As we continue to work our way north toward Bolivia we will find ourselves passing through almost the full core of Chile, hopefully we'll manage to see quite a lot of it considering it's an extremely narrow country. The shape of Chile is a distinctive ribbon of land 2,700 miles long and on average 109 miles wide. Its climate varies, ranging from the world's driest desert – the Atacama – in the north, through a Mediterranean in the centre, to a rainy temperate climate in the south.
Along with visiting glaciers, mountains, volcanoes, deserts and hot springs (to name but a few spectaculars) we will also be volunteering to help protect the countries native Chinchillas. Chinchillas are endangered due to exploitation of the animal for fur. Protected wild populations continue to decline. Its habitat is threatened by human land alterations in north central Chile. Without funds, research, and conservation, wild populations will be extinct in the near future
Save the Wild Chinchillas, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization formed to aid in conservation of wild chinchillas. Its goal is to ensure that these endangered animals do not become extinct. In order to meet this goal the organisation has three objectives: educate people of all ages, collect funds to protect land and create sustainable preserves, promote awareness, and foster research.
Currently, the project’s focus is habitat restoration for chinchillas. That means that the work we will be doing involves mainly growing plants in a plant nursery and planting seedlings in the mountains.
This is the volunteer hut we'll probably be staying in! It has bunk-beds and rope swings inside it.
Watch a short video made by previous volunteers below
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