if it’s not strictly about science and/or animals: service civil international (SCI) offers cheap (you pay for your trip there, that’s it) experiences where you join important civil or social projects.
wen’t farming with a bunch of ex-junkies as a teenager. was nice, would recommend
Kind of in that same vein is workaway, some very cool experiences to be found
Honestly we need more adult only recreational areas in general.
As a grown ass man I’d love to play on a playground or at an arcade without other parents looking at me like I’m shopping for a kid to steal
Barcades are a thing! You don’t have to drink, if that’s not your bag either
Get children and get to play with them
Fuuuuck that. I’m not some breeder with an animalistic urge to spread my seed and bring an unwilling life into this shitty world that’s already dealing with overpopulation. How incredibly selfish and irresponsible do you have to be?
So, yes actually. Check out earthwatch.org, they offer trips where you participate in ecological research and/or conservation efforts. For example, here is a 2-week trip focused around counting animal populations in the Mongolian steppe:
https://earthwatch.org/expeditions/wildlife-mongolian-steppe
These trips are somewhat pricy (this one is US$4250), but typically include room and board for the entire period and all local travel. Also:
As a paying volunteer, you directly fund scientific research by covering permits, equipment, and other costs while supporting local vendors.
Here is one studying sea turtles in Costa Rica:
https://earthwatch.org/expeditions/costa-rican-sea-turtles
You do have to make your own arrangements for traveling to wherever the research location is.
Earthwatch Institute has been around since 1971 and has a pretty good reputation, so I believe the trips are reasonably safe.
Thank you this is exactly what i was looking for. Cataloguing critters I found on a marine reserve in the Bahamas last week was so interesting but doing it all without any experts to learn from was lonely.
What kinds of critters? 👀
Mostly I was checking out the fish and invertebrates coming up into the shallow waters and rock pools. Filed my first ever inaturalist observations!
Congratulations on iNaturalist! We use images from iNaturalist on Wikipedia all the time, so we’re intensely grateful for the work y’all do. Did you see any crustaceans by chance?
Wow, I didn’t know that! I move a lot around my country for my work and I make it an habit to snap pictures and post any interesting flora and fauna to iNaturalist. Many times I even post pics of common weeds and I found out they have some cool names and properties! In fact I learned about a lot of new herbs which I thought were just weed. I love iNaturalist, learned a lot from the community. Everybody should give it a try. What’s normal or common for you might be a new discovery for someone else.
It was so hard to get a good look at them but some of the rock pools had some kind of shrimp in them. I could just barely make them out, and definitely couldn’t get any pictures. Love seeing invertebrates!
Oh hell yeah. I don’t do too much research into shrimps, but if you ever fall way too far down that rabbit hole, the guy to go to is Sammy De Grave at the University of Oxford. He works on WoRMS (the World Register of Marine Species) and absolutely loves caridean shrimp. Really nice guy.
Yeah I’ve been salivating at some of their trips. But it’s really pricey.
But it’s really pricey.
Yeah lol. Not for people in third world countries. 😪
Some of their trips go to jungles in third world countries, if you catch my drift
Holy shit thank you for this.
I’d consider popping over to Mongolia and helping with grunt work, but $4000? Do they have a cheaper package where you bring your own motorbike, food, tent, gear, etc?
That’s just called “going camping” and it probably costs more than 4 grand to get all that shit to Mongolia.
Depends on where you are, Ill probably be in NE China again by summer, so a sleeper train to the border would cost ~50USD depending on city, then there’s daily buses to ulaanbaatar.
Then buy a used motorbike and sell it when you’re finished.
In the Spring, you can help man the fish doorbell. It’s good fun for the second monitor, if you have one.
Context copied from the linked page:
"Every spring, thousands of fish swim through Utrecht’s canals and waterways, searching for a place to spawn and reproduce.
In the heart of the city lies the beautiful Weerdsluis, a manually operated lock. When the lock gates are closed, fish are forced to wait, wasting valuable time and energy – making them easy prey for birds and predatory fish.
