Love wildlife? This animal camp for middle schoolers allows you to explore the different roles of animal care professionals with a variety of fun, hands-on interactions. Work with Bahamian experts to learn more about the exotic and domestic animals of the Bahamas. Gain experience working with conservation centers, farms, and animal rescues.
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| PROGRAM DATES | COST | AVAILABILITY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 6 - July 17, 2024 | $5,280 | Waitlist | Enroll Now |
*Currently accepting applications from alumni families only. Open enrollment begins September 15, 2023. To join the waitlist prior to open enrollment, click “enroll now”; your payment method will not be charged until the open enrollment period begins.
“The Bahamas vet program was truly the most amazing time of my life. The hands-on experience you get here is incomparable. I can’t stress enough how this program changed my life. It taught me so much about vet medicine while still being fun and adventurous. I made some new best friends and I will never forget this trip. I can’t recommend it enough!” Izzy, middle school alumna
Objectives:
10 hours of service-learning projects to improve animal welfare and community wildlife education programs.
Requirements:
Arrive in sunny Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. Spend some time getting to know your group and then it’s off to the bay! Kayak in turquoise Bahamian waters and snorkel in the crystal-clear open ocean. Practice identifying various marine species or simply soak up the beauty of this underwater paradise. After a delicious and authentic Bahamian lunch, hike enchanting boardwalks in Primeval Forest National Park and witness beautiful limestone caverns (a.k.a. sinkholes). You are clearly in the Bahamas now.
At a local zoo and conservation center, our team gets behind-the-scenes access to an exotic array of animal species including iguanas, lemurs, parrots, flamingos, snakes and more. With the guidance of local animal experts, the group prepares nutritious meals, practices capture and restraint techniques and learns how to identify different animal behaviors. You also rotate through different skill-building activities like necropsies, suture practice, cage-enrichment creation. Each day has countless opportunities to try something new! Then, in the afternoons head over to the neighboring Humane Society to help with physical exams and other rescue center tasks. Before embarking on the final leg of the journey, take time to snorkel in a protected coral nursery amid colorful marine life native to New Providence Island.
Confident in your new animal-care skills, take part in hands-on animal welfare activities. Get a behind-the-scenes tour of an aquatic veterinary medicine lab and discover how vets and marine biologists work together to care for seals, stingrays and dolphins. Across the island, spend a full day on a beach-side farm. In the shade of palm trees, you assist vets as they inspect the goats’ health before a picnic lunch, complete with fresh-picked mangos. Take advantage of the surrounding beauty of the ocean and enjoy snorkeling excursions above some of the ocean’s most beautiful reef ecosystems. Before you know it, it’s time to say goodbye-for-now to your tight new group of friends.
