Dates and Prices 2010 Season
Research assistants and Dissertation/Senior Thesis volunteers
Below is a list of dates and prices for the marine and forest expeditions with Operation Wallacea in the 2010 season. When making travel arrangements, it is essential that you arrive at the start location by the times noted in each section. The earliest time you can depart on the expedition end date is also noted. For more details on the journey to and from the expedition sites, please see the "Information for Volunteers" section for each specific country.
| Indonesia | Honduras | Egypt | Madagascar | South Africa/Mozambique | Peru | Prices |
Expeditions start in Bau Bau on Buton Island in SE Sulawesi on Thursday at 1300hrs for those going to the forest site first and at 1800hrs for those going to the marine sites. The expeditions finish in Bau Bau on Thursday at 0700hrs if you are leaving from the marine side or Thursday at 1200hrs if you are leaving from the forest. In order to ensure that university volunteers have the various training courses available to them, those joining as Research Assistants, Dissertation/Thesis Students or can only join the projects in odd numbered weeks (highlighted). All these volunteers/electives move between the forest and marine sites on odd-numbered weeks. Thus if you join for 4 weeks then you need to choose either two options from the forest and two from the marine side or to choose all 4 options from either the marine or forest sides. You need to book your international flights to arrive in Indonesia on the Tuesday evening before your expedition at one of the following three entry points: Jakarta, Bali (Denpasar) or Makassar. Losari Tours, (www.losari-tours.com) an Indonesian travel agent that has been our partner in Indonesia for the last 12 years will organise your transfers and hotel accommodation on the Tuesday and Wednesday night and ensure you are delivered to Bau Bau in time for the start of the expeditions. Transfers to Bau Bau are complicated and involve a flight from Jakarta or Bali to Makassar and then another flight to Kendari with an overnight stop in either your arrival airport or Makassar. On the Wednesday night you will overnight in Kendari and on the Thursday will travel by speedboat to Bau Bau. Note you are responsible for your travel costs up until the start time of the expeditions and from the end point of the expeditions. The transfer costs including flights, boat, accommodation for two nights and food are quoted on the Losari Tours web site and these should be paid on line before you arrive.
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Week |
| Thursday 24 June 2010 | Thursday 01 July 2010 | 1 |
| Thursday 01 July 2010 | Thursday 08 July 2010 | 2 |
| Thursday 08 July 2010 | Thursday 15 July 2010 | 3 |
| Thursday 15 July 2010 | Thursday 22 July 2010 | 4 |
| Thursday 22 July 2010 | Thursday 29 July 2010 | 5 |
| Thursday 29 July 2010 | Thursday 05 August 2010 | 6 |
| Thursday 05 August 2010 | Thursday 12 August 2010 | 7 |
| Thursday 12 August 2010 | Thursday 19 August 2010 | 8 |
| Thursday 19 August 2010 | Thursday 26 August 2010 | 9 |
| Thursday 26 August 2010 | Thursday 02 September 2010 | 10 |
Expeditions start in San Pedro Sula on Wednesday at 0700hrs and finish in San Pedro Sula on Tuesday at 1200hrs. You will need to book your flights into San Pedro Sula on the Tuesday before the expedition, and contact Maya Temple Tours (dennis@mayatempletours.com) who will arrange your airport transfer and hotel accommodation for the night. You can book your flight leaving from San Pedro Sula anytime after 14:00hrs on the Tuesday at the end of the expedition. In order to ensure that the university volunteers have the various training courses available to them, those joining as Research Assistants, Dissertation/Senior Thesis Students can only join the projects in odd numbered weeks (highlighted). All these volunteers move between the forest and marine sites on odd-numbered weeks. Thus if you join for 4 weeks you need to choose either two options from the forest and two from the marine side or choose all 4 options from either the marine or forest sides.
