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Tours - Planet Earth Programs
- Worldwide Destinations
Nature and Wildlife Tours
Get Involved! Discover butterflies and insects on a tropical forest tour. Then help build a new insect house at a local butterfly breeding farm.
Explore the side of a volcano and peer down into the cone. Then help repair the path to the summit.
Learn about seabirds on a tour of Britain. Then help make signs to guide local bird enthusiasts.
Through our service-learning tours, Casterbridge links active involvement with nature and wildlife alongside volunteering on local nature projects.
Our Planet Earth service-learning tours aim to develop a lifelong interest in nature, service and learning about the planet we live on. We hope they will promote understanding of local issues, as well as a deeper understanding of the interrelatedness of communities and the environment from all around the world.
Nature and Wildlife Tours for Schools and Universities
Casterbridge Planet Earth offers nature and wildlife tours specifically designed for student groups. These programs are intended to introduce young people to aspects of our natural environment that have been taught in the classroom as part of your school curriculum.
They will include varied cultural experiences, recreational activities, and some volunteering in the region of your choice.
In many cases, our school tours are specifically designed as an extension of classroom teaching, where hands-on experiences and interactive learning are top priorities.
- A safari in Kenya to see lions, giraffes, zebra, buffalo, and baboons
- A trip to nature reserves in Australia to see kangaroos, wallabies, and koala bears
- A cruise on the Amazon to observe dolphins, caymans, howler monkeys, and macaws
- A coach tour to Yellowstone to see bears, elk, beavers, moose – and perhaps a wolf!
- A South African safari to Kruger National Park, with excursions to Mozambique
- A trip to the Darling River basin in Australia to observe the ecosystem
- A mountain tour of the Andes to observe alpine flora and fauna
- Eight days in the Louisiana bayous investigating the habitat of alligators
Planet Earth – The Global Classroom
As required, we can take your classroom lessons and course curriculums and see how they relate to the reality of a local region, with its unique geology, wildlife, flora, and fauna. We can take you to a variety of sites, such as bio-reserves and national parks – whether they are volcanoes, river basins, or coral reefs – and let your students examine them for themselves.
By linking direct interaction with nature and wildlife with community involvement and volunteerism, your group will feel they are not merely observing, but are proactively engaged in helping to preserve the fragile ecosystems and rare species they have come to see.
In short, we aim to provide those interested in nature and wildlife with a travel experience that combines academic goals with meaningful service that will make a difference to local animal life and the land or environment of the region being visited.
However, while education is central to these tours, wider cultural experiences and plenty of time for recreation are also factored in.
Tours for Alumni Associations, Zoos and Non-Profit Organizations
Our Planet Earth Programs for adult and alumni groups being a higher profile for two aspects: the level of volunteering and the level of cultural interaction.
These tours are intended for groups who wish to perform a reasonably intense level of service in a region or community and who may have specific skills or experience to donate and share. They are also for people who wish to learn about other cultures and take from them new learning that they can apply at home.
Examples are:
- Volunteering on a reforestation and species conservation project in Madagascar
- Volunteering on a wolf reintroduction program in Arizona
- Building tourist cabins in a nature reserve in Chile
- Volunteering in the Spanish Pyrenees
These programs are very much about mutual sharing, intellectual insights and cultural interaction as equals, rather than expecting to go and “Teach the locals how it should be done.” We very much respect the cultures of other people and feel they have a tremendous amount to offer us all.
Register to plan a group service tour with Casterbridge, either online or by calling 1-800-522-2398. Start planning your service travel program today!
