highlights

  • Connect to nature becomes easy in our Eco Farm in the middle mountain chain covered by the subtropical Atlantic Forrest and all its biodiversity.
  • Go back the basics, learn about yourself in our community setting far away from stress and axiety.
  • Learn about Permaculture and how to set up your form following the permaculture design principles
  • Learn about agroforestry and how this technique can produce an abundance of food for humans and animals and transform degrated landscape in forrests.
  • Make friends for lifetime. Meet people from Brazil and other volunteers from across the world

Especially suitable

Age 18+
Singles
Couples
Families
Groups
50+

About the program

Join and experience life on a self-sustaining Eco Farm. A unique experience, Bioconstruction, permaculture, agroforestry, hikes in the mountains and camping weekends.

Eco Caminhos is a self sustainable Eco-Farm in Brazil, we have been working with volunteers since the very beginning of the project, we aim to become an example of a sustainable international community guided under the principles of Permaculture, growing and producing while being in balance with ...

About the program

Eco Caminhos is a self sustainable Eco-Farm in Brazil, we have been working with volunteers since the very beginning of the project, we aim to become an example of a sustainable international community guided under the principles of Permaculture, growing and producing while being in balance with nature through organic farming, renewable energy, Agroforestry and Bioconstruction, but having the support as well of some degree of modern technology which needs to be used with resposability and in moderation. We aim to help the world change in the right direction, and we welcome any help from all corners of the world. 

In order to achive this in Eco Caminhos we believe healthy human development its a must, we must all learn to work hard together and respect each other’s cultures and backgrounds, we want to learn from our volunteers and for them to learn from us. Located two hours from Rio de Janeiro, in the beautiful mountains of Cardinot near the small city of Nova Friburgo we find ourselves away from the heptic rhythms of the modern system, we firmly believe this is a perfect environment for personal and community growth, we offer volunteers an amazing and unique experience, helping us in all the different sustainable projects in Eco Caminhos and eventually, with time, even having the support of the whole team to develop your own project if inspiration stikes you.

This Volunteer program is not about the work you will do on Bioconstruction, Agroforestry and Organic farming alone, it is about being part of a small but passionate community, contributing to it with your own personal touch and learning from us as well, growing as a person, discovering yourself in a natural, inspiring, hard-working and calm enviroment, we are not motivated by money or personal gain, what we want is to take care and help heal nature, human society included, would you like to help us?

What you'll be doing?

We make a custom schedule for each short-term volunteer so they really get the experience they want and need, allowing them to focus on an specific area if intended or having a wider experience of all the different projects in the farm.

Most short term volunteers choose to work 3 days, for a total of 24 hours a week, you will gain knowledge and hands on experience in Sustainable Living, Bioconstruction, Agroforestry  and Organic Farming here at Eco Caminhos. You'll be learning a range of techniques both theoretical and practical on this areas, all while sharing and working next to a team of long and short term volunteers from around the world. 

The other 2 days of the week plus weekends are yours to explore Brasil! Many of our volunteers choose to learn portuguese, travel in to Rio, or participate the many extra activities we can organize such as, horseback riding, hiking and many more. Your volunteer coordinator will be there to help you and organise your time in Brazil.

Starting  

During your first week here the different project coordinators will give introductory presentations on the different sustainable practices we apply in Eco Caminhos, after which you will be able to join and participate in the different projects of the Eco Farm, on Bio-construction, Agroforestry and Organic Farming.

Location  

Eco Caminhos is located in the beautiful inner mountains of the state of Rio de Janeiro, in the outskirts of a small rural city called Nova Friburgo. This area of Brazil is well know for being one of the world’s ecosystems with the highest amounts of biodiversity in both flora and fauna called the Atlantic Forest Biome. Eco Caminhos has several waterfalls both inside and around it, pure drinkable rivers all in the middle of truly amazing and imposing mountains, get inmersed in the magic of South American nature and the calmness that comes from it’s deep light blue skies and stary nights.    



