Internships

Do you love nature and wildlife? Are you looking for work experience in conservation? Are you passionate about making a difference in the world? Then apply to join our team and join our internship program!

This is the first time we are seeking interns as we are expanding our conservation project. An internship with the Zante Turtle Center in Zakynthos, Greece is a long term volunteering program, ideally spanning one to 3 months (please let us know if you are interested in staying longer than 3 months) You could focus on sustainable tourism, research, media, habitat conservation, etc depending on your interests (decide below which internship role you would like to apply for).

The goal of our internship program is to encourage and model sustainable tourism, to help minimise the effects of tourism on the turtles and environment by informing our visitors about the flora and fauna of Zakynthos.

As an intern, you will be a leader and responsible for managing your own workload. You will be working closely with the staff, the other interns, and volunteers from all over the world. Our internships are a once in a lifetime experience where you will gain a greater understanding of conservation regardless of what area you are working in. This could be a great step towards your career in practical conservation or simply your way of making a lasting one-off contribution to the preservation of endangered species. Please note that we do not currently offer any veterinary internships because our rescue center is not ready to take any injured sea turtles until our rehabilitation building is completed, so we do not have any sea turtles to take care of, and we need more funding and donations to help us reach this goal.

Being an intern means that you will get more responsibility than our volunteers. You will supervise volunteers at all times, be a part of a dedicated team, create and manage your own projects and most of all: make a difference by contributing to our focus on the threats the Caretta caretta (loggerhead sea turtles) face, by helping tourists prevent themselves from becoming a threat to the turtles and environment during their stay on Zakynthos.

Our work here is not just a job but a lifestyle. It requires a strong passion for the environment and its wildlife. Each day of the season will look different. The program can change in terms of responsibilities, tasks, members of staff/volunteers/interns and schedule. We require you to be 100% committed and hard working. If you’ve got these qualities, then we’d like to hear from you!

We are currently accepting applications for the 2025 summer season. Click here to learn more about internship requirements and costs, and click here to understand our internship responsibilities to manage your expectations. After reviewing our internship requirements, costs and responsibilities, please submit an application below to be considered for our 2025 internship program!

Apply Now

Our first round of internship application deadline is the 10th of December 2024. Following this deadline, we will let you know whether or not you have been selected for an interview. Once you have completed the interview and your application has been reviewed, we will confirm whether or not you have been accepted into our 2025 internship program. If you need to know whether or not you are successful before this deadline please contact us on our email: [email protected]

What you will do as an intern includes, but is not limited to:

Collecting turtle nesting data on Gerakas Beach (please note we are not authorised to go beyond the barrier, we collect data for our personal records)
Lead and participate in litter picks
Welcome and educate visitors to our information center while managing our center and working in our gift shop, to share the knowledge you learn
You will have the opportunity to create and organise new ideas, that align with your interests during your internship for our center, while being part of a dedicated team
Responsibilities will vary depending on the month and how many volunteers/interns are available

Decide which internship roles you would like to be responsible for and apply on our internship application form…

