Wildlife Conservation Gap Year Programs
Wildlife conservation gap year programs can vary in nature. The aim is the same however, no mater what Wildlife conservation gap year programs you choose to partake in. From Africa to Asia there are plenty of worthy and exciting Wildlife conservation gap year programs to choose from, but there lies the problem, with so much choice how do you actually choose what to do and where to go?
The first thing you may want to consider when choosing your wildlife conservation gap year program is the destination. Asia and Africa are popular choices but then South America has alot to offer the wildlife conservation enthusiast too. The most popular destination when it comes to working with animals is definitely Africa through: by taking an Africa gap year you can be pretty certain that you will have access to some really interesting animals.
It might help to think about the style of the project you want to work on, for instance the great white shark project in South Africa is an interesting if a little intimidating wildlife conservation gap year program that is not for the feint hearted, but really fun for those interested in shark conservation
If the idea of braving sharks is not your cup of tea, what about roaming the plains of Africa on a field guide course? Field guides are the major force behind wildlife conservation efforts in African reserves and play a vital role in education and raising awareness about conservation issues, their role, is very customer facing and they are trained to deal with wildlife in natural settings. Exciting job for sure.
Not every one wants to gain a qualification on their gap year, and this does add extra costs to wildlife conservation gap year programs, so there are other options that are pretty exciting. Like the Namibia wildlife conservation experience programme from Xtreme Gap Year or their South Africa Big 5 conservation project. These get you close to large African animals and are arguably just as exciting as a field guide programme.
Then there is the really big stuff, Whale sharks. For this you need to head to Mozambique and don a wetsuit (and undertake Scuba diving training) but for the Whaleshark conservation project it is really worth it. Whalesharks are the biggest fish in the sea, they grow up to 18 metres and anyone who has dived with one of these bad boys will tell you, they are seriously cool.
If you want to take a different approach to wildlife conservation gap year programs, look at PADI divemaster training. This is a great way to spend time getting to grips with marine conservation issues, like learning to educate people about wildlife conservation awareness and also doing practical assists with reef clean ups and monitoring work.
Many of these wildlife conservation gap year programs are available through Xtreme Gap Year, find them on the web or email info@xtreme-gap.com
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