Itinerary

Day 1

The tour starts in Bangalore, Southern India where you will be greeted with a traditional Indian welcome and time to settle in to your new surroundings. The following day you will receive your orientation at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, a 250 acre park in the middle of Bangalore.

On Days 3 and 4, you begin your first stint of volunteer work at Kengeri village, 27km from Bangalore. Here you will help plant trees to improve the environment for the local people on a once abandoned wasteland.

On Days 5 and 6, you change your focus to working with the local community at Kengeri. You will interact with the local village school children in workshops and fun sessions such as arts and crafts or games for the kids.

For this first week you will travel to and from Bangalore each day so it's a great chance to explore Bangalore when you finish each day.

You then leave Bangalore to travel to Hampi and the famous ruins at the village of Vijayanagar. Once the capital of one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian history the ruins are set amongst boulders and remain one of the top tourist attractions in Southern India. You will have a couple of days to visit the ruins and even try your hand at rock climbing if you're feeling adventurous.

You then return to Bangalore where you have a free day to do some local sightseeing and shopping before travelling to Mamallapuram, near Madras, famous for it's shore temple. Mamallapuram and its fishing villages were also affected by the tsunami at the end of 2004 and you will get the chance to work with and talk to the families affected.

Half way into the trip and you get your chance to try your hand at the local handicrafts. You will be working with village co-operatives to help the local women make a living and assisting them in their work. The next couple of days will be spent around Mamallapuram visiting the shore temple, sculptures and rock carvings around the town. There are is also a good beach, handicraft shops and other temples to explore.

The group then travels to Pondicherry, a charming coastal town that was formerly a French colony and still has a few touches of French culture. You will visit the French Tamil quarter and the world famous Sri Aurobindo Ashram a spiritual centre founded on modern science and yoga. The next day you will visit the world famous Auroville International Community, an experiment in international living where people could live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, politics and nationalities. You will then have another couple of days staying with the Auroville International Community to see how the community works for your own eyes.

Next you travel towards Madras (Chennai) and take a trip to the Madras Crocodile Bank followed by games and a barbeque on the beach plus and a disco for those that have the energy. The next day you head back to Bangalore for a well deserved rest day. Then on to Mysore for some time to sightsee, including Maharaja's Palace and the colourful Fruit and Vegetable market.

Days 25 and 26 see your last spell of volunteer work in an orphanage in Mysore, once again working to entertain and play with the children either in Sports, Games or Crafts. You will then have one final day to visit the famous sights at Sravanabelagola (meaning Monk of the White Pond), one of the oldest and most important Jain pilgrimage centres in India and the site of a huge 17m naked statue before your departure on Day 28.

Why go on this project:
This trip enables you to combine sightseeing with volunteering. Over the 28 day trip you will get a chance to try your hand at Conservation, Teaching and Community work for a taster into the world of volunteering. You will also travel to see the top tourist attractions within Southern India along the way.

What kind of skills you need to go on this type of project:
You do not need any specific skills to go on this trip, only a wish to help and get involved with the local Indian community along the way. You will receive our Online TEFL course as part of the trip to give you a start on Teaching English. This is a tour so there will be some days with a lot of travel, please be prepared for this.

Your role as a volunteer:
You will get involved in a number of different volunteer activities during the trip, from tree planting to Teaching. Your role will be to get as involved as possible, helping the local communities by educating and entertaining them. Your volunteering will be for short periods of time so it will be your chance to get the most out of each session and a taster for each type of volunteer work.

Extra Information

Inclusions -

Orientation

Exclusions -

Flight and visa costs

Extras -

It's a 28 day tour of famous ruins, cities and peaceful villages. Along the way you will get the chance to do volunteer work on several projects to see how they work and enable you to feel like you are giving something back to the country hosting you. Projects include working with communities and in orphanages as well as planting trees to transform and improve wastelands. You will also be able to try your hand at local arts or crafts and try rock climbing if you are feeling a little more adventurous on this humanitarian tour of India.

Please DO NOT book your flights until the tour has been confirmed by your Desk Officer. The tour will be confirmed at the lastest one month before your project start date.

This trip enables you to combine sightseeing with volunteering. Over the 28 day trip you will get a chance to try your hand at Conservation, Teaching and Community work for a taster into the world of volunteering. You will also travel to see the top tourist attractions within Southern India along the way.

You will get involved in a number of different volunteer activities during the trip, from tree planting to Teaching. Your role will be to get as involved as possible, helping the local communities by educating and entertaining them. Your volunteering will be for short periods of time so it will be your chance to get the most out of each session and a taster for each type of volunteer work.