Project Life
Volunteer in the Galapagos Islands

The San Cristobal biological station is one of many bio stations which are managed by the same Ecuadorian conservation foundation. The bio stations are all in critical and diverse forest ecosystems throughout Ecuador.

You will live and work on the station itself. Nature takes over when working in a place such as this, so you will get up early each morning to start work and usually have a break in the middle of the day to relax and recuperate, before continuing with the work in the afternoon.

The jobs you will be involved in are numerous and most of the work is on reforestation, research and community-based projects. You will be involved in the restoration of habitats, as well as assisting with the organic agriculture component of the project.

The station also manages a Plant Production Center that:

1. develops reforestation and agro forestry initiatives
2. conducts community courses of various types
3. provides ex-situ protection of plant species in danger of extinction.

Your day-to-day work will almost always link in with the aims and objectives of the Plant Production Center.

Volunteers usually work for five or six days each week, and have at least one day off. Days are long and hard and volunteers should be prepared for hot and physical but rewarding work. Evenings are quiet and usually spent lounging in hammocks, chatting, listening to music, writing your journal or reading. Sometimes you will find that you are one of only two or three volunteers, and others there will be larger groups, so be prepared for variety in the people you meet and work with.

Once a week, the volunteers will have the opportunity to go along with personnel from the station on hikes and excursions to tourist sites that are ecologically important (a natural lake, beaches, native forests) for teaching visitors about the ecological issues within, and the social dynamics of, the Galápagos Islands. Certain volunteers will also have the opportunity to support the research and monitoring of the diverse projects that are developed on the reserve.