Typical day

Short term volunteers participate of a variety of activities, having 3 days to work on the farm’s projects and the rest for free, volunteer’s weekly schedule are organized according to their own interests. Still a typical work day schedule always looks something like:

  • 6:00 AM - Wake up and ...

Typical day

Short term volunteers participate of a variety of activities, having 3 days to work on the farm’s projects and the rest for free, volunteer’s weekly schedule are organized according to their own interests. Still a typical work day schedule always looks something like:

  • 6:00 AM - Wake up and breakfast
  • 7:00 AM - Work in Bioconstruction, Organic Farming or Agroforestry
  • 9:30 AM - Coffee Break
  • 9:45 AM - Work in Bioconstruction, Organic Farming or Agroforestry
  • 12:00 PM - Lunch & Break
  • 13:00 PM - Work in Bioconstruction, Organic Farming or Agroforestry
  • 16:00 PM - Finish work and head back to volunteer house
  • 17:00 PM - Portuguese lesson with native speaker
  • 19:00 PM - Dinner
  • 20:00 PM - Chilling out, Game Nights, Bonfires! (If scheduled)
  • 22:00 PM - Hit the hay


Free-time activities

Eco Caminhos is situated at the outskirts of the 3 Picos Natural Reserve, part of the atlantic forest Ecosystem. It is a beautiful mountain region where you can do hikes, camping weekends, horseback riding and other outdoor activities. Every week we organize movie nights, games nights and volunteer ...

Free-time activities

Eco Caminhos is situated at the outskirts of the 3 Picos Natural Reserve, part of the atlantic forest Ecosystem. It is a beautiful mountain region where you can do hikes, camping weekends, horseback riding and other outdoor activities. Every week we organize movie nights, games nights and volunteer nights with a campfire if possible, although volunteers live together this extra activities are awesome for integrating the team outside the work environment. Once every couple of weeks we organize a camping weekends as well.

Volunteers are free to do or go anywhere during their free time, still we organize extra activities they can choose to participate on, some free such as some hikes, others that have extra expenses need to be payed, like horseback riding trips.

You can also decide to go to the nearest town, Nova Friburgo, by yourself or with the other volunteers. A very calm and friendly town with a good infrastructure, a well-structured city with 180.000 inhabitants, far more secure than Rio de Janeiro. There is a busstop 500 meters from the farm that goes there every few hours. 

Or you can also take a three hour bus to Rio de Janeiro and spend your weekend there enjoying all that one of the most famous cities of Brazil has to offer.


Requirements

Requirements

Minimum Age: 18 years

In order to join the program you need to be at least 18 years old on the program start date. There might be exemptions if you can provide the permission of your legal guardian(s) or if your are accompanied by your parents.

Language Skills

You need to speak English (basic level)

Criminal Background Check

required

Required Documents

Copy of Passport or Travel ID

Nationality Restrictions

No restrictions. Helping hands from all over the world are welcome.

Other Skills

Nature lovers Highly Motivated Willingness to Learn

Time Commitment

Your helping hand will be required on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 07:00 - 16:00

What's Included

What's Included

Services by Eco Caminhos

Training & hands-on Workshops, you will recieve comprehensive support from our project leaders on site. You will be able to really learn from them and gain practical skills on Bioconstruction, Organic Farming and Agroforestry, knowledge that you will take away for a lifetime.

- ingredients for all meals will be provided. Please note you may have to cook some meals as you will be in the cooking schedule.

Portuguese Lessons, We feel its important to become as integrated into the culture as possible and a 'bom dia' a day goes a long way! We will provide one hour of free portuguese lessons from native portuguese speakers for every week you stay with us. (More available on request).

Support & extra Activities, We also schedule weekly activities such as hikings, bonfires, workshops, museum & park visits and much more! (Just some of this activities will require extra fees) Our support team will be there for you every step of the way, we will do our best to provide you with info with anything you need, from your flights & visas to organising your weekends and trips. 

