Volunteers will do work with honey and bee hives: collecting honey, centrifugating, filtering, filling and decorating jars, preparing hives, caring for the environment and so on. They will also do a direct work with bees under supervision and will get a quick course about the life of a bee, actual difficulties and apiculture and its specifics in Sierra Norte of Madrid. There will be also a possibility of making a trip to surrounding cities (Madrid, Segovia).VoluNteers will also support thelocal project El Cerro which is a local project of creating new Natural and agrocultural reserve. The association Sierra Carpetania, together with Camping Monte Holiday are trying to create a complex project of expanse of 200 ha. Thinking of all aspects i agronomy, pasturage and farming, protection of local fauna, tourism and education i this project leads to sustainability and protection of natural and cultural heritage. The work of volunteers will be include manual and diverse: The type of tasks: to clean and maintain ecologic garden, reconstraction of a fence, of paths, troughs for feeding animals, reconstruction of walls, mantaining and signing touristic paths cleaning hives.
Accomodation & food:
Accomodation: provided in big shared tents (rooms for 2 or 3) to share within participants, in the Camping Monte Holiday (http://www.monteholiday.com/en/home), with toilet area, hot water, washing machines and recreation areas, swimming pool and wi-fi connection contained. You need to bring mat and sleeping bag. Food will be prepared by volunteers themselves, using camping gas.
Location & leisure:
The workcamp takes place in Gargantilla del Lozoya, small village of Sierra Norte about 80km far away from Madrid. Gargantilla is part of several municipalities of the Valley of Lozoya, most of these are little villages but you can find all you need to live. It s near Buitrago del Lozoya or Rascafria, these are larger villages, and there you can find banks and greater shops as well. Also, the distance from Madrid is approximately 80 Km, and you can reach the capital in an hour more or less.
Requirements:
1-Mat and sleeping bag required.2- During the camp, you will do a direct work with bees, therefore, if you have an alergy on honey or bee stings, you may have a hard time there In this case, think about the risks of your participation and make sure you are taking all your the medicine needed3-Knowledge of riding a bicycle is required. 4-Also, a basic level of Spanish will be very usefull.
« When volunteering in Malawi and Tanzania while at school and during my year out I developed a love of East Africa and soon felt itchy to go back. On discovering VAP I found a number of workcamps in Kenya and at far more affordable prices than any 'volunteer abroad' organisations. I chose a 6 week workcamp based at a secondary school in western Kenya... »