Adventure Alternative
Live in a model green village in the Himalayas, trek to the base camp of Mount Everest or work with street children in Kenya for two to three months.
Cost: £1,095-£2,300
Contact: 02870 831 258; www.adventurealternative.com
African Conservation Experience
Rehabilitate game animals or help with their capture and tagging in South Africa and Botswana. Trips last from two weeks to three months.
Cost: £995-£5,090 (flights, food and accommodation included)
Contact: 0870 241 5816; www.conservationafrica.net
Africa Impact
Choose from football development projects in Zambia, wildlife photography in South Africa or elephant, lion and leopard research in Botswana for one month to six weeks.
Cost: £700-£2,195
Contact: 00263 4 252 710; www.africanimpact.com
BUNAC
Volunteering placements include everything from teaching in China and engineering in Ghana to helping at a landmine museum in Cambodia. Also offers paid work placements in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and America.
Cost: £250-£900
Contact: 020-7251 3472; www.bunac.org/uk
Bruce Organisation
Volunteer in South America’s poorest communities for three to 12 months as a teaching assistant. Be part of a charity that gets out-of-school children to return to the classroom.
Cost: £284 per month
Contact: 0051 44 949 924 445; www.bruceperu.org
Camphill Communities
Join communities for disabled children and adults all over the world and help out with therapy support, workshops and recreational activities.
Cost: No fee
Contact:01384 441 680; www.camphill.org.uk
Camp America
Spend your summer in the USA working as a camp counsellor for a drama camp or a special needs camp or perhaps even a holiday resort. Pocket money is provided.
Cost: £380
Contact: 020-7581 7373; www.campamerica.co.uk
Changing Worlds
You can work on a stud farm in New Zealand, for an Argentine law firm, as aDJ in Honduras or as a journalist in India, to name a few of the projects on offer.
Cost: £1,645-£3,975
Contact: 01883 340 960; www.changingworlds.co.uk
Community Service Volunteers (CSV)
Reduce your carbon footprint by staying in the UK to volunteer. Work in refugee programmes, in homeless shelters and young offenders institutions or care for disabled students.
Cost: Free accommodation and food, with weekly allowance
Contact:0800374 991; www.csv.org.uk
Explore
Take a voyage to Antarctica, discover Buddhism in Tibet, cycle around Cuba, traverse China’s Silk Road, learn bush skills in a Zulu village in South Africa and much much more. Trips last up to a month.
Cost: £350-£7,389
Contact: 0845 013 1537; www.explore.co.uk
Florence Institute
Spend 14 weeks living in Florence studying Renaissance art, modern Italian art and the Italian language.
Cost: £950
Contact: 0039 055 23 02481; www.florence-institute.com
Gap Guru
Explore India by working for a not-for-profit organisation that promotes rock music or spend your time helping with crocodile conservation. Alternatively work as a product designer for an interior design company. All projects are in India and last one to six months.
Cost: £695-£2,030
Contact:0800032 33 50; www.gapguru.com
GapYear.com
A website providing useful information and advice for the prospective gap year student. Talk to gappers who have been away with a certain company or get advice on whether or not to stay with a host family.
Contact: 08453447667; www.gapyear.com
Gap Year for Grown Ups
Spend a year travelling the world or run workshops to improve the self-esteem of children in Argentina. As long as you’re a grown up, you’re welcome to choose from an interesting array of programmes.
Cost: £349-£11,699
Contact:01892 701881; www.gapyearforgrownups.co.uk
Global Xperience
Choose from a wide array of conservation, teaching, community and health projects in 21 countries. Other possibilities include coaching sports, paid TEFL placements or extreme expeditions.
Cost: £295-£3,295
Contact: 0800 881 88 88; www.globalxperience.com
Global Volunteer Network
Promote awareness of Global warming and climate change in New Zealand’s Nature Programme or care for abused animals in Thailand. Many more placements available, lasting two weeks to six months.
Cost: £275-3,870
Contact: 0800 0325035; www.globalvolunteernetwork.org
Global Xchange
Take part in a new initiative run jointly by the British Council and VSO. Spend six months volunteering with young people from different countries in an exchange programme whereby you spend half the time in their country and half in the UK.
Cost:£600, all other costs covered
Contact:020-8780 7500; www.globalxchange.org.uk
i-to-i
Choose from the ultimate beach lovers’ gap year, the animal lovers option or do it all with their round the world trip covering seven countries in 24weeks.
Cost: £2,295-£5,925
Contact: 0800 011 1156; www.i-to-i.com
International Voluntary Service
Rebuild a temple in Indonesia, make lanterns for a Japanese festival, take part in reforestation in Ecuador, build toilets in Lesotho. These projects last from three to 12 months and are continually changing.
