For information regarding our vaccination policies, safety protocols and other requirements visit our Travel Safety Center
There are so many ways to give back to leave the places visited better off because you were there, or to leave a better person because of your experience. Often it's both!
Go BIG has partnered with multiple organizations that protect children, animals, and landscapes. If schedules permit, and pre-approval is granted, micro-volunteering opportunities can be available in certain areas of the tour. The goal for these volunteering opportunities is to allow for Go BIG travelers to be introduced to some incredible organizations that are making a difference for individuals, communities, landscapes, animals, and the world as a whole. The hope is that these opportunities will inspire future engagement with these organizations or similar ones. Each organization is unique as are the opportunities available to engage with them. Some of the opportunities will allow for seeing completed projects that the organization was involved in, some will allow for meeting of the staff members, others will allow for direct involvement. The specific engagements possible for one tour date may not be available for all tour dates, and we will do our best to provide maximum engagement for those that are interested.
Give some of your scheduled free time to volunteer. We will organize it and provide transportation for you.
at an orphanage or community support organization.
at wildlife rescue & rehabilitation centers or domestic animal shelters.
Go BIG buys requested supplies and delivers them utilizing our tour transportation. Deliveries are made during non-tour itinerary times. Tour guests can take part by monetary contributions for the supplies or by joining the delivery team if they are so inclined, but taking part is completely optional.
Go BIG’s philosophy: Preservation through education and mindful travel. Tourism when done right, helps people (both traveler and host) appreciate what they have as a resource to be preserved.
Help yourself to a new perspective by getting to know some of the charitable organizations Go BIG supports.
Help spread knowledge and goodwill by giving a mini lecture of a subject that you know well.
Charitable Donations
Volunteer w Animals
Volunteer w People
Educate Yourself
Educate Others
We at GBT feel it is important to try to counterbalance any environmental footprint increases caused by travel-related services - we bypass the current voluntary carbon offsetting marketplace and offset our footprint independently.
To nurture community pride in the areas' unique ecosystems bolstered by community outreach initiatives that are grounded in environmental understanding based on research and education.
A community of foreign and domestic members that strive to balance growth with preservation in stewartship of the environment.
We highlight the innovative projects of partnering NGOS throughout the tours' tineraries (see organizational descriptions below).
We utilize GBT transportation to deliver donations and requested supplies to in need and often remote communities and organizations we have partnered with.
OUR HISTORY AND GOALS
Colitas Con Canas was created in 2023 in Urubamba, Peru, and translate as "gray tails" in English, which refers to our primary mission to rescue elderly dogs.
Colitas Con Canas is a specialized rescue centre focusing on elderly and special needs dogs and community outreach and education. We take in dogs that are unlikely to be adopted, dogs in recovery and sometimes hospice cases, and serve as a retirement home for abandoned elderly dogs.
We hope to inspire others to give a chance to the dogs that are often overlooked, but most importantly, that our dogs have a safe and loving place to live where they receive medical attention and any accommodation they may need physically and emotionally.
Another important goal for this project is reaching the community; through education and community involvement, we can achieve a positive change that would benefit not only all the dogs in the area but also the humans.
We aim to decrease the number of homeless dogs by increasing awareness and creating low-cost spay and neuter opportunities for local peoples' pets as well as focusing on teaching responsible pet ownership by helping families take care of their dogs when they need emergency help and by going to schools and talking to kids about how to be good caretakers for their dogs.
We believe fewer dogs on the street means fewer dogs suffering and less traffic danger. Studies have shown that towns with fewer street dogs have healthier people and fewer parasites found in children.
Colitas Con Canas is a project that does not receive any funding from the government, so the funds come exclusively from people interested in being part of this beautiful and challenging experience of helping defenseless dogs in the Sacred Valley.
We believe that by working together, we can make a difference!
Niños del Sol is a children’s home in Peru where a group of children — all survivors of trauma, abuse and neglect — are being raised as a family.
At Niños del Sol, these kids are raised in a home filled with love where they can heal, grow, and receive the tools they need to break the negative cycles in their families for all future generations.
Our kids learn through chores, yoga, meditation, music, and group experiences under the supervision of long-term staff who care deeply about them. We know they are healing when we see them treat one another with kindness and respect, and when they succeed in school. Most of our kids are at the top of their classes.
OUR GROUNDBREAKING EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE
Kids who are “in the system” often find themselves facing a tragic lack of support when they’ve finished high school, during a vulnerable time of life that will lay the foundation for their future.
That’s why we provide a second home to support our college-age kids while they follow their dreams and live semi-independently.
Our kids have earned this support. One of our girls was the youngest ever admitted to the Chemical Engineering program at Cusco University. Others are studying economics, tourism, international business, and graphic arts. Our college kids are beating the odds and laying the groundwork to be the leaders of tomorrow.
New hope Peru serves orphaned and vulnerable children and families in southern peru through a combination of residential care and family-based care services, including family reintegration and adoption for eligible children.
Our residential care program provides family-style, individualized care for vulnerable children. Children at New Hope, ranging from babies to older children in vocational training or higher education, live in casitas (small family-style apartments) with groups of 4-5 other children and their house parents. Every child in our residential care program has a specific care plan focused on getting them into a family-based solution.
