Tag: conservation volunteering

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‘Being on expedition was incredible, a real revelation, that gave my life path an unexpected turn.’


Shaha Hashim is a pioneer in the conservation movement in the Maldives. Her passion started at a young age when she “was lucky enough to be selected for the school snorkelling club where I witnessed the vibrant beauty of the corals before the 1998 bleaching event devastated over 90% of them.”

Many corals have grown back since and Shaha never lost her dedication to them. In 2014 Shaha joined Biosphere Expeditions, an international non-profit citizen science organisation, which supercharged her conservation career.

Shaha Hashim nowadays
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Volunteering Abroad for Wildlife Conservation: What Should You Expect?

4 people looking at a herd of elephants at sunset
Elephants right outside our camp while volunteering in Malawi

Are you thinking about volunteering abroad and interested in wildlife conservation?

Whether you want to help monitor whales, survey coral reefs, or support wildlife researchers in remote national parks, these volunteer projects offer the chance to contribute to real conservation work while experiencing a destination in a much deeper way.

But, volunteering abroad is very different from a typical holiday.

In this article I’ll walk you through what wildlife volunteering actually involves, what daily life looks like, and how to know if it’s the right fit for you.

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South Africa: Expedition with Dr Alan Lee returning in 2026

We are delighted to once again collaborate. with Dr. Alan Lee as the expedition scientist. After successful expeditions with him to the Peru Amazon from 2011 to 2016 and South Africa from 2015 to 2017, we will be back with him in his native South Africa on an expedition entitled “Much more than just leopards: Surveying biodiversity in the Cape Floral Kingdom of the fynbos mountains of South Africa.”

Dr. Alan Lee

This expedition will focus on documenting biodiversity in the western Baviaanskloof wilderness area, with a particular focus on threatened and elusive Endangered mammals such as the riverine rabbit and Cape leopard, as well as birds and other fauna recorded through Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcount (CAR) transects. The work supports long-term monitoring obligations within the Cape Floral Kingdom (fynbos), a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its exceptional biodiversity.

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‘Seeing the world with different eyes’


‘I wanted to have an impact on protecting nature,’ says Angelika Krimmel from Germany, reflecting on what drew her to her first expedition with Biosphere Expeditions.

That first experience was in 2016, studying whales and dolphins in the Azores. It wasn’t long before Angelika found herself coming back again and again – to Slovakia in 2017 to monitor lynx, bear and wolf; to Kyrgyzstan in 2019 and 2024 for snow leopard research; and to Kenya in 2023 for African biodiversity conservation.

Whales, paw prints and camera traps

Each project offered something unforgettable. “After a week with the whales, you think nothing can top the first sight of one. But then a curious sperm whale swam alongside our boat, jumped three times and looked straight into our eyes. That look went directly to my heart.”

Angelika (yellow circle) with her 2016 Azores expedition team
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Maldives: Hope

Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition

We have found some hope in the gloom. The last reef we assessed, was – in the words of Simon, our expedition scientist – “what a reef should look like”. Great coral cover, quite a few fish, almost no bleaching and very little coral disease. So the expedition ended on a high, as well as some outstanding karaoke, especially from the crew, who had some impressive dance moves in store.

In between the weather tried to thwart us, but we are undeterred, dodging and weaving the squalls, laughing at the sheets of rain and delighting in the sunshine.

We checked lots of reefs like clockwork. And this is exactly what makes an expedition: a journey with a purpose. Our purpose was assessing reef health, revisiting sites and continuing to add to what is now an impressive 12-year database.

Thank you, expeditioners – none of this would exist without you. We hope we also brought some clarity to your own purpose and thinking during what was an all-round very successful expedition.

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Maldives: Sickness & Health

Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition

Group 2 is now also qualified – well done – and checking those reefs.

The stories are as mixed as has been the weather. There are some quite healthy reefs and some that are sick.

Fish are scarce, especially grouper, because there is immense fishing pressure due to (over)tourism and a very active grouper fishery that sells them off as food fish, mainly to Hong Kong as live fish for restaurant aquariums there.

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Maldives: Round 2

Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition

Here we are back again with a smaller, but equally keen group 2.

The weather has turned and it’s more windy, greyer and rainy now. But underwater it’s wet anyway.

We’ve done our check-out dive and are well into our training sessions now. Lectures, pointy dives and fish test today. The proof will be in the pudding.

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Maldives: Stable recovery

Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition

Group 1 has checked all the reefs on its schedule, well done!

All were repeat surveys to track reef health and development over the years, one of the great advantages of citizen-scientist-funded expeditions, which can fund projects sustainably and reliably for many years (since 2011 in the case of the Maldives), generating long-term datasets that result in many insights and scientific publications.

None of this would happen without the many, many citizen scientists over the years who come to fund and help with this research and conservation work. Thank you!

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Maldives: Mantas and corals

Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition

We’re in the groove now and checking those reefs like clockwork – well done team 1.

We moved to Alifu Dhaalu (South Ari) atoll and studied a couple of sites there, as per our schedule. They were outer sites and coral cover was unchanged from when we visited them last in 2023 (still few fish, as has been the case for more than a decade now – they are just being overfished). The good coral cover, however, is positive news, showing some resilience.

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Maldives: Half checked

Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition

Team 1 is delivering and so is the weather – and the reefs.

After two days of intensive training, we’ve checked our first reef, well half of it, were it not for our very own two Daft Punks reeling in the survey line whilst people were still busy with the survey :))

But that’s exactly what the very first survey is for – after 48 hours of crash coursing – to get familiar with how it all comes together underwater. So no sweat and same again this morning, as per ze schedule, ja!

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