PROGRAM UPDATE - JULY 2020

AFTER HAVING CLOSED OUR PROGRAM IN 2020 DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THE RE-OPENING OF OUR STUDENTS AND VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM IN 2022.

In order to help us achieve our projects´ goals, we welcome the participation of volunteers and students.  We can only host one volunteer/student per project at a time,  so it is very important for us that the person be fully committed to a total immersion in the field for a minimum 60 days stay, and comply with the Instituto Araguaia´s Code of Conduct.

Volunteers may be assigned a specific project to complete during their stay, but will also participate in other projects when necessary. Volunteers and students that come to Cantão are required to be flexible and adaptable. You may stay away from civilisation for weeks.  You may work much of the day outdoors and, depending on the season, it is hot&dry or hot&wet out there. You will work with people from different cultures and of different age groups. Although volunteers are almost always accompanied by one of our experienced local field assistants, you will need to be able to work on your own and expect to multi-task. You will be asked to help us do administrative work, do the weekly food shopping, cook dinner, check the camera-traps etc. In addition, volunteers must have skills for hosting guests our reserves, and do basic administration.  But you will also spend long hours in the great outdoors, with the giant otters and other fauna in the wild and be involved in outreach and education programs. 

Applicants must be interested in animal behavior, ecology, biology, and conservation, as well as in education and in basic relations with the local community.  Foreign Graduate students are welcome, as long as they obtain a proper visa required for doing research in Brazil. Foreign volunteers must hold a passport visa (when required by law) valid throughout their stay in Instituto Araguaia.