Project Leader Intern	Assistant to the Program Director. Responsible for organising weekly meetings for all volunteers and interns, and being able to take on any responsibility that presents itself, including helping manage the center, volunteers, and collecting data. You will work closely with the Project Manager Intern, Volunteer Intern, and Center Intern, to help create the schedule and make sure everything is in order at the center and for all volunteers/interns. You will be given the opportunity to help us improve our information center and volunteer/inter programs! This is a very important role where you will gain valuable experience helping manage a charity organisation, enhancing your leadership and organisation skills, useful for any future career! Project Leader Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of 2 months.
Project Manager Intern	Assistant to the Program Director. Responsible for managing all volunteers and interns, helping organise the weekly meetings, organising the schedule for all volunteers and interns, and organising social events and recreational activities for everyone to encourage team bonding. You will work closely with the Project Leader Intern, Volunteer Intern, and Center Intern, to ensure that everything is managed correctly. You will be given the opportunity to help us improve our information center and volunteer/inter programs! This is an important role in which you will gain valuable experience in how to help manage a charity organisation, enhancing your management skills, useful for any future career! Project Manager Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of 2 months.
Conservation Intern	Responsible for making sure all morning survey and day survey data is collected, leading volunteers on morning survey beach patrols alongside Yannis (founder & owner), and leading day surveys collecting data on Gerakas Beach. You will work closely with the Data Analysis & Report & Research Intern to help analyse the data collected, and to create educational graphs to use for our governmental reports. We encourage you to come up with new data collection ideas. You will gain valuable experience in data collection and be given the opportunity to create new data collection projects! This role is especially beneficial for those wanting to gain data collection experience or use any data collected for studies. Conservation Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of 2 months.
Data Analysis & 2025 Report & Research Intern	Responsible for analysing all of the data collected during the morning and day surveys, and creating our 2025 report and information booklet by researching information that will be used to educate future visitors, and help us lobby the government in our governmental report. You will work closely with the Conservation Intern to help analyse all of the data to create educational graphs. You will be given the opportunity to explore new research and data! You will gain valuable experience and enhance your research skills, report writing and data analysis. Data Analysis & 2025 Report and Research Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month and will be most useful in the months of September and October once the majority of the data has been collected for the turtle season.
Volunteer Intern	Responsible for managing the volunteers and interns, and providing the tour and initiation for new members of our team. You will work alongside the Project Leader Intern and Project Manager Intern to help create the schedule and organise activities and social events for everyone. You will be given the opportunity to help us improve our volunteer/intern program! You will gain valuable experience and enhance your presentation and communication skills. Volunteers Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.
Center Intern	Responsible for managing the information center, making sure everything is kept in order, updated and available for our visitors. Responsible for helping feed the tortoises, terrapins and fish during scheduled feeding times. Responsible for always making sure there are enough petitions for people to sign, the kid’s corner is full of drawing activities, and that our nest board is updated every day! We are always looking for ways to improve our information center, so you will be given the opportunity to interact with the animals at our center and help us improve our information to create a more interactive and engaging place for visitors to educate themselves! You will also be in charge of helping clean the terrapin tanks, and organising our gift shop. This is a very important role to make sure our center runs smoothly and you will gain valuable experience and develop important organisation skills. Center Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.
Tourist Intern	Responsible for welcoming tourists and providing tourists with tours of the center, and answering any questions to help educate our visitors. You will be responsible for organising litter picks with visitors on Gerakas Beach and the area surrounding our center, alongside volunteers and interns. You will be given the opportunity to interact and engage with tourists on a personal level to encourage them to behave ethically, and help protect sea turtles! You will gain valuable experience and develop communication skills. Tourist Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.
Social Media/Marketing Intern	Responsible for providing social media content to post on all social media platforms, including videos for TikTok and Instagram posts. You will also be able to help update our website. You will be given the opportunity to explore new ways to engage and interact with members of the public to help educate them on the turtle situation of Zakynthos! You will gain valuable experience enhancing your skills in creating social media content, if you are planning to have a career involving social media this is the internship for you! Social Media/Marketing Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.
Journalist Intern	Responsible for writing articles and creating documentaries about the information center and the turtles of Zakynthos to publish on our website, and display at our center. You will be given the opportunity to explore writing about important work being done by our charity or filming experience to help interact and engage with members of the public by educating them on the turtles of Zakynthos! You will gain valuable experience enhancing your skills in journalism or creating documentaries, if you are planning to have a career in journalism this is the internship for you! Journalist Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.
Art Intern	Responsible for organising art projects at our center, this includes painting educational signs at our center, and any ideas you wish to explore! You will be given the opportunity to explore your own ideas, an opportunity you might not get elsewhere! You will be able to gain valuable experience and enhance your creative skills. Art Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.
Youth Intern	Responsible for managing the kids corner section of our center, and creating new interactive ways and projects for children and families to become involved at our center. You will be given the opportunity to explore new ways to interact and engage with the younger generation to encourage fun education! You will gain valuable experience interacting with the younger generation. Youth Interns are expected to stay for a minimum of a month.

If you are interested in volunteering for a shorter period of time, please apply for our volunteer program here.