Tag: conservation

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Type 2 Fun: Why doing hard things makes travel more rewarding

A lonely suitcase amongst mountains
A lonely suitcase in the Tien Shan mountains

Why doesn’t this feel like fun?

It’s early. Not sunrise-in-a-beautiful-way early. Just early.

It’s dark. You’re tired, slightly uncomfortable and quietly questioning your decision-making skills. The alarm went off before your body was ready. The air is colder (or hotter) than expected. There’s a long day ahead.

This isn’t the version of travel we’re usually sold. There are no loungers, no slow breakfasts, no sense of ease. Instead, there’s a bit of effort. Logistics. And, somewhere in the back of your mind, a small question:

Why on earth did I voluntarily sign up to this?

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The Environmental Cost of Overconsumption

Giraffe an zebras in the African steppe
Tranquil, intact nature – but for how much longer?

Global consumption levels are placing increasing pressure on the planet’s natural systems. In many parts of the world, constant purchasing, from new technology to fast fashion, has become normalised, yet the environmental cost of this consumption is becoming impossible to ignore.

While individual levels of overconsumption may seem inconsequential, collectively, our consumerism plays a significant role in accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.

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In an AI world, more people are turning to wildlife conservation

4 people looking at a herd of elephants at sunset
Elephants outside the Malawi expedition base

The latest Biosphere Expeditions Annual Magazine reveals how hands-on conservation is changing lives and delivering real results for nature.

Real experience in nature vs. the digital AI world

As digital technology reshapes how we live and work, a growing number of people are seeking something radically different: real-world experiences that reconnect them with nature, purpose, and each other.

The new 2025 Annual Magazine from Biosphere Expeditions captures this shift, telling the stories of everyday people who have stepped away from screens and routines to take part in hands-on wildlife conservation. From tracking wolves in Germany, to protecting coral reefs in the Maldives and surveying snow leopards in remote mountain ranges.

A large group of people waving into the camera, holding up a Biosphere Expeditions flag
Cover of the 2025 Annual Magazine
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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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Malawi: Expedition achievements

Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, cats, pangolins and African biodiversity

The 2025 Malawi Expedition has now finished and I am happy to reflect on another successful expedition, with a great group of expeditioners, some memorable highlights and a lot of good research data collected.

This is an expedition with multiple research projects: elephant herd observations, hippo transects, elephant dung analysis, camera trap survey, night transects, bird transects and an iNaturalist project, which gives a record of all interesting species spotted opportunistically.

We have done well on all of these and uploaded a large set of data for the expedition scientist to analyse and write up.

A provisional summary of some of what the 2025 expedition has achieved:

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Malawi: Leopard and more

Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, cats, pangolins and African biodiversity

Vwaza continues to deliver amazing flora and fauna, with some great results on our second round of camera trap checks.

We have now finished collecting data and we are working through the collation of our bird and hippo transects, elephant spotting, elephant ID and dung analysis.

This year we have updated a number of our elephant profiles and added a few new ones.

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Malawi: Camera trapping

Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, cats, pangolins and African biodiversity

Camera traps are a vital tool in our data collection efforts. Vwaza has many species that we see during the day and we can record from our own visual observations. But at night the forest and lakeside are teeming with life that we would not necessarily pick up. 

The expedition team set up 25 camera traps and serviced them halfway through the expedition. Some were unsuccessful – a stray  branch can trigger the motion sensor and we had one knocked off by a passing elephant. The others provided some exciting photos of porcupine, cape hare, civet and serval appear. No big cats yet.

This is an update from our Malawi volunteer expedition. You can find an overview of all our current expeditions here.

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Malawi: Buffalos and soccer balls

Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, cats, pangolins and African biodiversity

We’ve been here in Vwaza for 10 days and on our travels we’ve observed buffalo tracks on a daily basis, but not seen one. Until yesterday when we had two teams out servicing our camera traps (more on those once we’ve processed the photos). Both encountered buffalo, with one team estimating the herd size at over 160. A great find.

Vwaza also has a number of antelope species, the most common being impala and kudu. There are also spotted bush bucks and puku. This morning we added roan to our list, a rare and exciting addition.

Our hippo transects continue to provide large amounts of sightings, with yesterday’s count exceeding 100 animals. We haven’t seen our elephant herd today, but we are working hard on updating our elephant identification sheets.

On Saturday – our day off – we went to the local town and were invited to Kizuni Primary School, where gifts from our expeditioners went down a treat, especially footballs brought by Louise sponsored by her local Canadian soccer team. We declined the offer of a game 😉

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Malawi: Mammals, birds, amphibians

Update from our Malawi expedition volunteering with elephants, hippo, cats, pangolins and African biodiversity

Our expedition continues to exceed expectations. We are into our daily citizen science programme. Early morning data recording drives and bird transects, followed by hippo transects and elephant surveys before lunch. The afternoons are then spent sorting and collating data and, the suprisingly popular task of sifting through elephant dung for seed analysis. In the evening we run night transects and share stories of the day.

Highlights from the last couple of days include spectacular bird shots, numerous elephant sightings and finding lion prints (which is exciting as they are rare here). We’ll put up a few extra camera traps and see whether we can catch the track-maker.

Tomorrow’s our rest day and we’re scheduled to visit the nearby school (we always get an invitation). One of our expeditioners has brought lots of footballs, so time for Malawi to win on penalties 😉

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