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Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, lion and African biodiversity
Us staffers (see picture) got together in Lilongwe to load up supplies for a month and trying to leave enough room for the five of us! All went well until four hours into the journey to Vwaza master chef Luka announced that we needed another half-tonne of fresh veg….
Continue reading “Malawi African biodiversity study 2026: At base”Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, lion and African biodiversity
Welcome to the 2026 Malawi diary. My name is Simon and I will be your expedition leader on this African biodiversity expedition to Malawi studying elephants, lions, hippos and other species.
I arrived on Sunday and met with our in-country partners, the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT). On Tuesday we all head to our camp in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve to get everything ready for the arrival of African biodiversity survey team 1 on Saturday. I hope your preparations are going well and you are excited about the expedition.
Continue reading “Malawi African biodiversity study 2026: Getting ready”Media release – 1 September 2026
Biosphere Expeditions calls for radical truth-telling, conservation triage and unvarnished realism in the face of escalating planetary calamities.
International wildlife conservation organisation Biosphere Expeditions has launched a “Manifesto for a troubled planet” confronting the reality of global climate and ecological disruptions. The document calls on scientists, conservationists and the public to abandon “performative hope” and comforting narratives, demanding instead an era of unvarnished truth-telling, hard-headed conservation triage and direct citizen science action on a finite planet.
The release comes as climate disruption is now locked in, planetary boundaries are breached, ecosystems face irreversible tipping points and conventional conservation approaches continue to celebrate minor successes while ignoring systemic biosphere unravelling.
Continue reading “Biosphere Expeditions “Manifesto for a Troubled Planet” demands an end to performative hope amid accelerating planetary upheavals”
Biosphere Expeditions is planning two new expedition. Below are the details as know so far.
You can also register your interest below. Those who do, will get first notification when the expedition accepts sign-ups, five days before the expedition goes public.
Continue reading “Previews: Two new expeditions”Update from our Tien Shan snow leopard expedition
“It’s a nice office you have here.” Barry’s words brought me right back to Earth as I sat sipping hot tea from my thermos. We are currently journeying back from servicing our final camera trap of the season, and I am jotting down notes while looking across the valley at giant glaciers that are normally hidden from view from our base camp. We are in raptures high up in the Jiluu-Suu (“hot water”) valley, taking it all in.
Continue reading “Tien Shan snow leopard 2026: Jiluu-Suu and goodbye”Update from our snow leopard Kyrgyzstan expedition
We’ve hit the halfway mark for our final group of the season. Camp is quiet as all the team are out exploring the area. I find myself at camp in a period of quiet reflection.
Continue reading “Tien Shan snow leopard Kyrgyzstan 2026: Rest day”Update from our snow leopard volunteering expedition
When you read this group 3, which arrived and made their way to base safely, is through their training and into field research.
Continue reading “Tien Shan snow leopard volunteering 2026: Group 3”Update from our snow leopard volunteer expedition
Group 2 has put in a big effort all round. The weather has settled, so we returned to Archali for further surveys. Emil and Kate took the pass on foot, overnighting at 3748 metres. The rest of us, five expeditioners in total, drove around into Archali to meet them.
We have now surveyed extensively in two of the three valleys with some new camera traps in place. Finishing the second snow leopard volunteer expedition week, we alternate big days with easier ones consisting of local interviews. These gather important local insights into raising livestock and the surrounding wildlife. Reports of face to face snow leopard encounters continue, but no hard proof yet.
Continue reading “Tien Shan snow leopard volunteer expedition 2026: Archali and more”Media release – 30 July 2026
Innternational wildlife conservation organisation Biosphere Expeditions has published its 13th annual Maldives coral reef conservation report. It details critical marine monitoring conducted in October 2025 across Ari, South Malé and Vaavu atolls by international citizen scientists supervised by professional marine biologists.
While the archipelago escaped a mass coral bleaching event in 2025 following severe thermal stress in 2024, the findings reveal a starkly uneven recovery landscape across the central atolls.
The coral reef conservation report’s release comes at a crucial moment as escalating ocean temperatures, an approaching El Niño cycle and localised human impacts threaten tropical coral ecosystems worldwide.
Continue reading “Maldives reefs under threat, Biosphere Expeditions report confirms”Most people spend their teenage years discovering who they are. For Savannah Lehnert, sixteen was the year she found herself deep in the Amazon rainforest of Madre de Dios, Peru, working as a volunteer alongside scientists on a conservation expedition that would stay with her long after she returned home.
When she joined Biosphere Expeditions with her father back in 2011, she became one of the youngest citizen scientists, but she was far from out of place.Â
The beauty of Biosphere Expeditions teams is that they bring together people (or citizen scientists) from all walks of life and every stage of adulthood, united not by age or profession, but by a shared passion to protect wild animals and places.
‘I was very compelled by the adventure of visiting the Amazon and working with conservation biologists and other volunteers to protect endangered species in an incredible landscape.’
Continue reading “How Joining a Conservation Expedition at 16 Inspired a Lifelong Love of Nature”