11 days for experience Mexican life as a local travelling along Oaxaca coast & protecting turtles, crocodiles, deers, jungle wildlife, educating children, and more!

The mission of the project is to support and strengthen the conservation work of three community groups by supporting their activities, such as patrolling the beach, collecting nests to protect them from poachers, monitoring wildlife, feeding rescued deers… And to wait for one of the most impressive phenomenon of the world: the Arribada, a mass nesting phenomenon of olive ridley sea turtle

In addition, the project will be focused in raising awareness in the community about endangered species and their threatened state.

This project covers the most important beaches for olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) worldwide, since they have a synchronous mass-nesting behaviour, which occurs just in twelve beaches over the planet, termed arribada. This beach is also relevant for the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). 

Our volunteering activities during the program in Mexico, depending on the season, will be:

• Night patrols in the beach to protect sea turtles and their eggs, collecting eggs to protect them in the hatchery. 
• Environmental workshops with children of the communities environmental brigades. 
• Planting of medicinal and native trees.
• Placing/removing photo-trap cameras to monitor fauna
• Maintentance of the white-tailed deers rescued by the environmental police
• Baby crocodiles maintenance during their first year of life
• Camping in nature, as well as some ecotourism activities that fund conservation (observing arribada phenomenon, boat trip in the lagoon, hikking)
• Accompaniment in rural entrepreneurship projects such as traditional bread baking in a wood-fired oven
• And many more activities needed depending on the needs.

Where does the volunteering experience take place?

This is a very simple map of Oaxaca coast. The best airport to arrive is Huatulco (HUX) to do the 11 days program in El Gavilan jungle, La Ventanilla, Escobilla and Morro Ayuta beaches. We will accompany you from the airport to the local project in public transport, so you won’t be alone!

We will be able to visit, work and live in 4 to 5 communities along Oaxaca coast during our volunteering trip: Escobilla, Morro Ayuta beach, El Gavilán jungle, La Ventanilla and Manialtepec, next to Puerto Escondido.

Our volunteering trip intinerary in Mexico

Usually, our volunteering trip in Oaxaca coast follows this itinerary:

• DAY 1 – DAY 6: Living in Ventanilla or Escobilla communities: The diversity of the activities is huge, because we will develop the environmental workshops, we will visit El Gavilán or Manialtepec forests to plant trees, locate photo trap cameras, to research, …, we will work with crocodiles or deer, with baby turtles in the hatchery, releasing them to the beach and, if we have enough energy, to do a night patrolling. We will have one day free to know Mazunte, Puerto Escondido, Chacahua lagoons, …
• DAY 6- DAY 11: Living in Morro Ayuta: This week of our volunteering trip will be focused in night patrols for sea turtles protection, working with the community too in many different ways: traditional bread baking, building, tree planting, agriculture, beach cleaning. We will have one free day to know Huatulco bays or Chipehua dunes and San Pedro de Huamelula and its history.

A typical day on our volunteering trip in Mexico

Every day is different.

We are aware that many of you don’t have many time to know what actually Mexico is. For that, we choose different activities to try to show you how amazing the coast of Oaxaca is, as well as choosing different traditional food, mostly vegetarian.

During eleven days, you will visit different places, working with different people to protect different animals and natural habitats. We made this program to be able to involve you making an impact to local projects that share our values of protecting nature and wildlife, at the same time that you experience Mexico as they live it. You will live the authentic Mexico as if you were a local.

We will start our day early, with the rising sun, when birds are super happy singing for the new day. Our breakfast is simple, a coffee or tea with some fruits and a piece of bread or a mexican tortilla with cheese.

One day we support to the person in charge to feed at 8 am the deers rescued by the environmental police, after that baby crocodiles may need our attention to prepare their food too or to clean their pools until they grow large enough not to be depredated.

Other day, El Gavilan team will show us their amazing jungle, we will support them planting medicinal and fruit trees or locating photo trap cameras to monitor wildlife. We may camp there, sleeping in the forest that heal you from the inside.

And more experiences during our volunteer trip!

We cannot forget to explain how beautiful is to educate children. They are environmental brigades that aim to protect their community, nature and the species. They are full of energy and good will to make their community better, so we will help them to be prepared to be changemakers!

Experiences don’t stop there, patrolling at night is an amazing adventure, where the stars bright enough to show you the way. Waiting for a turtle to nest is a unique moment, but imagine if it’s not one but thousands. In Escobilla and Morro Ayuta, we can see more than 10,000 sea turtles nesting at the same time!

Mexico is well known for their amazing sunsets, which we will enjoy while cleaning the beach from plastics, having the best landscape knowing that you are helping to keep the place wild and amazing as it should be.

We won’t skip some community work, strenghtening some entrepreneurs women in their production of traditional bread in a wood-fired oven, they welcome us with lot of love, making us feel as one more in their community.

We are improving and using opportunities during each call for volunteers, every month, new activities show up: birds monitoring, supporting traditional building for the conservation groups, sewing the netting of the hatchery for baby turtles, … 

Volunteering experiences dates, 2023

We have calls for volunteering groups in Mexico to be involved in the conservation experiences every month to support local groups! These dates are set when there is the effect of the waning moon, so we have more chances to see the mass nesting phenomenon, but it is never sure.

Book your spot for the volunteering trip with the coordinator!