Work Travel Volunteer

Every six months, we donte some of our turnover to worthwhile project or cause in the form of equipment or funding for a member of staff.

Our organisation of the moment is Watamu Turtle Watch.

Why did we choose them? Well we volunteered with Watamu Turtle Watch in August 2006 at the beginning of our second round the world adventure. The month we spent there opened our eyes to how volunteering can be proactively managed in an ethical and ecologically beneficial way. Not only did we feel as though we really contributed to the project, but we passed on our skills to the local community and we learnt a huge amount about ourselves in the process.

Watamu Turtle Watch is a registered community based organisation formed in 1997.

Watamu Turtle Watch:

• patrols beaches daily to protect nests and turtles laying eggs
• works with local fishermen to release turtles caught in fishing nets
• rehabilitates injured turtles.

Currently Watamu Turtle Watch are campaigning against the building of the "Billionaires Resort" casino which supermodel Naomi Campbell and her boyfriend are planning to build on the coastline of Kenya - right on the doorstep of the Watamu Marine Park where Watamu Turtle Watch are trying to increase the number of turtles and stop exactly this type of development which ruins the local ecology.

Watamu Turtle Watch also carries out education programmes for schools and local fishermen, conducts research and campaigns on a local and national level and supports local community conservation groups.

Sea turtles are an endangered species. They have declined by 80% in the last fifty years. Causes of this decline include destructive fishing methods such as prawn trawling, illegal poaching and marine habitat destruction. Watamu Turtle Watch actively works to prevent further decline.

Watch this space for further developments on our donation to this project.