At 21, my dream was to work for wildlife, and I found the opportunity of a lifetime: working on a remote beach in Oaxaca, Mexico, protecting sea turtles. I had never left Spain, but I didn’t hesitate—this was a dream come true.

During that experience, I transformed completely. I could never go back to my “normal” life after spending months in rural Mexico, walking along beaches at night with local communities.

I formed a deep connection with the Oaxacan coast and returned to develop my final degree project, which led me to graduate as an Environmental Engineer.

After finishing my studies, I needed an idea that could help local communities fund their conservation activities and allow me to continue working for nature conservation. I volunteered at various projects, gradually building what would become Tartarukus.

This is how Tartarukus was born, and in 2021, we gathered our first group of volunteers, proving that with each group, the experience only improved.

TARTARUKUS

To fund community conservation projects, we engage people in activities led by local groups on the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, offering volunteer experiences for the conservation of sea turtles and endangered species for 11 days each month, bringing together groups of people who intend to give a little of their time to improve biodiversity protection and rural development.

We also work to disseminate community projects dedicated to ecotourism, as well as develop projects with the communities to strengthen conservation activities. One of our most outstanding projects is the creation of environmental brigades with children from the communities of Ventanilla and Escobilla.

OUR VALUES

ECOTOURISM

Promote sustainable tourism as a means for the conservation of species.

EDUCATION

Disseminate the values of a life not based on the exploitation of natural resources..

CONSERVATION

Strengthen local groups dedicated to the conservation of species and natural areas.

Today, we have already achieved:

+100

Volunteers involved

+90

Wildlife monitoring activities

+9

Local projects supported

+120

Trees planted with Communities

+13

Cleanups of Natural Areas

What do people talk about Tartarukus?

• KEEP THE PLANET

Alessandro dedicated a space in his youtube channel, introducing us to the world through his great initiative that encourages the collaboration and participation of Italians in the conservation of nature.

• THE POLLINATION PROJECT

After a review of one of the projects carried out by the Pollination project team, they gave me the opportunity to participate in an interview, in which I shared my motivations to lead a project within Tartarukus “creating environmental brigades”. From that interview, they decided to dedicate a space for me on their website: (Creating an Environmental Brigade in Mexico (thepollinationproject.org)). With great gratitude, I would like to share the following paragraph from that article:

• OUR VOLUNTEERS

I am deeply grateful for the visit of all the volunteers who have participated in the growth process of our conservation programs, the activities developed by our partners in Ventanilla, Escobilla, El Gavilán and Morro Ayuta, as well as Tartarukus. Thus, I share some of the opinions that have left us in Volunteerworld: (Reviews Volunteer World)