Conservation & Environment in France School Trips
Projects Abroad
This Environment and Conservation Programme offers your students a unique opportunity to live in the southern French countryside while contributing to the preservation of Sommières’ ecosystems and learning valuable outdoor skills. - Conservation -
You will stay in a camp in southern France, where you will work with expert conservationists to preserve the local biodiversity. Study the region’s biodiversity, learn how to conduct essential surveys, collect data, and submit your findings to citizen science project platforms. Some of the activities and tasks you will complete include:
- Setting up camera traps, spoor traps and reptile refugia
- Conducting surveys (day): birding, invertebrates, reptiles, and plants
- Nocturnal surveys (night): bats and amphibians
- Monitoring different types of species
- Environmental Education -
It is important to learn about the nature of the danger threatening our planet and how you and your students can make a difference beyond this programme. Understand the impact of the digitisation era through discussion about the carbon footprint of our digital lifestyle, from emails to data storage. You will also visit the country's highest manned and last inhabited weather station to learn more about the job of a meteorologist.
- Survival Skills -
As you experience outdoor life, the camp staff will teach you how to survive in the forest using natural resources and navigation techniques before testing you with several team challenges. This will include:
- Foraging skills
- How to find water sources
- Bush skills: fire lighting, knot tying, shelter creation, and more
- Navigation and tracking skills: using both GPS and traditional methods
- Cultural Immersion -
Beyond the conservation aspect, this programme provides deep cultural immersion, allowing students to experience authentic French life, engage with locals, and explore the city's rich social and cultural landscape.
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Example Itineraries
Day 1
Our local Projects Abroad team will collect your group at Montpellier Méditerranée Airport (MPL) and then take you to the camp where you’ll be staying in Sommières. The drive will take about one hour, during which you can get your first glimpse of the southern French countryside.
Upon arrival, the camp staff will provide a guided tour of the site and show you where to find and how to use the facilities. Our local team will then review the programme plan to ensure everyone knows their roles and give a safety briefing.
Days 2-6
With support from expert conservationists, your students will learn a range of skills and complete tasks such as:
- Setting up camera traps, spoor traps and reptile refugia
- Surveying (day): birding, invertebrates, reptiles, plants
- Monitoring different types of species
- Learning more about nocturnal animal sounds
- Learning about vegetation sampling, water habitat assessment and how to monitor shy and dangerous species
Engage in conversations about:
- Climate change and its impact on different ecosystems
- How traditional skills fit into a modern society
- Invasive species and the threat they pose to biodiversity
-- Social and Cultural Activities --
In the evenings, we will ensure that the fun continues! Stargazing sessions, trapping survey, documentary and game nights, and a visit to the night market will give you and your students plenty to do.
Days 7-8
In addition to continuing your conservation work and conducting birding and reptile surveys, learn about GIS mapping and map data with your group.
Embark on an afternoon trip to visit the Mont Aigoual Observatory, a historic meteorological station dating back to 1894. The observatory features an interactive museum that explains the region's unique weather patterns and the work of meteorologists. Drive to Pont du Gard: A UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts in the world, standing 49m high across the Gardon River.
In the evening, you will either engage in a stargazing session at the observatory (prime location due to minimal light pollution) or witness the aqueduct come alive with a light show.
Days 9-13
Trek – Day 1 (approx. 15km trek) –
Travel to Le Vigan, where you will receive a brief about the aims of the next three days before departing – foraging, fire lighting materials, bushes for cordage, using a compass and map to navigate while making sure to have a water point along the route at a midway point to the refuge location.
Practice skills such as navigation and distance checking. Arrive at the camp location and set up your base camp using the materials you collected during the hike. After a tiring first day, enjoy a stargazing session as you make s'mores and engage in storytelling around a campfire.
Trek – Day 2 (approx .10km trek) –
Use a pre-programmed route with the GPS, making geocaches along the way to get to the mountain gîte. Key observations to note: edible plants, birds of prey (particularly vultures), animal sightings, and tracks. Enjoy a comfortable evening at the gîte with a warm shower, a delicious meal, and a cosy bed!
Trek – Day 3 (approx. 15km trek) –
Follow the river back to Le Vigan, looking for tracks along the way. Enjoy a nice lunch/late lunch in the village, wander around to find some souvenirs and head back to the campsite for your last evening.
Day 14
Today, you will head back to Montpellier Méditerranée Airport (MPL) ready for your flight home.
Our local Projects Abroad team will collect your group at Montpellier Méditerranée Airport (MPL) and then take you to the camp where you’ll be staying in Sommières. The drive will take about one hour, during which you can get your first glimpse of the southern French countryside.
Upon arrival, the camp staff will provide a guided tour of the site and show you where to find and how to use the facilities. Our local team will then review the programme plan to ensure everyone knows their roles and give a safety briefing.