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Weeks |
| Wednesday 09 June 2010 | Tuesday 15 June 2010 | 1 |
| Wednesday 16 June 2010 | Tuesday 22 June 2010 | 2 |
| Wednesday 23 June 2010 | Tuesday 29 June 2010 | 3 |
| Wednesday 30 June 2010 | Tuesday 06 July 2010 | 4 |
| Wednesday 07 July 2010 | Tuesday 13 July 2010 | 5 |
| Wednesday 14 July 2010 | Tuesday 20 July 2010 | 6 |
| Wednesday 21 July 2010 | Tuesday 27 July 2010 | 7 |
| Wednesday 28 July 2010 | Tuesday 03 August 2010 | 8 |
| Wednesday 04 August 2010 | Tuesday 10 August 2010 | 9 |
| Wednesday 11 August 2010 | Tuesday 17 August 2010 | 10 |
Egypt
The expeditions to the St Katherine Protectorate start and finish either from the town of St Katherine or Dahab, starting at 1200hrs on Sunday and finish at 0800hrs on Saturday. The cheapest way to travel is to organise a return flight to Sharm el Sheikh and then contact our Egyptian partners, the Nature and Science Foundation (NSF) samysinai@yahoo.com). They will organise for you to be met at the airport and taken by coach to St Katherine or Dahab and will also organise your return (cost approx $50 for the return transfers). If you arrive early they can also organise accommodation for you in a Bedouin camp in Wadi Mandar for approximately $25 per person dinner and accommodation. Research Assistants can join the expeditions in weeks 1, 3, 4and 6
Egypt St Katherine and Dahab 2010
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Week |
| Sunday 04 July 2010 | Saturday 10 July 2010 | 1 |
| Sunday 11 July 2010 | Saturday 17 July 2010 | 2 |
| Sunday 18 July 2010 | Saturday 24 July 2010 | 3 |
| Sunday 25 July 2010 | Saturday 31 July 2010 | 4 |
| Sunday 01 August 2010 | Saturday 07 August 2010 | 5 |
| Sunday 08 August 2010 | Saturday 14 August 2010 | 6 |
| Sunday 15 August 2010 | Saturday 21 August 2010 | 7 |
If you are interested in joining the Western Desert surveys then these will start from Baharia Oasis at 1200hrs on Sunday 22 August and finish at Baharia at 1200hrs on Saturday 04 September. The cheapest way to get there is to organise a return flight to Cairo and then contact NSF and they will organise a return coach trip to Baharia Oasis from the airport for $60 return. NSF can also organise inexpensive accommodation in Cairo if you arrive before the expedition starts.
Egypt Western Desert 2010
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Weeks |
| Sunday 22 August 2010 | Saturday 4 September 2010 | 8 & 9 |
The expeditions start at 0800 hrs on the Saturday at the hotel Chez Karon in Mahajanga and finish at 1200 on Friday at the same location. You need to organise your international flights to arrive in Antananarivo on the Thursday and to leave either late Friday night (after 22.00hrs) or on the Saturday morning. Once you have done that the cheapest way to organise your onward travel to Mahajanga is to contact DBCAM (dbcam.association@yahoo.fr). They will meet you at the airport and organise hotel accommodation and your travel through to Mahajanga on the Friday using specially hired vehicles. The 10 hour drive takes you through different scenery and you will begin to get an understanding of life in Madagascar. The transfers to and from Antananarivo and including hotel accommodation and food costs £150 as opposed to £380 for just the internal flight to Mahajanga! The transfer to the base camp from Mahajanga takes about 5 hours.
Madagascar Mahajanga 2010
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Expedition number |
| Saturday 19 June 2010 | Friday 16 July 2010 | 1 |
The expeditions start on a Saturday at 0800hrs and finish on a Friday at 12noon. However, the start locations vary for the different expeditions. The Kruger projects start and finish from the Inzikazi Camp in the Mdluli Concession at Pretoriuskop, whilst the Pongola projects start and finish at Intibane Reserve Camp near Hluhluwe. The projects in Mozambique and those based at Sodwana Bay also start from Intibane. If you are working on the Kruger or Pongola projects before you join the southern Mozambique projects you will be transferred to the site without needing to return to Intibane. The easiest way to get to these start points is to organise your flight to Johannesburg and then log on to the Wildlife Ecological Investments website (www.wei.org.za). WEI are the NGO that organises the logistics for the research programmes to arrange for your overland return transfers from the airport (7-8 hours) and first nights accommodation online. You will be responsible for these costs £195 (approx $350) before the expedition start time. If you are doing a project in the Welgevonden Reserve the start point would be the Research Camp in the Reserve. Transfers from Johannesburg airport to Welgevonden, which take approximately 3-4 hours can be arranged by WEI for £95 (approx $170). If you are wanting to combine the Welgevonden sites with any of the other sites then you will need to return to Johannesburg and take an overland return transfer to either Intibane (for Pongola and southern Mozambique projects) or Inzikazi (for Kruger projects). Note those joining the projects as Research Assistants or Dissertation/Thesis students can only start in weeks 1, 3, 4 or 7. Research Assistants and Dissertation Students (except at Welgevonden) can move from the bush to the marine side at the end of weeks 2, 4 and 7 only. Welgevonden students have to return to Johannesburg and then move to the marine sites in weeks 5, 7 and 9.
