College expedition

A College Expedition or a University Expedition is something completely different to do over the summer vacation. If you travel on a college expedition you will meet other like-minded travellers, see new places and experience new things. A college expedition can also be immensely rewarding as it gives you the opportunity to get involved with some extremely worthwhile volunteering expeditions. On a more practical level, travelling on a college expedition helps boost your future career prospects by enhancing your CV and broadening your horizons - making you a much more interesting candidate to either prospective employers or universities.

If you are planning a college expedition it's well worth considering trying to get hold of some sponsorship in order to help fund your trip. Click on Real Gap's ‘Gap year fundraising' page for some excellent ideas on how to go about raising sponsorship for a college expedition.

There are all kinds of options you can choose from for a college expedition. It's worth spending some time exploring the Real Gap website and reading up on all of the various options (although for a college expedition you obviously need to check if they fit in with the summer vacation). An excellent source of advice and information if you are planning a college expedition are Real Gap's team of expert travel advisers - all of whom have taken a gap year themselves and will do all they can to help you plan and prepare your college expedition.

Some of Real Gap's most adventurous options for a college expedition are our comprehensive ‘Real Gap Year Expedition Abroad' programmes. These combine all of the ‘must see' sights you would want to visit in a particular country on a college expedition along with a volunteer placement and other travel more ‘off the beaten track.' What's more, three of the destinations - Tanzania, Peru and Venezuela - have start dates which coincide with the college summer vacation. Our ‘College expedition' page takes a look at some of the things you could get up to if you travel on one of these programmes…

College expedition - Tanzania

One of the wildest and most exciting places to travel on a college expedition is Africa. On a college expedition to Tanzania you visit some of the best game reserves in Africa in which to view the continent's incredible wildlife - including Ruaha, the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and Mount Kilimanjaro National Park. On a college expedition to Tanzania there's also time to relax on some beautiful Indian Ocean beaches, including the idyllic spice island of Zanzibar. Arguably the most exciting and privileged experience on a college expedition to Tanzania, however, is a five-week stay at a Maasai village in a beautiful setting close to Mount Kilimanjaro. Travellers on the college expedition help teach English to the Maasai and, in return, gain a unique insight in to the Maasai way of life and culture.

College expedition - Peru

If you travel on a college expedition to Peru you will visit some of South America's most incredible sights - including the world's highest navigable lake (Titicaca), the ‘lost Inca City' of Machu Picchu high up in the Andes Mountains and the mysterious Nazca lines in the deserts of western Peru. When you volunteer on a college expedition to Peru you can choose from a wide range of extremely rewarding programmes, including a river turtle conservation project in a remote region of the Amazon.

College expedition - Venezuela

A college expedition to Venezuela offers an equally diverse choice of volunteer projects - from animal conservation work to caring for children in an orphanage. Venezuela also offers some incredible gap year travel experiences for a college expedition - including Angel Falls, pristine Caribbean beaches, the jungles and wildlife of the Orinoco Delta and a six day trek to the remote ‘lost World' mountain of Raraima.

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