- Two housing options, at the volunteer compound or with a local Brazilian family

- WiFi: internet access at the volunteer houses

NOT INCLUDED  

 Airport Transfer: If requested we can put you in contact with our trusted driver Dutra, he can pick you up at the airport and leave you at Eco Caminhos doorstep. This however is not included, but Dutra charges R$ 900 per leg (approx 169 Euros).

Accommodation

There is 2 possible accommodation options:

-You can decide to live with other volunteers at the volunteer house, shared room mostly depending of available rooms. The house has all the basic needs. All meals are included and volunteers take turns cooking lunch during work days. There’s WiFi and serveral Volunteer Night Activities. 

-Another option is to homestay with a selected family next to the farm. These rural families are very nice and connected to Eco Caminhos. It will allow you to submerge in the Brazilian rural culture, food and customs, plus you will be able to practise your Portuguese on a daily basis. (for homestay we charge an aditional cost)


Volunteer House:

- The volunteer compound has 2 houses, 2 kitchens and 6 double bed rooms.

- Shared Room

- It has all the facilities you need including WiFi and clothes washing machine.

- The perfect place to make friends and hang out after a long but rewarding day of work.

Homestay

- You will stay at the house of a local, carefully selected Brazilian family.

- Private Room

- The families offer you your daily meals. (When the family is not at home ingredients will be left for you, but it is expected that in this case volunteers cook for themselves)

- All homestay families are very close to the Eco Farm.

- Homestay is the perfect way to submerge yourself in Brazilian culture, food and the Portuguese language.

Food & Beverages

Volunteer compound

-We provide volunteers with the ingredients/budget for all their meals. 

-The volunteers will have to cook themselves but we find this is a great way to bond with your fellow volunteers and explore the Brazilian culinary! 

-The budget is for breakfast, lunch and dinner however and anything over this budget is at the expense of the volunteers.

Homestay
For people who choose homestay, food is provided. During working days you will be eating at the Eco Farm. the rest of the time you will eat with the host family. We can tell you that the families are known for their delicious food.

Internet Access

Good access at the project site

What's NOT included?

What's NOT included?

Airport Pickup at Galeao Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport

An airport pickup isn't included within the program fees either.

Flight Tickets

The nearest airport is Galeao Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (GIG) in Rio De Janeiro. We assist you to find cheap flights to Brazil. FIND CHEAP FLIGHTS

Travel Insurance

Going abroad is an adventure and it is always best to be prepared. Sudden illness or injury, cancellation or theft - a travel insurance for Brazil provides security and is a plus to have. GET A QUOTE

Vaccines

If you are intending to volunteer in Brazil you should seek medical advice before starting your social journey. Check your required vaccinations for Brazil. VACCINE CHECKER

Details on arrival

The tropical weather at Eco Caminhos allows us to recieve volunteers all year long, only depending on the number of available rooms and required positions

If you are interested we can do an online interview to get to know each other and answer all your questions.

Availability
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Program fees

1 week (min. stay) 345€
2 weeks 519€
3 weeks 692€
4 weeks 864€
5 weeks 1,038€
6 weeks 1,182€
7 weeks 1,326€
8 weeks 1,441€
9 weeks 1,557€
10 weeks 1,643€
11 weeks 1,730€
12 weeks (max. stay) 1,788€
Average fees 246€/week

Program fees

246€ per week 1 - 12 weeks Age 18 - 50+

Payment methods

Visa Master Card Maestro American Express PayPal

NO CREDIT CARD FEES


Duration

1 - 12 weeks

Deposit

The deposit is simply to reserve your volunteer placement. Payments are handled by PayPal, our trusted global payment provider. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can also pay using a credit card.


Final Payment

Your final payment will be agreed with Eco Caminhos during the application process. Common solutions are either via bank transfer or a cash payment at the project site.


Meet your organization

Eco Caminhos

Outstanding 4.9 rating (66 reviews)

Non-profit - founded in 2014

Verified by Volunteer World

  Very high response rate

Coordinated by

Bart

Spoken languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, German

About the project

EcoCaminhos it’s an EcoFarm, a community, one that aims to become fully self sustainable and give back to nature and society following the principles of Permaculture.

