Volunteer As A Trailbuilder In The Caucasus!

Basic Rules & Expectations

We expect all volunteers to:

• Respect wildlife, ecology, infrastructure and other visitors: practice minimal impact camping, respect facilities, maintain tidiness and order, keep noise to a minimum.
• Respect other team members: follow directions of staff members, recognize the challenges of living and working here, and accept delays and changes of plan.
• Respect your fellow volunteers: learn their language, accept and embrace their differences, help out and do more than your share (wash dishes, wake up early, offer to help) and have fun.
• Do not buy or consume alcohol or illegal drugs while on the work crew.
• Maintain a positive, enthusiastic, understanding attitude, and understand that the volunteer program is one of many components of creating this new trail.
• Arrive to meet your group on the first day of the program and leave on the last – we cannot accommodate different dates than those outlined below. Volunteers who stay for a day after their volunteer week ends can arrange accommodation ahead of time with the volunteer coordinator.
• Be 18 years old or over, for liability reasons.

Language

• The working language for the volunteer program is English, with a lot of translated Georgian mixed in. The ability to communicate and follow directions in English is a must.
• You will be working alongside local volunteers, so some knowledge of Georgian or Russian is useful, but not essential.

Field Work

• We expect that volunteers join us to work hard and make a contribution. If your primary goal is traveling and exploring Georgia, this program might not be for you.
• Work is hard physical labor outdoors and can be repetitive and mundane. You should expect to work 8 hours a day, for 7 days in a row. Volunteers should be in good physical shape and health to participate in the program. Certain jobs are extremely physically demanding.
• Work plans shift according to our needs. You may find yourself assisting with trail repair, constructing new trails or trail structures (i.e. digging and moving dirt), clearing undergrowth, painting trail blazes, or installing signs, and we ask you to be flexible.
• Volunteers may have to hike up to 15 kilometers a day to reach and return from the basecamps and/or work sites. Be prepared for long days, even in bad weather. Hikes may be off-trail and may include river crossings, rock scrambling, and significant changes in elevation.

Camping

• You will stay in your tent for your whole time in the field. Be prepared for cold nights and high winds: bring a warm sleeping bag (comfortable to at least 4ºC/40Fº), a good sleeping pad, and a sturdy 3-season tent.
• In the field, you’ll stay at a remote basecamp with a basic common/cooking area. There are no showers in the field – expect to go 7 days without access to a shower. If you’d like, consider bringing a SunShower or other camping shower, but be aware that access to water may be limited or distant.
• When you return from the field to the volunteer house, you will have access to a shower. You’ll need it!

Food & Water

• In the field, volunteers cook together on a basic camp stove. A member of the project staff will supervise meal preparation. Ingredients in the field are limited – think simple camping cooking. Due to the remote location, you may have limited fresh vegetables, meats, and dairy products, but lots of pasta, rice, lentils, bread, oatmeal, cookies, etc. All food is shared within the group.
• We will have plenty of calories available for the crew, but if you’d like to bring some snacks of your own, we encourage you to do so. We have only instant coffee, so bring ground coffee if that is important to you.
• If you have a dietary restriction, please know that it is difficult to accommodate food preferences and allergies. We can easily accommodate vegetarians – most of the meals prepared at camp will be lacto-ovo-vegetarian friendly (not vegan) – but please be aware that due to the remote location, a wide variety of food is not always available.
• Clean water will be available at all times. We will purify drinking water at basecamp using a gravity filter system, and boil water for cooking. 

Safety

• Although your Volunteer Crew Leader will have first aid training, access to medical facilities is difficult. The closest facilities are basic and may involve a journey of several hours. If you have significant medical issues, the program may not be for you. Please let us know about any health concerns in advance.
• When in the field, volunteers are in communication with basecamp by satellite messenger and limited phone check-ins. The group makes scheduled check-ins twice a day: one in the morning, one in the evening. This system works most of the time, but communication is limited. Please consider if you are comfortable with this level of risk and limited communication with the outside world.
• Volunteer groups have a satellite device with an SOS button for emergency use. Nevertheless, search and rescue operations in remote locations will take at least several hours to coordinate and may be hindered by circumstances outside of our control. An emergency action plan will be in place, but all of our working procedures emphasize prevention of emergency situations.

Communications

•  There will not be cell phone service in the field. If constant connectivity is important to you, consider this when making your decision to volunteer.

Learning and Education

• One of the goals of the volunteer program is to give hands-on experience to interested conservationists. We aim to have all volunteers leave the trail with more awareness of the components and challenges of large-scale international conservation projects.
• Once you have completed the program, we encourage you to become our ambassador and to share your experience with as many people as possible.