From Luxembourg to Tenerife

My name is Lesley, I’m from Luxembourg and I was in Tenerife for 2 months. I was volunteering in a little town named Arona for the Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation (AWdF). They run a conservation and research program and call volunteers all over the world to go on whale watching boats and do some observation work to study the behavior of the cetaceans. We went on boats almost every day to do 3 different types of work. We had the datasheets where we had to write down the behavior of the whales and dolphins. Then we had the cameras with us to make pictures of the fins. It’s the only way to identify them because every fin has particular nicks on it and after we compare the pictures with those at home, we can identify which whale or dolphin it is and give them names. Finally, the third mission on the boats is hydrophone, where we put a microphone under the water to listen how they communicate and how the ferries around them have an impact on their communication. The main goal of this project is to make people and the captains of the boats aware of the big impact that the ferries and other boats have on the cetaceans.

Besides that, we had other projects like eco-tourism, where we would go randomly around the Island to find attracting places where the tourists could go instead of the most popular places. We had a creativity workshop to create posters, flyers and stickers to prevent people from going to the zoos and animal parks but also to educate the tourists on the boats. In addition, there was a group working on conservation and a group working on the education for the schools in Tenerife. I had the chance to join the group working on the London Eco Film Festival and I’m still working on it even if I’m not there because I wanted to be part of it. We had a lot we could do and it was amazing.

I stayed in a house with about 30 other people coming from different countries but the main language we were speaking was English. We were up to 6 people in each room so it was difficult sometimes, to have your own space and fit all your stuff but it was amazing to already have a group of friends because you are in the same room. It was challenging to be in a place that’s not so “luxurious” as it is here in Luxembourg but I didn’t have a problem with that personally. We had a place we could call home and we could be all together.

Updated on Onsdag, 13/04/2022