As the 2026 travel season is in full swing, a fundamental shift is redefining the “adventure” in adventure travel. Moving beyond the passive observation of traditional safaris, a new generation of travellers is choosing conservation travel: a model where travellers swap binoculars for data sheets and camera traps.
In an era where biodiversity loss is increasingly linked to multi-faceted global threats, ethical wildlife volunteering has emerged as the most meaningful way to explore the planet. Leading this evolution since 1999 is Biosphere Expeditions, a non-profit organisation whose “citizen science” model has become the industry gold standard for transparency, scientific rigour, and ethical integrity.
Citizen scientists surveying a reef
The Rise of the “Impact Adventurer”
In 2026, the allure of the “unspoiled” is being replaced by the desire to “protect.” Modern travellers are increasingly wary of “voluntourism” (short-term programs that prioritise tourist entertainment over ecological needs). Instead, they are seeking “Impact Adventures”: long-term, science-led initiatives that contribute to real conservation outcomes.
Photographing a whale fluke for ID purposes, Azores
Biosphere Expeditions: A Role Model for 2026
While many operators struggle with transparency, Biosphere Expeditions has spent over 25 years refining a model that puts science first. Their approach serves as a blueprint for the industry through three core pillars:
Financial Transparency: Biosphere Expeditions remains a non-profit, with at least two-thirds of expedition contributions going directly into the project on the ground. This ensures that the local environment and communities (not corporate stakeholders) are the primary beneficiaries.
Sustainable Impact: Every expedition is part of a long-term strategy aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The data collected by volunteers are used by local governments and NGOs to create protected areas and manage wildlife corridors.
Transferring a sedated cheetah to be collared, Namibia
Being part of the solution
“People no longer want to just see the world; they want to ensure the world they see continues to exist,” says Dr. Matthias Hammer, founder of Biosphere Expeditions. “Conservation travel is about bridging the gap between professional science and the passionate amateur. It’s about being part of the solution, not just a witness to the problem.”
Dr. Matthias Hammer, founder of Biosphere Expeditions
Boulder, CO, April 21, 2026 – Natural Habitat Adventures (Nat Hab), one of the world’s leading conservation travel companies, has formed a new relationship with Earthwatch Institute to run Earthwatch Expeditions, a global leader in field-based participatory science.
Following the signing of a long-term licensing agreement finalized in February 2026, Nat Hab has assumed management of Earthwatch Expeditions travel operations and will introduce 13 new itineraries under a revised brand, Earthwatch Expeditions by Nat Hab, to begin in 2027. Additional trips are planned in the years to come, for a total of approximately 20 destinations.
The collaboration brings together Nat Hab’s expertise in delivering outstanding wildlife experiences with Earthwatch’s depth and leadership in participatory science.
“For more than 50 years, Earthwatch has connected people directly with working scientists conducting some of the most important field research on the planet,” said Ben Bressler, Founder and CEO of Natural Habitat Adventures. “Long before I founded Nat Hab, Earthwatch showed me that travel could be a genuine force for conservation.
“At a time when science and data matter more than ever in shaping the policies that protect our planet, this kind of hands-on research is critical. Together, we’re building on a legacy that has helped inform more than 1,200 environmental policies and wildlife management plans worldwide, backed by long-term research efforts that reflect a commitment to meaningful conservation.”
Guests on Earthwatch Expeditions play an integral role in scientific field research addressing pressing environmental challenges, from ecosystem health and threatened wildlife habitats to climate impacts and biodiversity protection. Under Nat Hab’s stewardship, each journey blends hands-on research with active exploration, balancing study time in the field with immersive nature experiences.
Working in small groups alongside Ph.D. scientists and their research teams, travelers collect real-world data through experiences like monitoring sea turtle nests in Costa Rica, documenting dolphin nurseries at the headwaters of the Amazon, banding owls by headlamp in the American Southwest, and deploying GPS tags on penguins along the coast of Patagonia.
