Welcome to the Travel with a Challenge Volunteer Vacations Theme Page of feature articles that have/a> appeared in our web magazine. Explore this exciting collection by clicking on the images or titles to enter each richly-illustrated and inspiring story. Acknowledging the personal growth offered by volunteer service as a path to peace and self awareness, you will find diversity and plenty of food for thought in these articles on volunteer vacations.

Also be sure to visit this website’s growing directory of volunteer travel listings for more volunteer vacation options that are suitable for older travelers.

Monitoring the health of coral on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is just one volunteer option we suggest. Brad Cox

Feel free to explore our other Travel Theme Pages for vacations well suited to senior travelers, their families and friends. We invite you to click on image buttons or titles below to enter each feature story.

Volunteer Travel at Home and Abroad

A new book featured in this article will serve as a terrific broad-based voluntourism resource, laced with inspiring personal stories and lots of volunteer ideas that are suitable for the senior traveler. In the first two decades of the 21st century, we are seeing many innovative ways to meet the needs of the planet and its people as you “Travel with Purpose”.

Combine a trip to one of Greece’s most magical, diverse and deeply historic islands with a satisfying opportunity to teach conversational English to young people who will benefit from this gift you can provide not only to get into Greek universities but also to consider careers in tourism.

Combine your interest in organic farming or gardening with low budget travel opportunities by volunteering at properties across the United States of America in exchange for room and board. Our author, Brian Bender, shares his insights and offers tips based on one year of countrywide experiences on 12 farms.

A leading conservation organization in southern Africa offers inspiring nature holidays for international volunteers on two fronts: nursing injured or orphaned wildlife in care centers or conducting field research that will help us understand and protect species at risk. The subject of our charmingly-illustrated article tried both assignments during a month-long holiday.

If you are a nature lover and you have China on your travel bucket list, what could be more rewarding than a volunteer vacation to assist in the conservation and care of the rare and endangered Giant Panda? Lucy Corne shares her experience as well as little known facts about these iconic members of the bear family.

Readers who love to learn about new volunteer holidays will be delighted with our story about a Darjeeling tea estate learning service option in the foothills of India’s Himalaya region. With many volunteer tasks to choose from, this historic estate is a world leader in organic farming and sustainable community living.

Guidebook author Kirsten Whatley, describes dozens of short and long volunteer service opportunities on five Hawaiian Islands where environment and wildlife are the focus. A great way to meet local people and lend a helping hand as you learn about the state’s rare plants and animals and its environmental challenges. Button image courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge.

Book author and adventure traveler, Dorothy Conlon shares her educational volunteer experience of a 15-day Earthwatch cheetah rescue program in Namibia, where creating a safe, sustainable environment for the fastest animal on earth is a race against extinction. Button image courtesy of Patricia Tricorache/CCF

Global Volunteer Network founder, Colin Salisbury, shares his own remarkable story of a calling that regularly touches both people and environments in need, and his vision for this fast-expanding volunteer service organization that now delivers well-researched programs in 21 countries.

Senior British journalist, Jan Taylor, shares her experience of a sustainable agriculture volunteer vacation in East Africa where enthusiasm outweighed her expertise, and she learned as much about herself as she did about Tanzanian rural life. You will enjoy the surprise at the end of this thoughtful story!

Visitors to the Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are choosing to mix their vacation time with a little volunteer time by helping scientists to monitor the environmental impact of coral bleaching on one of the planet’s natural wonders. A huge job where the observations of many people make the difference!

Veteran volunteer vacationer, Mona Magnis, and her photographer husband, Nick, learn a lot about the history of Barbados while documenting the lifestyle of present-day farmers on an Earthwatch Institute research project.

Writer and broadcaster, Mary Jo Pehl, spotlights a three-time Global Citizens Network volunteer vacationer who has experienced the rewards of working in native communities in New Mexico, Arizona and South Dakota.

News about short-term volunteer vacations and organizations that make these happen is among Travel with a Challenge‘s most popular themes. Whether your fancy is people or nature, here is a collection of terrific ideas from the South Pacific’s Cook Islands and Belize to Mongolia and Canada. Recently added are a wild dolphin project in Hawaii and a raptor rehabilitation center in Alaska.

LEAD Adventures’ local specialists offer over 30 different volunteer and adventure travel programs in Ecuador for individuals or groups. Volunteer with us and experience Ecuador’s four worlds: Andes, Amazon, Coast, and Galapagos Islands! Consider our Grown Ups programs or Multigenerational Family programs with added attention to luxuries and privacy that older adults seek. www.lead-adventures.com.

MICATZ, a nonprofit based in Tanzania, places volunteers in schools, hospitals and orphanages in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Flexible dates from four weeks or more with all-inclusive cost starting at USD$500. About 40% of volunteers are older clients. www.micatz.org.

Travel with a Challenge is pleased to be associated with Transitions Abroad or TAzine, now readily accessible on the web, www.transitionsabroad.com. This US-based trailblazer of alternative travel for 35+ impressive years is published monthly, including as it does a strong volunteer travel inspiration. It is a densely-packed web guide to learning, living and working worldwide for all ages and stages of life enhancement.