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Visit Sainte Luce Reserve's website to learn more about their programs abroad
Overview
Overview
We’re looking for keen volunteers to work in Madagascar for stays of 2 weeks to 10 weeks.
We are a nature reserve, not a volunteering machine, we work on direct habitat conservation and we have clear and transparent goals. With us, you’ll be living in and working with the habitat and wildlife that you are protecting. Our work is mainly practical and often physical.
Choose us because: we spend 100% of your contribution in Madagascar and for conservation; we don’t pretend to be anything that we are not; this is grass-roots habitat conservation; you will have close encounters with wildlife every day; 15 years experience welcoming volunteers to Madagascar; your health and safety are our principal concern.
We are proud members of the Lemur Conservation Network #strongertogether
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Gallery
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Equally curious :)
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Baby lemurs are born each September
Visitor to camp :)
Critically endangered species management at the reserve...
Planting Dypsis saintelucei...
Location
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Greg Jones
21 Jan 2016
Sainte Luce Reserve is the real deal! I spent a few weeks volunteering during December 2015 at the Sainte Luce reserve in Madagascar. Ultimately it was a hugely rewarding experience...Read more
Sainte Luce Reserve is the real deal!
I spent a few weeks volunteering during December 2015 at the Sainte Luce reserve in Madagascar. Ultimately it was a hugely rewarding experience set within a unique and undeniably beautiful rainforest and beach environment. The beach is about 20km of unspoiled vastness. The stretch of rainforest in the reserve is one of the last noteworthy fragments left in Madagascar. Some of the flora and fauna only exists in this one patch of rainforest (in the entire world).
if you are looking to get off the grid and be involved in hands on conservation work with a small group of people that is meaningful, safe and rewarding - Apply to Sainte Luce Reserve! The level of personal support and information they will provide is incredible. You will be well looked after, fed and housed in such a unique experience with memories that will stay with you long after you leave. You won't find an experience like this anywhere else. Check out their Facebook page and website for additional pictures and information if you are interested in volunteering!
Joe
16 Apr 2015
In 2011 I worked at Sainte Luce for three months as a reserve supervisor, the first volunteer to trial the position. It was a life-changing experience that has helped to...Read more
In 2011 I worked at Sainte Luce for three months as a reserve supervisor, the first volunteer to trial the position. It was a life-changing experience that has helped to put me in my current position, studying an MSc in International Nature Conservation.
Back then the project was still early in development, and life on the reserve was challenging (in a character-building sense) and basic. For me this accentuated the natural beauty. The littoral forest is one of the only significant fragments left in Madagascar, and the composition of diverse animals and plants found there is unique. The forest grows right up to a stunning beach, where white sands stretch for kilometres in either direction, completely empty of people (except perhaps a passing villager every couple of days). The main reason it's so untouched is the isolation - the campsite is not reached by land, but by a pirogue across a picturesque lagoon.
Since then there seems to have been a few developments to make a long-term stay more comfortable, including some permanent shelters. This is important to facilitate further volunteering and research, and I'm confident that it has been done in an environmentally-friendly manner. Brett Massoud (reserve director) has decades of experience in the conservation of Malagasy wildlife, and is committed to ensuring the fragile ecosystem is researched and enjoyed responsibly.
In short I can highly recommend working at the Sainte Luce Reserve. You'd be hard put to find such an experience elsewhere, and will be contributing to the protection of some beautiful land with huge ecological value.