Do you enjoy working with plants and gardening? Would you like an opportunity to work with sub-tropical plants whilst meeting a lot of new and exciting people? We are working on conserving biodiversity and improving the beauty of Kangra region of Himalayas by establishing public green areas. Green space areas where people can meet and socialize and at the same time contribute to biodiversity conservation.
Of course, creating green spaces requires someone to plan, plant and care for the plants, and to educate the community on future care and management. As a resident botanist/gardener, you will be tasked with studying the existing biodiversity and plants, evaluate the space for new species, and doing trips to nearby areas to collect and bring home trees and samples to be planted.
Your main focus will be on Kangra botanical garden and green spaces in Mcleodganj – Dharamshala region. You will be working closely with community representatives as well as other volunteers such as those in construction, grant writing/fundraising and community organizing projects.
The exact projects you will be working on will be determined prior to and upon your arrival, in collaboration with staff and local community representatives. Once a project is worked out you will be given relatively free reigns to plan and execute it. Finally, the botanist/gardener programme also has a branch which focuses on building awareness within the community in terms of growing and treating household vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce and spinach etc.
Location
A geological eccentricity nestled in the western mid-Himalayas, the Kangra valley and surrounding mountainous terrain has many a historic places and forests. There is an incredible natural beauty, especially the Dhauladhar mountains.
The region embraces travellers from around the world and has a sub-tropical climate with warm temperatures in summers and cold in winters.
Accommodation
Volunteers on this project stay together in our shared volunteer guest house. The guest house comes with – 10 rooms, a living room with comfortable furniture, kitchen and dining hall, laundry facilities, TV, a large bookshelf and a fridge. All in the house come equipped with fans and wi-fi internet. The standard room is a two to three-person shared (singles same-gender / couples) room with its own Western-style bathroom.
We provide 3 meals per day for all volunteers. We will also organize for volunteers to eat together at local restaurants with the staff from time to time as a social event and order the food in advance if needed, but volunteers will need to pay either in dollars or local currency during their stay for any extra food expenses on top of this e.g. snacks.
Project Dates
You can join this project for 2 weeks or longer all year round, starting on any Monday.