General Info

Turtle Foundation is seeking highly motivated individuals that would like to participate in our sea turtle conservation project in Boavista, Cape Verde

The Turtle Foundation is an international charitable organization that operates important sea turtle protection projects in Cape Verde and in Indonesia. Turtle Foundation offers the opportunity to students, recent graduates and anyone else who is interested, to participate in our projects in Cape Verde as Interns or volunteers.

The project is very hands-on, and has immediate results, as nesting sea turtles are saved from illegal slaughtering. Averaging a 50-50 participation rate of both national and international volunteers, the project also offers an unique opportunity to work alongside locals and get immersed in Cape Verde culture and language.

General Volunteer Duties:

Beach patrols for protection of nesting turtles: Patrols are undertaken each night at varying hours and in the early morning. Our beaches range from 3km-5km. The patrols serve several functions and may last between 4-6 hours:

- Search for nesting activity and nesting turtles;
- Helping with tagging post-nesting turtles, carapace measuring and other data collection;
- Search for any evidence of nests hatching;
- Collect data on nesting turtles and nesting events;
- Search for any turtle strandings, whether sick or dead;
- Look out for illegal poachers on the beach and report them to the soldiers;
- Maintenance and preparation of research equipment.

Nest excavations and relocations: Occasionally turtles lay their eggs in unsuitable places. In such cases, the nest is relocated to +a new site and the eggs are carefully moved and re-buried. After the nest has hatched we do a survey of the hatching success rate, which involves nest excavation of the nest and analysis of the shells left.


General Requirements for volunteering:

No experience is needed, however you must be willing to work hard as the work requires long walks (up to 15 km/night) in warm and humid conditions. You also need to be friendly and communicative, be able to work in a group (as well as to lead it) and live in a beach camp setting.

Full description available in our website: www.turtle-foundation.org