Six itineraries are bookable now for travel in 2027, including:
From Permafrost to Polar Bears: Churchill’s Changing Arctic, studying climate change at the Arctic’s edge while tracking ecosystem shifts across the tundra and Hudson Bay
Following Orcas & Their Prey in Iceland, tracking the diet and movements of this apex predator in a changing North Atlantic
Conserving Sharks in Belize, working where commercial fisheries and shark protection converge, to shape the ocean’s future
Monitoring Wildlife Recovery in Kenya’s Maasai Mara, tracking animals while rebuilding ecosystems and reconnecting wildlife corridors with international scientists and a local Maasai community
Tracking Turtles in Costa Rica, helping endangered leatherback sea turtles rebound from a precipitous decline
Surveying Wildlife in the Upper Amazon, monitoring how seasonal river shifts affect wildlife movement and behavioral patterns
Seven more 2027 Earthwatch Expeditions by Nat Hab will be announced this summer, including programs such as:
Climate change in Maine’s Acadia National Park
Conserving wild bees and other pollinators in Costa Rica
Following forest owls in Arizona
Collecting wildlife data on foot in South Africa
Tracking primates in Africa
Marine life of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula
Studying polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba
Established in 1971, Earthwatch Expeditions has built one of the world’s most respected participatory field research networks, conducting more than 100,000 hours of study annually on topics ranging from climate change and wildlife conservation to rainforest ecology and marine ecosystems. Since its founding, Earthwatch Expeditions has contributed to thousands of peer-reviewed publications and environmental policies, with projects supported for an average of 12 years. More than 200,000 traveler participants have been engaged as field research assistants.
Stan Rullman, Director of Research for Earthwatch Expeditions, said, “I am thrilled to see these two apex institutions—Nat Hab and Earthwatch—join in a synergistic collaboration that will honor our independent legacies while allowing something new and powerful to emerge. We come together with shared core values, incredibly dedicated staff and scientists, and complementary skill sets to truly move the bar on wildlife conservation and the preservation of biodiversity in all its forms.”
Bressler added, “This partnership is rooted in shared purpose. At Nat Hab, we’ve spent decades proving that travel can support conservation. And Earthwatch has done the same through science. Together, we’re giving travelers a meaningful way to be part of that work.”
Earthwatch Expeditions by Nat Hab connects travelers with scientists worldwide to participate in real conservation research. Operating under a long-term partnership with Earthwatch Institute, the program builds on more than 50 years of field-based participatory science, bringing together scientific discovery and immersive travel. These small-group expeditions invite guests into the field to work alongside leading researchers in critical ecosystems across the globe, contributing to real-world studies that help better understand and protect the planet. Each expedition blends hands-on data collection with immersive wildlife experiences, offering travelers the opportunity to contribute to meaningful scientific studies while gaining a deeper understanding of the natural world. For more information, visit nathab.com/earthwatch-expeditions.
Natural Habitat Adventures has been a trailblazer in sustainable and conservation-focused adventure travel since 1985. Led by professional naturalist guides, Nat Hab journeys reveal the planet’s most extraordinary nature destinations, including polar bear tours in Churchill, small-group Galapagos cruises, intimate African safaris, close encounters with Alaskan brown bears, wolf quests in Yellowstone, and much more. As the world’s first 100% carbon-neutral travel company, creator of the World’s First Zero Waste Adventure, and the conservation travel partner of World Wildlife Fund since 2003, Nat Hab offers nearly 100 eco-conscious nature adventures from Antarctica to Zimbabwe and beyond. Natural Habitat Adventures is part of Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, a global leader in ship-based and land-based expedition travel. To date, Nat Hab has provided more than $9 million in support of WWF’s mission and will continue to give 1% of gross sales plus $185,000 annually through 2028. Featuring unique and artfully crafted itineraries, Nat Hab trips demonstrate how conservation travel works with and benefits local communities, furthering a shared commitment to conservation. Nat Hab actively seeks ways tourism can lower its impact on the planet while raising global citizens’ appreciation for the wonders of nature. For more information, visit nathab.com.
The Global Scavenger Hunt, which has been organized by William and Pamela Chalmers of GreatEscape Adventures for over 15 years, was put on hold this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully the Chalmers will bring it back as soon as possible. It was a trip-of-a-lifetime for me when I took part in the 15th annual around-the-world mystery tour in 2019. The trips are designed to instill an understanding of similarities and differences among cultures and people around the world, but also are designed to support projects through their GreatEscape Foundation.
Because of the pandemic, GreatEscape Foundation 2021 focus “is pivoting temporarily from our usual goals of building schools and assisting families with interest free micro-loans. Our plea this year is different,” they write.
