Conservation Volunteer Stories, Peru

Taricaya Lodge, Peru - Ben Lane With the end of my A-levels in sight I decided that despite not taking a gap year I should do something exciting with my long summer holiday. Going away with Projects Abroad fitted the bill perfectly, not only could I go to the jungle, somewhere I had always dreamed of seeing but I could choose exactly the dates of travel that suited me.

Taricaya Lodge, Peru - Marcus Brent-Smith I had decided that I wanted to visit the Amazon rainforest by the time I was 10, so when it came to choosing a destination for my gap year trip, my attention was somewhat focused on South America. Peru jumped out at me as an incredibly diverse country with some obvious benefits. Firstly, my GCSE in Spanish would help break the language barrier (how wrong I was!), apart from this Peru contains just about every ecosystem this planet has to offer and, most importantly, it has a rather large area of pristine Amazon rainforest.

Taricaya Lodge, Peru - Alex Prior If wildlife is your thing, then Taricaya will be your thing. If meeting excellent, like-minded people from all around the world appeals, then Taricaya will appeal. If having the time of your life is top of your gap year to-do list, then Taricaya should really be top of your gap year to-do list. From the minute I arrived at the lodge, surrounded on three sides by dense jungle, and on the fourth, a huge piranha-packed river, I knew that my stay here would be unforgettable.

Conservation in Peru - Claire Elphick Travel has always been of immense appeal to me so when it came to the time to choose my dissertation title for my Geography degree, my first thought was where could I go to do it. For me it was the ideal excuse to go somewhere extraordinary to carry out my field research and so the Amazon Rainforest instantly sprung to mind. Geography has always fascinated me and the opportunity provided by PA to live in the rainforest for five weeks and carry out my ...

Conservation in Peru - Laura Poe Having tossed and turned over where to go and what to do for my gap year, the opportunity to live in the rainforest just seemed stupid to turn down. So in January my South American adventure began. Stepping off the plane after flying over a vast amount of trees and what one can only call an enormous river with endless tributaries all disappearing into the distance, I realised that I had actually arrived in the rainforest. It was pouring and the tarmac of the runway was ankle deep in water, and although I knew it was the rainforest I had assumed that South America would be hot and sunny.

Conservation in Peru - Richard Breakspear I arrived in Peru from Mexico, and spent the previous night in Cusco, flying out to Puerto Maldonado that morning. It was early August, and I'd be spending the next month at Taricaya. I was met at the airport there by a Projects Abroad representative, Puerto Maldonado Airport is quite a surreal place, being so small and not like an airport at all. Puerto Maldonado is in part an attractive jungle town, and part shanty town, it has a feeling like a wild-west frontier town ...