Cape Verde
Cape Verde Overview
Cape Verde is an archipelago made up of 10 islands, located in the Eastern Atlantic. The island of Boa Vista is the closest to the African continent. Known as “The Island of Dunes” for its immense coastal dune fields.
This island is home to 52% of the archipelago’s white sand beaches, as well as cliffs, coves and shallow bays.
Joao Barrosa beach is located in the Tartarugas Natural Reserve and covers 5 kilometers of coastline. The common turtle is considered Vulnerable, but in Cape Verde it is Endangered, becoming one of the eleven most threatened sea turtle populations in the world.
Conservation project
The conservation program aims to protect, conserve and manage important habitats for sea turtles. Avoid poaching, increase the poor hatching success of eggs due to predators such as ghost crabs, among others. Support the sustainable development of local populations, increase public awareness about the performance of sea turtles and contribute to local, regional, national and international cooperation for the conservation of sea turtles.
What will be your duties?
- The camp, located on Joao Barrosa Beach, accommodates about 30 people. Permanent national contracted staff throughout the campaign, temporary volunteers and scientific researchers.
- The team is divided into groups of 2-5 people in 2 night work shifts:
- Protection and surveillance of reproductive females and their nests.
- Marking and monitoring of females.
- Daily census of turtle nests.
- Rescue of disoriented or trapped females and calves.
- Collection of offspring data.
- Exhumation of nests at the end of the incubation period.
- Protection of baby turtles to the sea.
Facilities, Logistics and Food
- They are all temporary, set up in the month of May and removed in November. The camp is sheltered by a group of trees and consists of: A central table that serves as a meeting center and dining room, an equipped kitchen without piped water, a military tent as an office with a refrigerator and freezer warehouse, as well as an equipped prefabricated house with 16 bunk beds and several mattresses.
- Nearby there is a toilet and a fresh water well to draw water and transport it in a bucket to cubicles. The hybrid wind and solar energy source is limited, so shifts will be established to charge the mobile phone.
- Regarding food, the cook makes 2 joint meals a day. It consists of a healthy and balanced menu made up of rice, pasta, fresh fish, chicken, vegetables and legumes. In the pantry there will be more food available to participants such as eggs, cans, bread for breakfast.
Project costs
Volunteers make a donation to BIOS CV.
12 euros/day
(*) Intermediary fee: $250 🡪 Includes:
- Utility Contact
- Assistance with documentation (visa, invitations…)
- Flight assistance
- Project information: BIOS CV project, transportation, safety and health.
What does this cost include?
- Pick up at the airport. At the exit from customs control, a person from the organization will wait for you to transport you to the camp.
- 2 meals a day made by a cook. You will have to make breakfast but they will provide the means.
- Volunteer orientation.
- Advice on EVERYTHING, highlighting the most important aspects of a trip such as flights, vaccines, visas. You can contact us at any time during your stay to resolve any problem.
Not included
- Visa. MANDATORY
- Plane tickets.
- International health insurance. MANDATORY.
Take a look at our gallery
What do our clients think?
“I volunteered with my friends from university and it was the best decision I could have made. I learned a lot about nature but it was also very satisfying as a personal challenge”
Alicia Muñoz Colacios
“I had always wanted to visit Africa and live in the camp with the Cape Verdeans…I remember it as if it were a dream, I have rarely been so happy in my life”
Laura Sevillano López
“The work could sometimes be hard but it was ALWAYS worth it when you saw the little turtles enter the water. The work of BIOS CV is wonderful and to have been part of it is lucky”
Paula Carrión de Sola
How can we help?