You will be volunteering on the coast of Ecuador, combining marine conservation with the chance to surf in one of the best surfing spots on the Pacific Coast!
During your time at the project, you will gain an insight into environmental, maritime, and animal protection. You will learn a lot about the conservation of natural areas and the designing and building of habitats for local sea dwellers, as well as about the care of the individual species themselves. Furthermore there will be the chance to interact with local communities in order to establish environmental consciousness.
Main Goals
- Helping sea turtles – creating new habitats, enforcing security measures for their young, and caring for injured adults.
- Supporting the local marine wildlife center in the care and treatment of rescued animals.
- Supporting the Ministry for the Environment with locating, rescuing, and relocating stranded and injured marine wildlife.
- Maintaining a system of beach cleaning and recycling.
- Promoting environmental awareness among the local community.
- Maintaining the project through the production of marketing materials.
With increased tourism, keeping the ocean intact is getting more and more difficult. That’s why we’ve teamed up, not only to surf together, but also to work collaboratively to help preserve this piece of paradise; its marine ecosystem and its wildlife. If you share the same mindset, come join us!
We include a 1-week full immersion FREE Spanish course because we believe that it will allow you to have a greater impact on the project, as you will be able to interact with local people and communities and share knowledge and skills. The Spanish course is catered to your project and will teach you specific vocabulary that you will need during the placement.
Objectives:
- Marine wildlife rescue and environment conservation: We work with an official marine rescue and rehabilitation center to rescue animals from the beach and care for them until they can be released into the ocean again (if possible). We also create campaigns to educate the locals and tourists about the precious marine environment they live in.
- Addressing the root of the problem: AVOIDING PLASTIC AND POLLUTION! The main objective, however, is to try and regulate the amount of plastic feeding into our oceans. We hope we can soon start with an initiative that convinces local shops, bars, and restaurant owners not to hand out disposable plastic cups and bags but use reusable materials instead.
Come and join us to...
- rehabilitate marine life that has been affected by pollution so that they can be reintroduced back into their natural habitats and survive.
- help local residents learn about the impacts of marine plastic pollution and ways they can help to reduce this terrible problem.
- help the local community improve their economic situation.
- create a bond between the environment and the community.
- microfinance initiatives to protect the environment.
- protect seabirds, sea turtles, sea lions, penguins, and all other marine life from harm so wildlife can continue to flourish and ensure a balanced marine ecosystem.
- learn about, protect and interact with some of the most wonderful marine life in the world.
Come and support us and have fun at the same time! On Wednesday and Friday you will have meetings with your project leader to discuss the
progress of the project. During the end of your first or second week you will enjoy, your
Spanish School's famous BBQ event, the 'Parrifiesta’.
VACCINATIONS
You should be up-to-date on routine vaccinations when traveling to any destination. Some
vaccines may also be required for travel. Routine vaccinations include:
- Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR).
- Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis.
- Polio
Required travel vaccinations include:
- Typhoid
- Hepatitis A
- Yellow Fever
Please make sure that you have up-to-date vaccinations for all of these diseases. NGO Taxi
cannot be held responsible for the provision of vaccinations for their volunteers. It is the
responsibility of the volunteer to ensure that they have followed up-to-date medical advice.
We at NGO Taxi hope your overall experience at your project will be a positive one, and
will give you a multitude of new skills to take into your future career.
You will find that in Ecuador, things don’t always go as planned and it can in general be
very slow and disorganized. We would therefore ask that if you decide to take on this
project with us you stay positive, patient, and flexible, and take it as a learning
opportunity and a chance for you to become familiar with a culture so different from your
own.
We look forward to receiving your application and hopefully you can join us as a helping
hand on one of our volunteer placements soon!
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