Cost: £145
Contact: 0131 243 2745; www.ivsgb.org.uk
Lattitude
Spend five months to a year teaching in Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, working in a Red Cross hospital in Japan, or volunteering with an NGO in Fiji to name a few of the projects available.
Cost: £1,500
Contact: 0118 959 4914; www.lattitude.org.uk
Nabuur.com
Support communities in Africa without leaving your desk. Help youth groups to write funding proposals or help them find much needed equipment such as an overhead projector.
Cost: Free
Contact: www.nabuur.com
NONSTOP
Ski and Snowboard Qualify as a ski or snowboard instructor in three to 11 weeks in Canada. Also see sister company NONSTOP. Sail if you want to train to be a skipper. Cost: £2,300-£8,650
Contact: 0845 365 1525; www.nonstopski.com , www.nonstopsnowboard.com , www.nonestopsail.com
Oz Bus
Travel overland from London to New York through 13 counties in 20 weeks. If you can’t face that, then shorter routes include London to Sydney, Nairobi to Capetown, Turkey to Nepal and internal trips within Australia.
Cost: £490-£3,850
Contact:020-8641 1443; www.oz-bus.com
Plymouth-Dakar Challenge
If you want to really get off the beaten track then why not drive from the UK to Timbuktu. Takes three weeks and your vehicle must cost less than £100.
Cost: Approximately £1,000-£1,500
Contact: www.plymouthdakar.co.uk
Projects Abroad
This gap year company offers anything and everything for the adventurous gapper. Work on human rights in Togo or veterinary medicine in India. Placements for two weeks, three months or longer.
Cost: £495-£3,595
Contact:01903 708300; www.projects-abroad.co.uk
Raleigh International
Join one of the four- to 10-week expeditions to Costa Rica & Nicaragua, India or Borneo. They are all split into three phases – community work, conservation work and a final adventure.
Cost: £1,500-£2,995
Contact:020-7183 1270; www.raleighinternational.org
Real Gap
A wide range of gap travel opportunities - from two weeks to two years, 500 programmes in 45 countries - covering conservation, volunteering, teaching, paid work, expeditions, tours. And even Latin dancing.
Costs : £349- £11,699
Contact: 01892 516164 www.realgap.co.uk
Ripple Africa
If you are training as a teacher, nurse or doctor or are already qualified, then this company offers some very worthwhile projects in Malawi. They last from one week to one year.
Cost: £150-£3,200
Contact:01525 216346; www.rippleafrica.org
SHAD
Volunteering opportunities in the UK. The scheme aims to provide people with disabilities with the same freedom of choice that is available to the able-bodied.
Cost: £60 allowance
Contact:020-8675 6095; www.shad.org.uk
Sport Lived
Want to go down under? Enjoy playing sports? Then choose from one of their 21 sports programmes in New Zealand and Australia lasting two to six months.
Cost: £2,495-£5,295
Contact:0870 950 3837; www.sportlived.co.uk
Student Partnerships Worldwide
Spend four to 11 months in India, Nepal, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, or Zambia working on community led projects such as HIV/Aids education and youth empowerment.
Cost: £3,600 donation
Contact:020-7490 0100; www.spw.org
Travel Alive
Explore Nicaragua and Ecuador by living with a host family, studying the language and volunteering in the local community. Cost: £630-£4,440
Contact: 00 1 708 434 0448; www.travelalive.com
Travel Works
Work abroad in as a professional flower picker in Canada, clean sheepskins on a farm in Australia or train to be a cowboy in New Zealand.
Cost:£670-£1,100
Contact: 0844 5765 411; www.travelworks.co.uk
VEEP
Nepal Immerse yourself in Nepalese culture by working in an orphanage, teaching English, learning the Nepali language, building schools and health posts, or raising awareness of environmental and health issues. Projects last two weeks to five months.
Cost: £200-£670
Contact: 00 9 771 449 7282; www.veepnepal.org.np
Village Education Project (Kilimanjaro)
Immerse yourself in the local Tanzanian community while teaching village children on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Cost: £2,900
Contact:01732 743000; www.kiliproject.org
Volunteer Africa
If you know you want to volunteer in Africa, their website has lots to offer. Work in an orphanage or on a community development project in rural parts of Tanzania for four to 12 weeks.
Cost: £1,050-1,950
Contact: support@volunteerafrica.org; www.volunteerafrica.org
WLS International
Discover Asia by teaching English in Cambodia, work with street children in Vietnam or help at an orphanage in Thailand. Projects last one to 12 weeks.
Cost: £310-£1,240
Contact: 0870 479 5145; www.gapyearinasia.com
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