This project is ideal for adventurers and thrill-seekers with a passion for nature and the outdoors. This is a once in a lifetime chance to do animal volunteer work abroad and live in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest! 

On top of making a difference, you will gain plenty of practical wildlife conservation experience. You’ll work closely with some of the top minds of biology and rainforest conservation.

If you have an interest in conservation, biology, or environmental science, you’ll enjoy the hands-on fieldwork, and you’ll contribute to ongoing research projects. You’ll need to be comfortable with getting your hands dirty, and be willing to skip some home comforts! Animal conservation volunteering abroad is not for the faint-hearted.

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

Your conservation work will focus on these main areas:

Collect data

By observing and recording details about the species you see during surveys, you’ll help us better understand how to protect them. This type of work can include: 

• Bird censuses conducted from a canopy platform
• Collecting video footage using camera traps
• Recording data on species characteristics during trail hikes

With the help of your work, we produce a technical report every year to demonstrate our environmental impact. The data for these reports comes directly from our volunteers’ daily observations. Thanks to this work, Taricaya is increasingly recognised internationally as a research centre. It has contributed a number of important research papers at international conferences, especially in the field of ornithology.

Animal release programme

At Taricaya, we run an animal release programme. This work involves our project partner, Animal Defenders International (ADI). ADI confiscates illegal pets or circus animals, including Amazon rainforest monkeys. We then rehabilitate these rainforest animals at the rescue centre, and release them into the wild if possible. These are usually endangered species like scarlet macaws, whose populations are steadily decreasing in the Amazon. 

You’ll help with feeding these animals and doing general maintenance. This includes tasks like cleaning enclosures or repairing fences. Although this may sound like menial work, it’s a chance to get up close to beautiful wildlife, while also helping prepare them for a life of freedom. For animals raised in captivity who can’t be released, you’ll be helping to give them the quality of life they deserve. 

Breeding programmes

You’ll also help with our turtle breeding programme and do things like patrolling riverbanks for turtle nests, collecting the eggs, and incubating them at the centre. This protects them from poachers. When the eggs hatch, watching hatchlings scurry across the sand making their way to water is a heart-warming moment! It also makes a huge impact on the populations of these species in the wild. 

You’ll also help with catching and breeding endangered butterflies. Our butterfly catching methods are completely safe and leave the butterflies unharmed. We can then house them in optimal conditions for our rainforest animal research, help them breed, and study their behaviour.

Pilot farm

We have a pilot farm where we work on developing and perfecting sustainable farming techniques. We then teach local people about sustainable farming to reduce the negative impact of farming in the area. Your role is to tend the crops and help us raise awareness about sustainable farming. Sustainable farming will make Amazon Rainforest reforestation much easier.

We also run a mahogany programme. We grow mahogany trees close together and study them. This particular Rainforest habitat project shows local loggers that this is a cost-effective alternative to cutting down trees from the rainforest. We are also able to share the timber from these trees to use in production. You will help with maintaining the plantation and taking measurements.

Raise awareness

We work to raise awareness about conservation on both a local and a global level. Through research and publications, Taricaya provides groundbreaking data that draws attention to the work we’re doing in the Amazon rainforest and its ecosystems. You’ll be involved in collecting this data and contributing to large-scale research work.

You can also help with raising awareness about conservation in local communities. For example, you could run a recycling competition in a local school. Or you could conduct a workshop on the small things people can do to combat climate change.