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Week |
| Saturday 12 June 2010 | Friday 18 June 2010 | 1 |
| Saturday 19 June 2010 | Friday 25 June 2010 | 2 |
| Saturday 26 June 2010 | Friday 02 July 2010 | 3 |
| Saturday 03 July 2010 | Friday 09 July 2010 | 4 |
| Saturday 10 July 2010 | Friday 16 July 2010 | 5 |
| Saturday 17 July 2010 | Friday 23 July 2010 | 6 |
| Saturday 24 July 2010 | Friday 30 July 2010 | 7 |
| Saturday 31 July 2010 | Friday 06 August 2010 | 8 |
| Saturday 07 August 2010 | Friday 13 August 2010 | 9 |
| Saturday 14 August 2010 | Friday 20 August 2010 | 10 |
The expeditions start from the Colony Hotel on the Isle of Youth at 0800hrs on the Friday and finish at 1400hrs on the Thursday at the same location. You need to book your international flights to Havana and then take a Cubana Air flight from Havana to the town of Nueva Gerona on the Isle of Youth. Most volunteers will be staying at the Colony Hotel on the Thursday night prior to the expedition so you may need to arrive in Havana by the Wednesday night before the expedition and overnight there. On the return journey, you need to organise your flights from Nueva Gerona on the Thursday after 4pm and can either overnight in Havana (recommended) or take an evening flight home from Havana airport. To organise the internal flights from Havana to Nueva Gerona (and any accommodation outside the expedition start and finish times) you should contact a travel agent in Cuba. We work with a reliable agent called Quick Viaggi who can be contacted on quickviaggi@enet.cu to make these arrangements. Make sure you state that you are with the Operation Wallacea group in order to get the best deals.
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date |
| Friday 30 July 2010 | Thursday 26 August 2010 |
Peru
All expeditions start in Iquitos on a Sunday at 12:00 and finish in Iquitos on a Saturday at 8pm. The cheapest way to get there is to organise your international flights to Lima, Peru and then go to the LAN airlines website (www.lan.com) and book your Lima-Iquitos flights online. Once your flights are booked you need to email AmazonEco (r.bodmer@kent.ac.uk) and they will organise any hotels you need before or after the expedition and arrange for you to be picked up from the airport. Research assistants can sign on to 2, 4, 6 or 8 week expeditions during the Low Water season. Dissertation/Thesis students need to be onsite for 6 to 8 weeks. Note: those joining the projects as Research Assistants, Dissertation/Thesis students can only start in weeks 1, 3 or 5.
| Expedition start date | Expedition end date | Weeks |
| Sunday 20 June 2010 | Saturday 26 June 2010 | 1 |
| Sunday 27 June 2010 | Saturday 3 July 2010 | 2 |
| Sunday 4 July 2010 | Saturday 10 July 2010 | 3 |
| Sunday 11 July 2010 | Saturday 17 July 2010 | 4 |
| Sunday 18 July 2010 | Saturday 24 July 2010 | 5 |
| Sunday 25 July 2010 | Saturday 31 July 2010 | 6 |
| Sunday 1 August 2010 | Saturday 7 August 2010 | 7 |
| Sunday 8 August 2010 | Saturday 14 August 2010 | 8 |
| Expedition Length | UK Sterling | Euros | US Dollars | Canadian Dollars |
| 2 weeks | 975 | 1,250 | 1,800 | 2,000 |
| 4 weeks | 1,850 | 2,400 | 3,400 | 3,800 |
| 6 weeks | 2,500 | 3,250 | 4,500 | 5,200 |
| 8 weeks | 2,950 | 3,800 | 5,300 | 6,100 |
| 10 weeks | 3,350 | 4,400 | 6,100 | 7,000 |
The expeditions are nearly all-inclusive but do not include costs of flights and transport to and from the start of each expedition, accommodation before or after the expeditions, any insurance cover needed beyond medical and evacuation cover, costs of additional elective training (eg canopy access course, dive training beyond PADI Open water), dive equipment rental, PIC cards and PADI training books, local taxes and Park entry fees.
