What is a Gap Year? Why should I consider taking a gap year? And what is #PurposefulGapTravel?
Taking a gap year or career break can be a daunting prospect at any time of your life, but the fact is that a meaningful gap can make a huge difference to your life outlook and career prospects.
A gap year gives you time between study or work to recharge, to step back, and to think about the priorities you have in life, so when you return you’ll be sure of what you want to do next, and have the energy and enthusiasm to pursue your passion.
Purposeful gap travel will open up rich opportunities — you’ll become more worldly aware, gain knowledge you could never have dreamed of, achieve certificates and qualifications in fascinating areas, and truly get to know yourself.
Pushing your usual boundaries and stepping out of your comfort zone into a new environment builds key life skills and personal confidence, giving you the knowledge that you can thrive in the face of challenge and adventure.
Immersing yourself into communities and conservancies helps you develop incredible interpersonal skills and a greater understanding of how different parts of the world operate. With your new understanding, you’ll be able to hold more meaningful conversations and debates, while engaging fully with your hosts, audience and peers.
In an increasingly competitive professional world, such skills and experiences give you the chance to really stand out in a pile of CVs, and open your eyes to other opportunities and career paths which may never have presented themselves before.
Why travel with purpose?
While we all love a beach holiday, ski trip or city break, the standard tourism set up sees the benefits of tourism confined to a limited number of people, cities, regions and countries.
To travel with purpose is to bring some of the financial and educational benefits of tourism to untouched places which can benefit from the experience and knowledge offered by the outside world.
These kinds of conservancies work hard to educate local people, to fairly distribute work and wealth, and to use new expertise and experience to take care of their environment — whether that’s protecting entire species, preserving habitats, or safeguarding local culture.
Engaging with these conservancies gives travellers the opportunity to make a lasting positive impact, while broadening their own horizons and outlook.
Why Culsans?
We have a vision to educate every student that joins us with a real and raw 360 degree view on conservation. We’re proud to be developing the conservation ambassadors of the future, through our unique, immersive experiences, in spectacular environments.
We support our partner conservancies with long-term constructive vision, rather than short-lived handouts. Every aspect of our itineraries relates back to the conservancies we work with, helping to maximise our support, while offering the full picture of education for our students.
Our working relationships with these conservancies means they have opened their doors to welcome Culsans students, where previously they didn’t host students at all.
Rather than just teach in a school, stay with one group of people, or work on one project, our itineraries have been developed to showcase all elements of conservation across 3 different conservancies. You’ll discover how the different aspects work together, and be part of bringing great results to the communities and environments they operate in.
Our students stay with local families, to see how they live, what their values are, and embrace the local culture. You’ll witness how the local people benefit from programmes like ours, and how purposeful tourism brings income and support to communities and conservancies around the planet.
We strive to give all our students an experience that enriches their worldly knowledge and character, developing their personal skills for the future.
There’s a whole world out there, with so many cultures and experiences to discover, so why waste your time on an empty, meaningless gap year? You have the capacity to make a real difference in the world, so make sure your gap year travel has a purpose.
