The Highlands of Iceland - The Famous Kjölur Road (1:2)

WORK/PROJECT: SEEDS volunteers will be working on several projects, mostly construction and renovation related tasks, preparing the area before the summer; supporting a group of local Icelanders that are developing the area with new tourism services and pushing forward alternative ways of income; running a series of mountain huts in this isolated area and offering services to travellers during the summer time.

The tasks will include landscaping around houses in the area as well as painting and maintaining verandas. As the landscape is raw, the work is physically demanding but also rewarding.

We will be maintaining hiking paths, clearing litter along the paths and in the valley. We will also build fences around natural hot pools in the area and clear some old fences.

ACCOMMODATION: We will be hosted in a local mountain hut; sleeping in shared rooms on mattresses on the floor; please bring your own sleeping bag. The facilities are very basic and volunteers are expected to show consideration for their companions.

We will receive food ingredients and be in charge of cooking and cleaning. Please do not forget some traditional food from your home country for the international evening.

LOCATION: The Icelandic highlands, or “the interior”, are a true pearl to all nature lovers and outdoor people. It is accessible on 4WD cars and most routes involve crossing un-bridged rivers.

If you really want to get away from it all, the interior of Iceland is like nothing you have ever experienced. The mountainous centre of the island, with its rocky deserts, craggy mountain peaks, ice caps, volcanoes, hidden valleys and hot springs, is an awesome and untouched wilderness.

The interior was almost totally inaccessible until recently. However outlaws managed to hide out for years at a time in the highlands, rustling sheep and keeping away from law-abiding citizens. Folklore stories tell of both natural and supernatural beings that lay in wait for unwary highland travellers. Travellers going between the north and south of Iceland sometimes had to cross the highlands. To get to the assembly of Alþingi (parliament) each summer, delegates had to ride from every corner of the country to Þingvellir in the southwest.

Journeys across the interior were never undertaken lightly; such travel was risky and lives were often lost. Today the interior is crossed by two mountain roads, via Kjölur and Sprengisandur, which are only open in summer, after the snow has thawed in spring.

We will be staying close to the glacier Hofsjökull and near to the rivers Hvítá and Þjórsá. The mountains in the area that reach up to 1500 m were formed during a volcanic eruption in the later part of the ice age. The area is still dynamic and great geothermal activity takes place in the surroundings. The environment is very diverse, both in shape and colour. The mountains are weathered and have very little continuous growth, as the forces of nature, like glaciers, water flow, ice bursts etc. have been fast working in these mountain highlands.

LANGUAGE: English will be the language of the camp; high proficiency is not required.

TERMINAL: Closest International Airport: Keflavík/Reykjavík (KEF).

SEEDS organises a “minibus option”, a shared transport from Reykjavík to the camps and back. Apart from being cheap and convenient, it allows volunteers to meet fellow campers and have a relaxed trip, while stopping on the way for interesting sites.

EXTRAS / SPECIAL REMARKS: Participation fee EUR 200 (Euros). To be paid to SEEDS on arrival.

Remote and very isolated site located in natural areas of extreme beauty.  Volunteers need to be prepared for physical and demanding work, free time activities are mostly outdoors in the area as there is no transportation available or possibility to organise transport to different sites.

Bring warm clothes, gloves, hats, scarves and socks as the weather can be cold even in summer.

Age: 18+