Global Vision International Volunteers in Patagonia, South America

This is the latest update from the Global Vision International volunteers in Patagonia, South America.

Weather has been crazy a few days this last week, with snow, high winds and a lot of rain, but apart from that, spring is coming, and the weather is getting nicer (sometimes).

The second roundup of the Guanaco project worked out well, the team helped round up and sheered close to 70 animals. The project was a full success and all people involved were sad to say goodbye to the friends they made up there in the last 10 days.

Having finished the Guanaco project in the north, the group has arrived in Lanin national park after 2 days on the road, in the middle of the week. Stephen Meyer, GVI’s Country Director, joined the Expedition Member (volunteer) group for 4 days in their base camp in Tromen, helping them start the wild boar transects. Hernan, the local scientist of this project joined us and helped with methodologies and answered any questions about conservation in the park and the animals there in general.

Due to the exceptionally cold winter, some of the transects are in areas that are still covered by about 1.5 meters of snow, making work very hard at the moment. Quite a lot of wild boar signs were found on the transects we completed, topped by a relatively fresh wild boar which was most likely killed by a puma, just about 500m away from the camp.

The kayak phase started with heavy winds and rain/snow storms. Everybody survived the rescue drills having to go for an intentional swim after capsizing the boat in the icy glacier water of the lake.

After sitting out the stormy second day at the camp, the group was finally able to go on an overnight trip along the amazing shores of the many islands in the lake.

Three days ago they transferred to the base of Cerro Tronador and made their way up to Refugio Meiling where they were introduced to self arrest with an ice ax and glacier travel techniques. They are planning to attempt the argentine summit in the next 48 hours, depending on wind and snow conditions.

Volunteer with Global Vision International

With over 100 personnel in 30 countries GVI supports many of the most critical conservation and humanitarian projects around the globe. Join challenging expeditions as diverse as marine conservation in Mexico and the Seychelles, wildlife conservation in the Amazon, Costa Rica, South Africa and Kenya, community development in Mexico and high altitude exploration in Patagonia.

Aussie Escape is proud to have Global Vision International as one of our partners. They specialise in volunteer experiences all over the world and will ensure your travelling experience makes a difference.