Join this tropical island project and get involved with marine conservation, community work, and education focused on the local dolphin population!
Program Highlights:
Your Schedule at a Glance (Minimum 10 day commitment):
Arrival Day, Monday: Arrive at Zanzibar International Airport (ZNZ). You will be picked up at the airport and taken to your accommodation in Jambiani. Take the rest of the day to settle in, understand a bit more about the project, and start enjoying your new island life
Days 1-4, Tuesday-Friday: Spend your mornings monitoring dolphins and the local fish market, and your afternoons surveying the coral reefs, taking Kiswahili lessons, planning and delivering Conservation Club, joining a community clean-up or inputting and analyzing the data you have collected. Evenings are for relaxing and fun activities such as art workshops and game nights.
Days 5-6, Saturday-Sunday: Weekends are free for you to enjoy island life. You can visit the historic Stone Town, learn how to kite surf or you could even try your luck in the Jozani Forest and see if you can spot the red colobus monkeys, who are endemic to the island.
10 Day minimum duration: For volunteers staying 10 days, you’ll, volunteer the 2nd week until Wednesday. Thursday is the departure day back to the airport for those staying the minimum duration.
Remaining weeks: For volunteers volunteering 2 weeks or more, the remaining weeks will follow the schedule of volunteering Monday-Friday and having weekends free. (Check out “Travel Highlights” below for suggestions!) Departures are on Mondays for the following weeks.
What’s Included
What’s not Included
Flights, Humanitarian Visa, travel health insurance, personal expenses
This project takes place in Zanzibar, just off the Tanzanian coast of East Africa. Zanzibar is renowned for its white sand beaches and turquoise waters. It is also home to many historical monuments, the Chumbe Island Marine Reserve, and Jozani Forest, where the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey can be found. The south coast offers you the chance to swim with dolphins in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.
Jambiani and Kizimkazi, where you will spend most of your time as a volunteer, are small villages located on the southern part of Zanzibar’s beautiful and quiet east coast. About an hour and a half drive from Stone Town, Jambiani is a village that stretches along the coastline, bordered by expansive white sand beaches. Kizimkazi is a small fishing village located in the Menai Bay Conservation Area of south-west Zanzibar. Here you will find communities operating at a leisurely pace amidst the sunny, tropical climate. Menai Bay is also home to a number of iconic marine species, including bottlenose and humpback dolphins (there are also humpback whales from June to October).
The main focus of this marine conservation project is to monitor the dolphins and human-dolphin interaction. The information collected by volunteers during their placement will feed into research, surveys and studies conducted by the academic and research institutions in Zanzibar and will contribute greatly to the marine conservation efforts in Zanzibar. For example, monitoring human-dolphin interaction is important as it will inform government policies on how best to regulate tourist and fishing activities to ensure that the dolphins do not become too stressed, which could potentially lead to lower numbers of dolphins in the future in this part of the world.
Some of your tasks may include:
A typical day: An exact daily schedule is difficult to outline as activities depend on tides and seasons, however, most days begin with departing the volunteer base at 6:30 am, followed by early morning boat rides to monitor tourist activities and human-dolphin interactions from 7:00-8:30 AM. You’ll have an hour break for breakfast at 8:30 AM and then undertake a range of research and ocean activities, including monitoring fishing activity and data entry and analysis until 12:00 PM. From 12:00-1:00 PM you’ll have a lunch break, followed by different activities each day including conducting a coral reef bleaching survey, planning and delivering Conservation Club for the local students, doing some physical conservation work like planting mangroves or learning some Kiswahili. At 3:00 PM, you’ll return to Jambiani for some rest and dinner. You will have Saturdays and Sundays off to do any tourist activities or to rest from your week of volunteering.
Holidays: Please note that Ramadan will affect the tasks and schedule. Please check the dates with your placement advisor. Dolphin monitoring will be at an earlier time than usual and volunteers will be involved in beach cleans, go on a village tour and have a cultural talk with community partners
Please take note of this project’s minimum requirements:
During your stay you will have the opportunity to enjoy some incredible attractions in the surrounding areas such as Mikumi National Park, Ruaha National Park, the famous Serengeti National Park, the unique Ngorongoro Crater, and the mighty Kilimanjaro!
Zanzibar and Tanzania offer a variety of tours and safari options, which are perfect for a weekend getaway or a pre-/post-project safari. Most activities are priced all-inclusive, providing transport, transfers, accommodation, guide and driver, park entry fees, etc. The project coordinators in Zanzibar will be happy to assist you in exploring these options:
Incredible snorkeling and scuba diving off Zanzibar island
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