Volunteer Abroad Seychelles: North Island Conser­va­tion

You must be at least 21 years old, have sufficient English skills and be a safe swimmer to apply for this project. We need a doctor’s certificate confirming your state of health and physical fitness, since you will undertake long walks in extreme temperatures. Furthermore, you might need a Visa for your volunteering work. Depending on the duration of your stay and your destination, the requirements might vary. You might check out the foreign department’s website for the Visa standards, or ask the Natucate team directly.

We will save you a place on the project and support you during preparation and organisation. We will help you arrange your flight and visa arrangements. Besides our support, the price includes your accommodation while at the project, three meals daily, transfers during the project and working equipment. The flights themselves are not included.

Even though there are no poisonous animals or insects on the island, a certain kind of attentiveness is always advisable. You will need travel insurance to start your volunteering work with Natucate. We can provide you with all the necessary information.

There are no required vaccinations for travel to the Seychelles, although vaccinations for Typhoid and Hepatitis A, are sometimes recommended for travellers worldwide. It is your choice whether to get these
vaccinations. They are not compulsory.

A Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is only required for travellers arriving from countries with a risk of yellow fever transmission, or for travellers who have transited through the airport of a country with a risk of yellow fever transmission.

There is no risk of contracting Malaria in Seychelles, given that the Anopheles mosquito does not exist in the Seychelles. Mosquitoes can be very abundant on the island (depending on the time of year) so it is advised to bring plenty of repellent and antihistamine creams or tablets, if you are sensitive to bites.

For current information and warnings regarding your destination, you should check out the homepage of the foreign department and inform yourself beforehand about possible risks.

You don’t need to bring special equipment other than shorts in black, beige, white or turquoise to wear with the uniform. Still, you should be prepared for any kind of weather conditions. You need hiking boots, trekking clothes and headgear. We also suggest that you pack sunscreen and a water bottle. Furthermore, you need a backpack, rain jacket and insect repellent. You might also want to pack some swimwear for your free time.

We will help you plan your arrival, but cannot execute the booking. You have to book the flight yourself. The North Island ferry will collect you from the Mahé Harbor at 08:00 on a Monday morning. This means that you either need to book a flight that arrives very early on Monday morning or one that arrives on Sunday (or even Saturday if you prefer) before your ferry trip to North Island. We will send you a list of possible guest houses, which are booked separately at personal expense, to stay at if you need to.

You will be working on North Island and spend a lot of time outdoors. You will be working at the beach (beach patrolling, snorkeling 3-4x per week), in the ocean, in the forest or at the research bureau.

You will work on different types of environmental tasks. For example, you will mark and monitor Green and Hawksbill Sea Turtle populations. This includes daily beach patrol and night patrol, as well as hatched turtles nest excavations. Furthermore, you will also be marking and monitoring the Aldabra Giant Tortoise population. You will find them via GPS locations and monitor Aldabra Giant Tortoise baby growth rates within a baby tortoise pen. Besides that, your task will also include the rehabilitation of the endemic vegetation of North Island.

We accept a maximum of 4 participants besides the staff at any given time.

You will live in a shared house with three other participants. The house consists of two bedrooms, one lounge and one bathroom. This means that volunteers will have to share a bathroom. The house has air-conditioning in the shared lounge and standing fans in each room. Sometimes males and females will be accommodated together. Since you will live on a tropical island there will be insects including mosquitos, spiders, beetles and more. They may occasionally come into the house as well. Volunteers need to take responsibility for cleaning the house on their own.

Getting placed with your friend is possible, but it always depends on the current booking occupancy. Let us know if you want to get placed with a partner or friend before applying.

Participants eat together in the staff canteen – all meals provided (3 basic meals a day). Four times a week before dinner, participants will be able to purchase snacks (e.g. soft drinks, sweets and beer) from the staff shop. There is clean drinking water available on the island – bring 2 water bottles with you, which you can fill whenever you need to.

Meals include rice, lentils, vegetables and salads. But the island does not cater well for vegetarians and vegans. Vegetarians do need to bring supplements to add to their meals to ensure a balanced diet. Supplements could include nuts, snack bars or any other snacks which have high protein content or a protein shake.

Generally, you will be working six days a week. There will be a lunch break, and work usually ends every day around 4 p.m. But there can also be night shifts.

You can spend your free time however you want. Kayaks, boats or surfing gear is available. The beach is a great place for sunbathing and swimming. You can also go for a little walk and experience the surrounding nature.

On-site, you will be working with one other volunteer and project leaders. The supervisors will be responsible for you and may help you with any problems.

In general, you do not need a lot of money during the project. You might spend money for additional snacks, beverages or free time activities as well as extra transfers outside the project. The currency is the Seychelles Rupee. You can exchange and withdraw money easily at the airport. There are ATMs in the bigger cities. A credit card is usually sufficient when staying on North Island. Cash is particularly needed when going on a trip to Mahé, La Digue or Cousin. Inform yourself about the current exchange rate before leaving your country.

Wi-Fi is available in the Environment Office all the time; the staff uses it for work and it is not password protected, so participants are welcome to use it. We merely ask that participants do not abuse it by downloading movies, being on Facebook all the time etc. There is mobile phone coverage on North Island – Cable & Wireless. This is the only Seychelles provider which works on North Island.

Seychelles is an ideal destination all year-round, as it is always warm and temperatures do not reach cold or hot extremes. Temperatures rarely drop below 24 °C and do not rise much higher than 32 °C. It is generally cooler when the north-west trade winds blow during the month of November to March. The sea is generally calm and the weather warm and humid. A larger amount of annual rainfall occurs during the months of December to February. In these months you can be surprised by a short burst of rain. During these months it is also fairly cloudy. The weather is hottest from December to April and the humidity reaches over 80 %. The months of May to October bring drier, cooler weather.

There are certain rules about bringing alcohol into Seychelles. You may take one bottle of one liter of high percentage alcohol. Everything above that will be taken by the security. You can buy beer and cider at the supermarkets.