Peru volunteering and tour

We believe that travel can change lives! Travelling can change you as a person and, if done responsibly, can have a profound effect on the people that you meet and the places that you visit. We want as many people as possible to experience the heart and soul of another culture in the way that we have, and in doing so, help them to make a positive and lasting impact on our world.

As one of the New Seven Wonders of the World the Machu Picchu, which literally translates “Old Mountain” from Quechua the Native American language of South America, is perhaps one of the best known Incan sites today. It was, however, one of Peru’s best kept secrets until the American Hiram Bingham rediscovered this impressive ruin in 1911. The fascinating ancient history of the Incan Empire may be central to this 15day tour, but to get fully absorbed in the Peruvian environment and culture you will get the opportunity to participate in a variety of conservation and reforestation activities.

The volunteering part of this fascinating tour on the footsteps of the Incans includes expert-lead conservation work at the Lucre-Huacarpay Wetlands. You will have the unique opportunity of getting an insight into Peruvian nature by joining a group of conservation volunteers and working alongside the experts. You will be able to experience real Peruvian culture and people first hand, while supporting them in achieving their goals.

You’ll stay in shared room in either a locally owned guesthouse, homestay, or rustic lodge ensuring that you directly support the local community while you’re there. You’ll also be supported by your local in-country coordinator; Ficrella who with her team are best placed to understand the specific economic, social and developmental needs of Peru.

On average 48% of your placement fee is distributed in-country for the services included with your placement (i.e. Local support, Food, Transport & Accommodation) meaning that the local communities are directly benefiting from your travels to their country. The remaining funds are required to cover the administration costs associated with sourcing, training, marketing and coordinating your travel experience.

We do not give a financial contribution to this or any of our projects as we believe that money is rarely the answer to complicated development issues; if it was, the poverty problems in the world would be getting better! Short-term aid relief can cause aid-reliance and financial instability and the corruption seen in many developing countries means the guarantee of your money going to the heart of the cause is massively reduced. From our experience (and by learning from our mistakes) projects benefit far greater more from a sustainable framework to ensure they develop rather than short-term financial aid relief.

If money is paid directly to projects then they may become dependent on that income. If that country or project becomes unpopular, or through restrictions in the opportunity to travel to that country, the money dries up and they are no longer able to continue with their work. Supplying projects with enthusiastic volunteers creates a constant supply of helpful hands and as they are not reliant on an income can continue without the assistance of the volunteer travellers, although significantly slower in achieving their goals.

Instead of giving money direct we operate a grants scheme from our Helping Hand Foundation. This is designed to allow all our partner projects to submit applications for funding to achieve a specific objective. In 2007 we have supported a number of partner projects including the installation of 20 toilets at a school in India, the construction of a community centre in Brazil and providing a radio communications unit for a turtle conservation project in Costa Rica.