Project Biodiversity

If you are planning on going and you can allow yourself to go, then go. Both programs the island conservation and the turtle watch programme are worth trying and are amazing. You are supported and surrounded by and amazing friendly staff, who are more than willing to help you experience the best of Cape Verde, while also doing good work for their ecosystem. As someone who does island conservation you would get to experience: bird ringing, shark tagging, marine monitoring, turtle patrols, turtle hatching season, replanting of endemic plant species, and you also get to join in on creating a protected area, by making signs, making road blocks and educating tourists as well as the locals.
The turtle programme hugely depends on the months you are planning of going (nesting, hatching happen during different months), but no matter what you will have an amazing team of like minded, international and local people who will be joining you on patrols and keeping you company through out the day.
The accomodation is provided for both volunteering groups, with turtle volunteers also getting their food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) provided.
Besides all that people who work with Project Biodiversity get various discounts around the town of Santa Maria for example for diving and island tours.
And if you encounter any problems than the volunteer coordinator is literally god sent and will help you through them all (shoutout to Débora♡).
Definitely will consider coming back if time allows it. Love you guys, keep up the great work!

The nesting season is a unique opportunity to work with adult turtles and help protect their nesting period to ensure their survival and development.

During this volunteering I had the opportunity to carry out many tasks such as:
- The recovery of GPS coordinates of the turtles
- Searching for identification tags
- Measuring the turtles
- Relocation of endangered nests

During this volunteering, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about turtles and the different threats they face in the future.

What I remember at the end of the experience is all the information I got about the turtles and the good time I had with the volunteers.

I would recommend this programme to anyone looking for a unique experience that they will not soon forget!

As a veterinary medicine student I'm really interested in wildlife. I found the project via Google and came here for 2 weeks. I did 1 week of the nesting program and 1 week of the hatching program. I'm very glad that I did this because you are able to witness all the aspects of both worlds!

With the nesting program you stay in a tent at a camp at the beach. It's basic (no shower, sand everywhere) but I think that was really part of the experience as well! every night you will go on patrol on the beaches to look for nesting turtles. The feeling when you see one crawling up to the beach in the moonlight is really magical! You witness the entire nesting cycle of how they make the nest and lay the eggs. I learned a lot and everyone is very helpful and friendly! I liked the variety at the nesting camp, in the morning you are able to do nest relocations of the nest that were layed in the night before (that had to be moved because of the light pollutions for example). It was great to learn how to do a nest relocation and everything was a really special experience!

At the nesting program it's really magical as well to see the baby turtles hatch every night. One night we had more then 260 babys which is amazing! Watching all the little ones crawl to the water is something you will never forget!

Beforehand I was a bit worried how I would cope with the lack of sleep but it was fine! Durnig the day you can rest a lot so at night you are able to go on patrol again! :)

In conclusion I had an amazing experience and learned a lot about turtle conservation and the culture on the island of Sal!

Got to learn a lot about the plants and animals on the island that the project was trying to protect such as sea birds, turtles, palm trees. Activities included a bird census checking nests in protected areas and putting rings on chicks and checking on turtle nests in the hatchery and releasing any babies that had been born in the night.
Provided with a modern apartment in the town centre for duration of stay and easy process for applying and making arrangments to come. Definitely made me consider doing something similar in the future!

This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience! The living conditions at camp are very basic and you work only during the night which means you never get enough “good” sleep, BUT if you prepare yourself mentally for these conditions this will be one of the most fullfilling things you’ll ever do! I had no experience with turtles prior to this, so it was even more stunning to see these gentle giants so closely. The people at camp were all very friendly and welcoming, but after months of doing nightshifts they had already been very exhausted and slept most of the day. The other volunteers and I tried to busy ourselves with playing volleyball, cleaning the beach, going for a swim or playing cards but all in all the possibilities at camp are very limited so you may get bored after a few weeks.
All in all I would encourage everyone who likes to work with sea turtles and can endure basic living conditions to join the programm. (duration of my stay: 3 weeks).