First-hand accounts of what it's really like to take part in an Earthwatch expedition. Find out what's great - and what's challenging -about going on an expedition.
Volunteer Voices
Margaret McGuinn - Mountain Waters of the Czech Republic
Jennie Drent - Not Just Whales
Galapagos Notes
Paula Fan
It's 7:30 in the morning in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. "Sharpen your machetes, everyone!" announces our Principal Investigator, Jen Young. She is petite and auburn-haired, with a creamy skin and composed demeanor more suited to an English garden party; all she needs is the wide-brimmed hat. We are a group of twelve, Earthwatch newbies and Earthwatch junkies, from Canada, Mexico, Ireland, England and the US. We come from jobs ranging from brewery environmental manager to biology professor. And there's one middle-aged, out of shape pianist, me.
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Lions of Tsavo
Zoe Gamble
It's 2.30 in the morning and here I am, sitting on the roof of an open top 4 by 4, head torch strapped to my head, a satellite radio tracker in one hand and a clip board resting on my knee. Above me, the star filled sky dazzles like a distant city, as my fellow team mate scores the surrounding shrub land with a spot light, hoping to catch the eye of a lioness on the prowl, a startled Impala or a watchful bush baby...
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Climate Change at the Arctic's Edge
From Child's Play to Expedition
Joanne Edgar
When I was a child, I used to catch holy hell from my mother for digging holes in our front yard. I needed the dirt for the mud pies I served at tea parties for my friends.
I'm beyond mud pies now, but my long-forgotten hole-digging abilities came in handy recently when I found my way to an outpost in northern Manitoba to dig for science...
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Desert Elephants of Namibia
The Best Laid Plans
A Scientist's Field Journal for the Desert Elephants of Namibia
It seemed that I was not destined to get a full night's sleep as on each subsequent night we had thunder and lightning around us at three in the morning. One night the downpour caused thoughts of arks and gathering animals two by two. Recently, I have become alert around 3 a.m., waiting either for elephants to arrive or to be struck by lightning...
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Costa Rican Sea Turtles
My Favorite Expedition
Katie Lueders, Earthwatch Intern
My first encounter with a nesting leatherback occurred under a starry sky on the soft sand of Las Baulas National Park. The moon shone bright off a female's shell as she laboriously maneuvered from the ocean up to the beach to lay her eggs.
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Marine Mammals of Monterey
Dr. Daniela Maldini, Principal Investigator
and Anna Janovicz, Field Assistant and Earthwatch Staff
Today was a good day! We were able to obtain two more biopsy samples from bottlenose dolphins today, and we are optimistic that the identification photos taken will allow us to link the samples with the specific individuals that they were taken from.
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Utah's Feathered Dinosaurs
Kathy Santos - Earthwatch US Webmaster
I'm in the exceedingly small town of Green River, Utah, with 10 Earthwatch volunteers, and we'll soon be digging in the desert for the fossilized bones of Falcarius utahensis, a rather strange beast from the Cretaceous period.
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Kenya's Forest Monkeys
My Summer in Kenya
Barbara Purn - Earthwatch Teacher Fellow
Another task we have is to collect any 'poop' we can positively identify from a particular monkey and to take it to the field station for drying. It will be taken back to the US by our Principal Investigator, Steffan, who then analyzes it for the stress hormones. I've watched the process, but haven't had the privilege of collecting the poop myself, though I'm sure that will come soon enough!
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Sri Lanka's Elephants
Don't Fence Me In: Asian Elephants in Sri Lankan Communities
Linda Reifschneider - Earthwatch Volunteer
Had anyone told me in October 2004 that a trip to Sri Lanka was in my future, I would have just grinned, shook my head and said, "don't think so."
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Grevy's Zebras at Lewa Conservancy
Zebras of a Different Stripe
Jen Goebel
Of the 15,000 Grevy's zebras that once roamed the semiarid areas of Kenya, only about 2,000 remain, predominately in Kenya's Samburu District and Laikipia Plateau, with a small group of about 150 in southern Ethiopia. So, we felt pretty lucky, as we bounced along with our insides doing flips and the car stereo threatening to crash onto the floorboards, that we were seeing these zebras in the wild.
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Whale Sharks of Ningaloo Reef
Swimming with the Whale Sharks
Team 3 Members: Jamie Friedland, Jonathan Horan, Rochelle Youngson, Cara Price, and Kathy Zischka
... What seemed like a dreary day first thing in the morning turned out to be a spectacular one. Our first stop off was to have a snorkel and get a feel for the gear before we headed out to whale sharks. Not long after this the boat received its first radio advice that a whale shark had been spotted.
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Whale Sharks of Ningaloo Reef
Swimming with the Whale Sharks
Team 2 Members
A gorgeous day in Exmouth for the Earthwatch volunteers. The smell of warm bread greets us as we wake to another perfect day at North West Cape. A few quick yoga stretches in front of the rising sun in an attempt to warm up for a day with swimming with the biggest of fish.