Days 2-6
With support from expert conservationists, your students will learn a range of skills and complete tasks such as:
- Setting up camera traps, spoor traps and reptile refugia
- Surveying (day): birding, invertebrates, reptiles, plants
- Monitoring different types of species
- Learning more about nocturnal animal sounds
- Learning about vegetation sampling, water habitat assessment and how to monitor shy and dangerous species
Engage in conversations about:
- Climate change and its impact on different ecosystems
- How traditional skills fit into a modern society
- Invasive species and the threat they pose to biodiversity
-- Social and Cultural Activities --
In the evenings, we will ensure that the fun continues! Stargazing sessions, trapping survey, documentary and game nights, and a visit to the night market will give you and your students plenty to do.
Days 7-8
In addition to continuing your conservation work and conducting birding and reptile surveys, learn about GIS mapping and map data with your group.
Embark on an afternoon trip to visit the Mont Aigoual Observatory, a historic meteorological station dating back to 1894. The observatory features an interactive museum that explains the region's unique weather patterns and the work of meteorologists. Drive to Pont du Gard: A UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts in the world, standing 49m high across the Gardon River.
In the evening, you will either engage in a stargazing session at the observatory (prime location due to minimal light pollution) or witness the aqueduct come alive with a light show.
Days 9-13
Trek – Day 1 (approx. 15km trek) –
Travel to Le Vigan, where you will receive a brief about the aims of the next three days before departing – foraging, fire lighting materials, bushes for cordage, using a compass and map to navigate while making sure to have a water point along the route at a midway point to the refuge location.
Practice skills such as navigation and distance checking. Arrive at the camp location and set up your base camp using the materials you collected during the hike. After a tiring first day, enjoy a stargazing session as you make s'mores and engage in storytelling around a campfire.
Trek – Day 2 (approx .10km trek) –
Use a pre-programmed route with the GPS, making geocaches along the way to get to the mountain gîte. Key observations to note: edible plants, birds of prey (particularly vultures), animal sightings, and tracks. Enjoy a comfortable evening at the gîte with a warm shower, a delicious meal, and a cosy bed!
Trek – Day 3 (approx. 15km trek) –
Follow the river back to Le Vigan, looking for tracks along the way. Enjoy a nice lunch/late lunch in the village, wander around to find some souvenirs and head back to the campsite for your last evening.
Day 14
Today, you will head back to Montpellier Méditerranée Airport (MPL) ready for your flight home.
Which Curriculum Subjects do we cater for?
Environmental Science
Discover the work of meteorologists as you visit the country's last inhabited weather station. As well as learning more about the local ecosystem and how to monitor its various species through conducting surveys, you will actively participate in the Citizen Science Project by submitting your collected data to their platform.
You will also engage in discussions about the environment and the challenges it faces, including pollution and the carbon footprint left by our digital activities.
Cultural
Learn more about the French culture as you live in the countryside. Visit the Pont du Gard, a famous aqueduct listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, tour the country's highest weather station, and learn more about the meteorologists' work.
Conservation Wildlife Animal Care
Discover a beautiful ecosystem in southern France and learn how to protect it through environmental discussions and conservation activities.
- Discover the impact of the digitisation era
- Monitor the local biodiversity by conducting various surveys: amphibians, bats, birding, reptiles, invertebrates
- Set up camera and spoors traps
- Place reptile refugia and keep an eye out for rare species
What size groups do we cater for?
All group sizes of 5 or more. Free staff place with every 9 students.
Access for visitors with disabilities?
Disabled facilities can be offered on request.
Visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)?
Visitors with special educational needs can be catered for on request.
Anything else?
Projects Abroad provides an individualised service and schedule planning, which is backed up by excellent pre-departure preparation and by a dedicated and highly experienced local team in each destination.
We aim to provide a challenging and rewarding experience for every student, promoting self-belief, resilience, leadership, teamwork, reflection, and a new perspective on the world.
Get in touch today! Our partnerships team is happy to answer any queries and guide you through the process of booking the school trip of a lifetime!
We aim to provide a challenging and rewarding experience for every student, promoting self-belief, resilience, leadership, teamwork, reflection, and a new perspective on the world.
Get in touch today! Our partnerships team is happy to answer any queries and guide you through the process of booking the school trip of a lifetime!
Who are Projects Abroad?
Projects Abroad arranges overseas service and internship programmes that are challenging, meaningful, educational and safe.
We have been taking students overseas since 1992 and work in over 20 developing and emerging countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Key to our work is the dedicated in-country staff whose diverse skill sets, local knowledge and love of their community allow us to develop relevant, immersive and worthwhile schedules for school trips which give the students responsibility and teach them to see the world through a different lens.
We offer programmes in community development, conservation, construction, education, sports, empowerment, human rights and healthcare among many others. These projects are designed to contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, broadening the student experience to see the contribution of a few going towards a movement for global change.
All school trips are individualised. We realise that each school has its own goals and interests, and the students have their own passions. We work with the school to develop a tailored itinerary that reflects their values and allows the students to make a connection with the community in which they serve.
Teacher Checklist
Risk Assessments Inspection Visits Free Places for Teachers Resource Packs LOtC Quality Badge Tailor your trip Help promoting your trip Offset your trip carbon footprint
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