If you have the time and the inclination we recommend volunteering as a way of bridging the cultural gaps between Peru and your nation.

Type "volunteer Peru" into any search engine and you will come up with a lot of options! However - many of these will cost you a small fortune!

Having wanted to "give" to the countries where we were travelling we have always sought options that cost us little but we were able to help.

We can personally recommend Picaflor Research Centre near Puerto Maldonado. Our story of volunteering here can be read at The Expeditioner Please note these pics are actually from Manu! The original photos are found at Playing at Jungle Jane.

We have been impressed by what we heard about these companies:

Volunteers South America is an awesome list of links to every imaginable volunteering organisation around South America. Very comprehensive!

Atalaya Peru who have an Eco-volunteer program in the cultural zone of Manu National Park.

Aldea Yanapay - otra forma de vivir Another way of life - various ways of helping.

Andean Travel Web has an excellent list of voluntary projects found here.

Extremely well organised and including Spanish classes is the Amauta Volunteer Program. (There are fees for this program)

Follow your dreams - near Trujillo.

If you like animals, you might be interested in Inti Wara Yassi in Bolivia.

Independent Volunteer is a new program that intende to link volunteers with FREE volunteer projects worldwide (i.e. projects that don't involve a huge registration fee). At the moment it's still in the early stages and they are looking for more projects to add to it. Or if you're simply looking for a place to do volunteer work, check the website out - it already has a lot of good stuff on it.

Idealist.org is an excellent resource for all those idealists out there - put a search in for the country and the word volunteer and you can come up with loads of opportunities. (some with costs, others not).

Please email us if you require any assistance organising your volunteer experience.

APUS PERU Adventure Travel Specialists - Email: apusperu@westnet.com.au

© A.Svenson 2005. The design, content and photographs (except where noted) are 100% original. The majority of our treks were designed by Apus Peru.