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Leatherback Turtles of St. Croix
Saving the Leatherback Turtle
Rob Miller - Earthwatch Volunteer
After 6 months of waiting, our Earthwatch Institute trip to St Croix has arrived. The trip is a gift from Karyn and myself to help celebrate my 40th birthday. Karyn chose her trip last year. The trip to St Croix involves 4 days of pure vacation, primarily snorkeling and scuba diving, followed by 11 days of volunteer work with the endangered Leatherback sea turtles as part of the Earthwatch Institute. Karyn and I are both huge turtle fans, so this is set up to be a great trip.
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Amazon Riverboat Exploration
The Elusive Uakari
Kris Dreessen - Earthwatch Volunteer
After a few minutes, Juan stops. Ah well, we were close. He stares at the forest floor as if in defeat, then points his hand to the trees above us as if ending a concerto. I follow his fingertips up to the treetops. The uakaris! They are almost directly above us in "bacacho" trees, crossing to and fro, chowing down on fruit. Their fur is cinnamon, their faces cherry red.
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Amazon Riverboat Exploration
Mary Rowe - Earthwatch Expedition Coordinator and Volunteer
Malene (Earthwatch Senior Expedition Advisor) and I retrieve our luggage from Lan Peru. It's been baptized by some sort of fish sauce, and we spend the rest of the journey letting it air out outside our cabin.
Tip No. 1: Always line your duffel bag with plastic bags.
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Hunting for Caterpillars in La Selva (Costa Rica)
Dr. Lee Dyer - Principal Investigator of the Forest Caterpillar Project
Today in the field I was thinking about how this rainforest doesn't have the same feel as it did 10 years ago. Of course, the region has seen some of the same negative changes as the rest of the natural world in the 20th century, but I was focusing on my improved perspective on the forest. I am no longer afraid. Or, put more accurately, I now relish my fears.
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Dolphins of Greece
Dolphins of the Ionian Sea - Team 1, Day 7
Jen Alger - Program Manager, Earthwatch Europe
...today we head out in our NovaMarine RIB at 08.30 hrs to our most easterly transect in glass-like waters with the sun shining over the mountainous landscape. Seconds after reaching our transect starting point, Silvia Bonizzoni, Research Team Member, shouts "OUT, 11 O'CLOCK!" A dorsal fin has been spotted approximately 100 meters from our boat.
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Pantanal
The Pantanal: Flooded With Life
Ken Mallory - Earthwatch Volunteer
As we approached our destination, an oasis called the Fazenda Rio Negro loomed just a few hundred feet below. We came to rest on a grassy runway in the middle of the Pantanal, the Portuguese word for swamp and the largest tropical wetland on the planet.
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Whale Sharks of Ningaloo Reef
Philip Johansson - Earthwatch Staff
This place feels like the end of the world...what better place to find the biggest fish in the world? Exmouth is on a long cape sticking out into the Indian Ocean, with big blue skies and red, rolling hills covered with scrubby vegetation.
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Maternal and Child Healthcare in India
Sara Monajem - Earthwatch Volunteer
Nalamdana translates "Are you well?" in Tamil. It is also the name of a non-governmental organization based in Chennai, whose founders were convinced of the effectiveness of street theatre for delivery of health messages to semi-literate population in the State of Tamil Nadu.
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Singing Whales of Puerto Rico
Jen Goebel - Earthwatch Senior Writer
We did see whales today, from the lighthouse, which is our on-shore lookout station. Up until today, the researchers didn't know if the whales were back yet. None of the dive boats or fishermen had reported seeing them, so we were actually surprised when we spotted some blows in the distance.
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Moose and Wolves
Dead Moose in Thick Forests
Barry Goldstein - Earthwatch volunteer
Ouch! Another wall of scratchy spruce ahead, with their sharp dead lower branches. And a fallen "great-great-grandfather" of a spruce, with broken pointed stubs of branches. So, we go around. And then...
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Lakes of the Rift Valley
Lanette Woo - HSBC Sponsored Earthwatch Volunteer
The region known as the Lakes of the Rift Valley was formed by a geologic phenomenon that occurred approximately 20 million years ago. The earth's crust violently broke apart and created a rift that ran for thousands of miles north and south, dividing what is now known as Kenya. The land on the sides pulled away in opposite directions and rose up to form great volcanic mountains, new watersheds and a series of lakes whereas the land in the middle sank to form a valley.
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French Fort of Mauritius
Jonathan Howe - Earthwatch Volunteer
6:00 a.m.
I open my eyes and ponder three geckos on the ceiling of our comfortable bungalow for a moment before I pull myself out of bed. After working hard in the bright sun yesterday, the team went to bed happily exhausted and early, so we're on our feet easily this morning.
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