The children living at New Hope come from a variety of backgrounds, and many have family members (parents or extended family members) who are still part of their lives. Situations involving alcohol and drug abuse, domestic abuse and other relationship problems, imprisonment, health crisis, and extreme poverty often lead to children being removed from their home setting and placed in a children’s home like ours. In these cases, one of our primary focuses is in working with the family members to assess whether there are interventions that could be made to allow the children to return home eventually. This is a priority for the Peruvian government and we work closely with them to assess the safety of the children and advocate for their best interests in relation to their families of origin.
OUR MISSION To serve orphaned, abandoned and at-risk children of Peru; to demonstrate the love of Christ in our actions and manner of work; to provide physical, emotional and spiritual care for the children entrusted to us.
OUR VISION To see children heal from the trauma they have experienced and be enabled to flourish – establishing a personal, life changing faith in Jesus Christ, developing skills to make positive personal choices, engaging in healthy personal and family relationships, and being actively involved in their local communities and vocational choices.
OUR GUIDING VALUES
We believe children are best cared for in families We believe that Scripture and social science both confirm that children are best cared for in nurturing families. When a family of origin cannot provide this, an alternate family-based solution is best.
We provide adoptive-style residential care as a temporary solution for vulnerable children We care for children in residential care as members of a family: providing low staff-to-child ratios, family-style living arrangements and personalized care for individual needs and interests. Each child has an individual care plan focused on a family-based solution through reintegration support, kinship (extended family) care, or adoption for those who are eligible.
We see children as individuals Every child’s situation is different and complex, therefore care solutions vary greatly and are pursued carefully. Each child is unique in their needs, interests, and giftings, therefore we provide opportunities for pursuing individual interests to be pursued and individual needs to be met.
Peruvian Hearts is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization based in Golden, Colorado, that encourages social, economic and political change in Peru through the education and empowerment of young women.
We work to end poverty and gender inequality by educating young women and creating community leaders in Peru — one girl at a time.
OUR MISSION Through girls education and empowerment we work to end poverty and gender inequality by educating young women and creating community leaders in Peru
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Peru has one of the greatest diversities of primate species of any country in the world, but unfortunately many are threatened with extinction.
We have been working in Peru since 2007, where our efforts combine scientific investigation of primates, their habitats and sympatric species, reforestation with native tree species, environmental education, and sustainable social and economic development work to promote the creation of community-run reserves. We also actively work against the illegal wildlife trade and help in caring for and re-homing animals rescued from trafficking.
We have become pioneers in the successful implementation of community-based conservation, replicating successful initiatives across northern Peru, and are also leaders in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.
Land Protection
We help local people create and manage reserves to protect their natural resources, and in so doing, protect primates, their habitats, and all species.
Environmental Education
Generating proper understanding of the need for conservation ensures longevity of our initiatives. We work with adults and children to promote awareness.
Social Development
Not only do we try and improve local livelihoods through direct economic means, we also aim to improve quality of life through sustainable projects wherever we work.
Scientific Investigation
We work with some of the least known species on earth, our investigations provide essential knowledge for conserving these species.
Reforestation
We build and maintain native species tree nurseries, planting hundreds of thousands of trees to recover habitats and provide resources to local communities.
Animal Rescue The illegal wildlife trade is driving many species to extinction, and we are on the front lines in the fight against trafficking, helping authorities identify, rescue, and care for trafficked wildlife.
Crees Manu S.A.C. is a Peruvian company established in 2003. Since then it has worked through tourism to encourage, inspire and educate people from different parts of the world in developing responsible and sustainable tourism practices for the conservation of the Manu Biosphere Reserve and the Manu National Park.
MISSION
We pioneer experiential learning and educational tourism at Manu to support conservation and community projects in the Peruvian Amazon to create a better and safe future. We believe that promoting biodiversity understanding and its conservation through visits, internships and educational tours is the most effective way to support large scale rainforest conservation and community empowerment. But unfortunately we face a major challenge.
CHALLENGE
Manu is the most biodiverse place on Earth, but it’s under threat. Poverty and population growth drive people to destroy the rainforest through logging, farming and mining as ways of providing for their families. To save Manu, sustainability has to be a realistic choice for local communities. That is why Crees is working on the solution through conservation research, environmental education and sustainable livelihoods.
SOLUTION
We believe that the local people of Manu must determine their own future. Our role is only to provide sustainable choices, so that they are empowered to drive social, economic and environmental change within their own communities. By visiting Manu rainforest with Crees as a guest, intern, or tourist you become a key important part of the solution because you will be helping to support this vital conservation and community work to protect the Amazon rainforest and empower its people.
Panthera Sanctuary is situated within the Amazon Basin in the Madre de Dios Region of Southeast Peru. Residing along the Madre de Dios River, the sanctuary is bordered by the famous local reserves of Tambopata and Bahuaja-Sonene. The interest of the reserve lies in the fact that it is situated one of the world’s highly endemic and biodiverse areas, making every inch of its forest of inestimable value, mostly because of the presence of aguajales.
OUR MISSION We’ve made it our goal to preserve the pristine Peruvian Amazon by promoting environmental awareness through environmental education coupled with hand-on field experience to passionate individuals across the globe.