Meet your organization

Since 2014 Eco Caminhos has worked as a international volunteer based community that strives to become a role model when it comes to environmental practices, healthy human development and self-sustainability. We are located in one of the ecosystems with the highest levels of biodiversity, the Atlantic Forest mountain Biome of Brazil.

We believe the current way of doing things is coming into conflict with the world’s natural life sustaining cycles, besides we consider the out of balance and stressful  nature of it to be also the root cause for many of the social and individual problems we humans are dealing with today. We want to help build a more humane and sustainable option where both the environment and people can develop and grow in balance. 

To turn this into a reality at EcoCaminhos we follow the Permaculture ideals, we focus on Organic Farming, Sustainable Bioconstruction, Agroforestry and we believe in working hard and together as a community. We also think that in order for society to take the next step in the right direction all this practices need to be supported by modern technologies but implemented in such a way that their impact is positive, with moderation and responsability.

We are located away from the heptic lifestyle of moder society, in a rural area where we can focus on nature and developing our sustainable community, but still we want to have a positive impact in the life of others and society, and in order to do this we offer a variety of volunteer opportunities, ecotourism experiences and even an apprenticeship programme for brazilian teenegers in need. We do this in order to both carry and expand our knowledge to others and to share the experience of what it is to live here with us to the world, it is not for personal or financial gain but instead to keep moving forward this community with which we truly believe we would be able to help heal the wound that we as a species have inflicted against the environment and hence against ourselves. 

Our Volunteer Opportunities combine hands-on experience with introduction theoretical presentations on Organic Farming, Bioconstruction and Agroforestry. We also organize a variety of tourism experiences such as trips to the city, sightseeing,  hikes, horseback riding, movie nights and others. Volunteers can come for both short term and long term and we even organize Experiences for entire Groups

At Eco Caminhos we want to make a difference and help to positively change the world and the life's of all the people and volunteers we come in contact with, both from our local community and abroad. 

“If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world.”― Noam Chomsky

66 reviews · rating4.9

Patrícia De Cicco rating4.8

2024 at Short Term - in a self-sustaining Eco Farm

Fiquei muito satisfeita com a experiência, tanto que pretendo retornar para mais atividades. Gostaria de ficar um período maior de tempo, pois uma semana (tempo de férias) foi pouco. Acomodação no Eco Lodge foi maravilhosa. Recomendo. A cesta de produtos foi mais que o informado inicialmente. ..
It was a very enriching experience both in terms of permaculture, agroforestry and bioconstruction but also humanly speaking. I have met incredible people! The few organized activities are great for discovering the region, nature and creating links. I recommend 100% and thank all the people who ...
Hanna Haaslahti rating5

2023 at Short Term - in a self-sustaining Eco Farm

The location offers a wonderful setting for both getting to know agroecology and hiking in impressive mountain landscapes. The glowing nature of Brazil comes close and just waking up to the sound of birdsong in the morning at least puts me in a good mood. The community working permanently at Eco ...
Jelmer Griepink rating5

2023 at Short Term - in a self-sustaining Eco Farm

We had an amazing experience at EcoCaminhos. We came to learn hands-on about Agroforestry. Not only did we learn a lot from Bart - a patient and passionate teacher - the experience gave us the confidence to start our own agroforestry project - in that sense truly transformative. Agroforestry - ...
I want to extend my special thanks to Thales and Bart for their incredible support and the wealth of knowledge they shared. When I arrived, I had no idea what to expect, but I left with a heart full of gratitude for having met such wonderful people and for gaining valuable insights into ...
Shannon Scheirmann rating5

2023 at Short Term - in a self-sustaining Eco Farm

Although first frightening being in a new scenery, the supportive community made the adjustment seamless. The Eco Caminhos program teaches you to not only care for others and what’s around you, but yourself as well. Through permaculture, agroforestry, and bio construction, you’re taught how ...

Location

Americas > South America > Brazil > Nova Friburgo

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Contact Bart
  Very high response rate
English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, German

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