Greece Turtle Conservation Project

Enjoy the chance to immerse yourself in this fabulous culture whilst living close to the beautiful sandy beaches and helping to protect one of Greece’s most charismatic sea creatures, the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta in Greek).

On this project you'll live and work with other enthusiastic and energetic international volunteers to conserve and protect one of the most important loggerhead turtle nesting areas in Kefalonia, Greece.

You will conduct daily monitoring surveys each morning to record nesting activity and help to protect turtle nests against predation by mammals and inundation by sea water. In addition to this, volunteers will conduct field surveys on nesting beaches to locate and protect new nests. At night you will help to survey, tag and measure nesting turtles and record beach characteristics and light pollution levels.

You will receive practical training on the job from local staff, and have the opportunity to help safeguard Greece’s vulnerable sea turtles and exceptional habitats for future generations.

What Does The Project Do?

The project works with local environmental authorities and fishermen in order to mitigate and reverse population reduction of sea turtles.

The Island of Kefalonia, off the west coast of Greece, is an important breeding area for the loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean. The project’s primary objective is to protect the sea turtles and their habitats through monitoring and research, developing and implementing management plans and raising public awareness of the need to conserve these resilient creatures.

Volunteers will help to protect sea turtle nests against predation and inundation by sea water from incoming tides. This activity ensures that as many hatchlings survive as possible and add to global population numbers.

In addition to this volunteers will have the chance to help educate the local community to try and encourage them to adopt friendlier attitudes towards the natural environment and gain a deeper understanding of the importance of conserving loggerhead sea turtles.