To help the fish, an underwater camera is installed at the lock. If fish appear on screen, you can press the doorbell! This alerts the lock keeper, who will open the lock when many fish are waiting. You can “ring” the Fish Doorbell from early March to late May
People do so enthusiastically every year. In 2024, the Fish Doorbell attracted around 2.7 million viewers, from America to Brazil! The project has gained global recognition, helping people worldwide learn about fish migration and Utrecht’s underwater world."
From America to Brazil? That’s not so world-wide…
Also, Brazil is IN America …
It is when you go east. Or west.
World-side?
So neat.
Yes! Our local geology clubs offer field trips for members, including mineral and fossil digs!
Trail maintenance crews can be a great time!
Several years ago we backpacked in and spent a week rerouting a switchback on the PCT in Jefferson Park.
Pacific crest trail association was my favorite.
What’s rerouting a switchback if I may ask ?
A switchback is when a trail zig-zags (reverses direction multiple times times) to reduce the slope or grade of the path up/down a hill/slope.
Here’s an example:
Rerouting it is just changing the location of the trail. This is done when an older trail has irreparable damage or was poorly designed leading to excess erosion or otherwise to improve quality/safety and reduce maintenance.
Ah i see ! Thank you
I would totally go to a camp that involved turtle weighing. Any activity involving turtles, really! They’re so shelly aww
I volunteer for a museum, and sometimes it is like a camp for adults. It’s a flight museum and we maintain antique aircraft in a flyable state. Sometimes I get to fly, and I’m always finding opportunities to tell people about how awesome these planes are, and the history behind them. And what I have heard from others, different museums are just the same, like being in camp.
More of a self-directed way, but check out eBird for submitting bird observations and iNaturalist for almost everything else. The cool part about iNaturalist is that your observations also get identified by other people, so you know the submissions have been reviewed. And you could help identify others’ observations too.
Love iNaturalist. Merlin Bird ID is a nice bird call identifier. I also like PlantNet to help with plant identification.
Over the summer, archeologist groups look for helpers. Here is an example. It’s often mostly grunt work in a bigger group.
There are also plenty of small seminars scattered around the world with artisans teaching their techniques. A friend of mine made a sword for example.
Do you have advice on how to find this kind of artisan seminar?
Edit: I realised this question might be too broad, so I’ll narrow the scope. How did your friend find out about the blacksmithing workshop?
Googling seems quite effective, honestly. For example here
For my friend, I think was a Google search as well
Surveying can be some worthwhile science gigwork.
Years ago I did some work with a research institute that was counting shellfish populations that was almost exactly this. A few weeks for a few summers hiking tidal zones. Most of the crews were college students, but not as interns or as a part of any programs. Some were just locals looking for some work.
I just don’t think a lot of that work is advertised outside colleges.
There is adventurescientists.org which has projects (sadly most are US-only, but sometimes they extend into Canada). They aren’t necessarily 'camp’s with groups, but they might have something appealing to you.
We ensure the availability of critical field data that accelerates conservation and climate solutions.
We achieve our mission by mobilizing and training outdoor enthusiasts and local communities to collect high-quality scientific data that are difficult to access, require too large a scale, or are too costly to obtain with traditional methods.
Seems somewhat interesting. Here are their volunteer listings. https://www.adventurescientists.org/our-volunteers.html
The Batumi raptor count in Georgia (the country, not the US state) does this kind of thing from August through the end of October each year. There’s a migratory bottleneck over there that funnels all the birds through a narrow passage between the mountains and the sea. The teams count the migratory raptors during the day and also have lessons/seminars in the evenings. The fall 2025 season ended with over 1.5 million raptors counted
What happens if one zones out and misses a few hundred birds flying by?
Getting involved in Citizen Science projects can scratch that itch!
Here’s a handy platform for European projects as an example.
I had a friend who used to go little mini camps at the same grounds as the renaissance fair was at. Like an off-season thing I guess. I think it was usually just weekends but he took Mead making seminars and stuff like that. Sounded pretty cool.
Where I live you can only go to meth making seminars…
Is Walter White your teacher?
