Dates and prices

Costs

The costs of the expeditions are the same for each country as listed below. These costs include all the food, accommodation, £1 million medical and evacuation insurance cover, participation in the survey programme, training courses such as jungle training and forest ecology and dive training to PADI Open Water, medical and safety cover and transfers around the projects from the start point to end point of each expedition. 

Note you need to pay in the currency of your resident country if that is £ sterling, Euros, US$ or Can$. If it is none of these currencies then you need to pay in US$.

What is not included

Each research site will involve a few additional costs over and above the fee payable to Opwall and the partner travel agency.  The costs not covered are: any insurance cover needed beyond medical and evacuation cover, costs of additional elective training (e.g. canopy access course, dive training beyond PADI Open Water), dive equipment rental, PIC cards and PADI training books, local taxes and Park entry fees.  The detailed guidance notes on the Opwall website for each country quantify any additional costs but these are not substantial in any of the countries. 

Organising transport to the expedition

There are two ways of organising your transport to and from the start and finish point of the expeditions.  You can use the partner travel agencies STA Travel (UK, US and Australia) or Victor Travel (Canada) who will organise all your travel arrangements.  Alternatively, you can put together the travel arrangements yourself using the contacts at the top of the dates for each country. The travel partners use exactly the same in-country partners as those listed above each of the country expedition dates.  It is slightly more expensive than booking directly with the in-country partners but has the advantage that it is a lot less work, the travel arrangements are all bonded and, if you miss one connection, you don’t have to buy a replacement from your own money.

Indonesia

The start point of the expeditions if you are joining the Lambusango forests programme for your first week is Bau Bau on Buton Island in SE Sulawesi on Thursday at 1300hrs.  If you are joining the marine based programme for your first week, the expeditions start in Wanci Island in the Wakatobi Marine National Park on Thursday at 1400hrs.  The end point of the expedition for those returning from the marine sites will be Wanci Island on Wednesday at 1700hrs; for those returning from the forest sites, the finish will be in Bau Bau on Wednesday at 1200hrs.

Getting to site cost effectively involves contacting a range of in-country providers for different parts of the journey; so in this case it is much easier and cheaper to work through STA Travel or Victor Travel (Canadians only) to book all your transportation.

Honduras

For those starting in the forest, expeditions start in San Pedro Sula on Wednesday at 0700hrs. For those starting on one of the marine sites, the expeditions start in the town of La Ceiba on Wednesday at 1400hrs. The end point for volunteers leaving from the forest sites is San Pedro Sula on Tuesday at 1200hrs. The end point for volunteers leaving from the marine sites is La Ceiba on Tuesday at 0800hrs. If you are not using STA Travel or Victor Travel (Canadians only) to organise your flights, you will need to book your flight into San Pedro Sula on the Tuesday before the expedition and contact Maya Temple Tours (opwall@mayatempletours.com) who will arrange for your airport transfer and hotel accommodation for the night. You can book your flight leaving San Pedro Sula anytime after 1400hrs on the Tuesday at the end of the expedition.

South Africa and Mozambique

The expeditions start on a Saturday at 0800hrs and finish on a Friday at 0800hrs. If you are going to the Mdluli Concession (projects coded SM) for your first week, the start point would be the Insikazi Camp at Numbi Gate into Kruger.  If you are going to Thanda in KwaZulu Natal (projects coded ST), your start point would be the Intibane Research Centre at Thanda. If you are going directly to Mozambique for diving (projects coded MM), your start point would be Thobeka Lodge in Kosi Bay, South Africa.  Depending on where you finish your last week, the finish points are the same (i.e. Insikazi Camp, Intibane Research Centre or Thobeka Lodge). If you want to organise your travel yourself, you need to book your flight to Johannesburg arriving at least by 0800hrs on the Friday before your expedition start date and then contact Wildlife & Ecological Investments (opwall@wei.org.za) to arrange for your overland return transfers from the airport and first night’s accommodation.  You can book your return flight from Johannesburg leaving after 2100hrs on the Friday of your expedition end.

Peru

All expeditions start in Iquitos on a Sunday at 1200hrs and finish in Iquitos on a Friday at 2000hrs.  Research Assistants can only start in weeks 1, 3, 5 or 7. If you are making your own travel arrangements, you need to book a flight arriving into Iquitos at least by 0900hrs on the Sunday of your expedition start. You can book your return flight leaving Iquitos anytime on the Saturday after your expedition.

Madagascar

The expedition starts on Saturday at 1600hrs at Ifotaka village and finishes on Friday at 0800hrs at Ifotaka village. If you are arranging your own travel, you need to organise a flight to Antananarivo to arrive at least 24 hours before your start date and time and contact Shaun Reveley (ecotour@moov.mg) and he will arrange for your internal flights to Fort Dauphin and onward transfer to the village of Ifotaka. Return flights from Antananarivo should be booked for at least 24 hours after the finish date and time.

Egypt

The expeditions start from the Fox Camp at St Katherine on a Sunday at 1200hrs and finish on Saturday at 0800hrs at Nuweiba.  This is one of the sites where you can organise a flight through a budget airline (Easyjet – www.easyjet.com) to arrive in Sharm el Sheikh at least by 0800hrs on the Sunday of your expedition start date and then contact the Nature and Science Foundation for Egypt (opwall@nsfegypt.org) to organise your transfers to and from the start and finish points of the expeditions. Your return flight out of Sharm el Sheikh can be booked for after 1400hrs on the Saturday of your expedition end date.

Guyana

The expeditions start on a Tuesday at 1800hrs and finish on a Monday at 1200hrs at the Iwokrama Research Centre. If you are organising your own travel arrangements, you will need to book your flights arriving into Georgetown on the Monday before your expedition starts. Then contact Nadia Salick at Iwokrama (nsalick@iwokrama.org) who will organise overnight accommodations and transfers to the expedition site. You can book your return flight departing Georgetown on the Tuesday after your expedition ends.

 

Cuba

The expeditions start on a Friday at 0800hrs at the Colony Hotel, Isla de la Juventud, and finish on a Thursday at 1400hrs at the same location.  If you are arranging your own travel rather than using STA Travel or Victor Travel (Canadians), you need to book your international flights to Havana arriving at least by Wednesday.  You will then need to contact Quick Viaggi (quickviaggi@enet.cu) who will book your internal flight to Nueva Gerona on Isla de la Juventud and all accommodations and transfers outside of the expedition dates. On the return journey, you can book your flight from Nueva Gerona to Havana later on Thursday evening or, if the flight is full, Friday morning and your flight out of Havana leaving Friday  afternoon.

Mexico
The expeditions start at Calakmul on a Monday at 1300hrs and finish on a Sunday at 1200hrs at Akumal in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.  If you are organising your own transportation, you need to arrive into Cancun on the Sunday before your expedition.  You can book your return flight from Cancun leaving Sunday evening at the end of your expedition. If you are travelling from North America, you can visit www.cheapflights.com or other budget airline websites.  If you are travelling from the UK, you can visit Thomas Cook, Thomson Holidays, British Airways (which all offer direct flights from the UK to Cancun), or www.cheapflights.co.uk.  Once you have booked your international flight, you need to organise the overland transfer with our in-country partners (manzanosexpeditions@gmail.com).