“Instead, we find ourselves reflecting that while we have been overwhelmed with concerns about our own very personal existential anxieties, that the plight of world’s poorest has been forgotten. Our world has gotten smaller. Sadly, the erosion of decades of progress made against the beachhead of poverty has been significant. Growing legions of the world’s poorest are falling behind again and suffering awfully, in part because we have been so preoccupied in helping ourselves. But we cannot abandon helping others.
“Extraordinary times require extraordinary actions. This year, 100% of the funds raised will be immediately directed to address the hunger and displacement needs of millions of pandemic affected families.”
Chalmers created the Global Scavenger Hunt not just to promote the benefits of international travel to cultivate Global Citizens, and all the benefits of travel – from providing economic foundation to sustain places of history, heritage and culture that might otherwise be abandoned, provide jobs and improve the living standards for communities and societies, and promote an exchange of understanding and ideas just as Marco Polo did centuries ago, where we are also encouraged to engage in voluntourism projects along the way – but serves to support The Global Scavenger Hunt’s cause-related, charitable purposes. The annual event raises funds for GreatEscape Foundation’s twin goals: building co-ed elementary schools in low & middle income nations, and distributing interest-free no-fee micro-loans to budding global entrepreneurs (mostly mothers).
“Both our methods of helping others help themselves are designed to facilitate their great escape from the cycle of poverty—one person at a time! Happily, we have improved the lives of thousands: building a dozen schools, a mid-wife training facility, and funding thousands of mothers wanting to make a better life for their families,” Chalmers writes.
Earthwatch Institute enables ordinary people to work alongside scientists. In 2013, Earthwatch scientists and volunteers completed nearly 135,000 hours of research, on over 50 expeditions, across 57 countries on six continents.
Earthwatch, a travel company that gives ordinary people the opportunity to work alongside scientists doing research, is inviting the public to its Citizens for Science Exposition which will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2014 as part of the Earthwatch Summit 2014.
The event will be hosted at the Harvard University Science Center and will allow the public to learn about Earthwatch scientists’ research, and its impact on the environment, community, and wildlife. They will also learn how they can have a positive impact through Citizen Science.
Some of the highlights of the day will include:
* Opening Session: Rallying Call for Citizen Science with Opening Address. Speaker, Dr. William Moomaw, Chief Science Officer, Earthwatch Institute
* Morning Address: Harnessing the Power of Citizens for Science I by Dr. J. Nichols, Marine Biologist and author of Blue Mind
* Afternoon Address: Harnessing the Power of Citizens for Science II by Dr. Richard Primack, Boston University biologist and author of Walden Warming
* 6 Earthwatch Scientist Presentations a Q & A with Moderator, Dr. Meg Lowman, Chief of Science & Sustainability at the California Academy of Sciences
* Poster Sessions: Take part in conversations about their research and practices, addressing environmental topics within an informal dynamic
* Closing Address: Brian Rosborough, Founder, Earthwatch Institute
Those who are interested should register (by October 10, 2014).
Earthwatch: Hands-on Citizen Science
Powered by everyday people from all walks of life, Earthwatch is a community built on sound scientific inquiry, real environmental understanding, and impactful action.
“For more than 40 years, we have pioneered a unique model of hands on citizen science,” says Nicole Morrill of the Earthwatch Institute. “There is no other organization that offers the real, undiluted, and extraordinary opportunity to join scientists and volunteers in the field on environmental projects around the globe.
“Volunteers take part in life changing experiences in the field and return home inspired and empowered.”
In 2013, Earthwatch scientists and volunteers completed nearly 135,000 hours of research, on over 50 expeditions, across 57 countries on six continents. The research collected by Earthwatch volunteers has led to new conservation laws, preservation efforts, and environmental policies.
The expedition that is hardest to get on, and the most in demand, is Shark Conservation in Belize led by Dr. Demian Chapman.
“What is great about our organization is that all of the expeditions offer a chance for the volunteer to contribute to meaningful science that can lead to new laws and environmental polices. All of our expeditions offer life changing experiences on the field working with scientists. In short, Real Science Powered by Real People,” Morrill says.
For more information, contact Earthwatch Institute, 114 Western Ave, Boston, MA 02134, 978-450-1267, earthwatch.org.
