The Experience of a Lifetime
Embrace that sense of giving something back
“Connect and contribute to the survival of the Orangutan, and feel for yourself the emotions and challenges conservationists face in saving the endangered animals of Borneo.” – Afzaal Mauthoor, Founder, The Great Orangutan Project.
How would you like the opportunity to volunteer with rescued orphans and adults in Borneo? Founded by Borneo Orangutan Survival, funded by partner charity, Four Paws, Samboja Lestari gives sanctuary to 225 Orangutans and 52 Sunbears who have found refuge from human destruction and neglect.
With so many orangutans to care for and prepare them for life back in the wild, we need your help. The Orangutan Volunteer Programme is your opportunity to be at the frontline of the effort to save the orangutan from extinction. You will have a privileged behind-the-scenes experience of the realities of running such an ambitious project.
Enriching the lives of the animals and (we hope) enriching your own!
By contributing your time and money to this project, you will enhance the lives of the Orangutans and Sunbears at the centre through enrichment activities, preparing them for life back in the wild, and participate in the ongoing reforestation of previously logged lands.
Connecting everyday people with orangutans – For as little as two or as many as eight weeks, you will form part of a dedicated team of volunteers, led by our onsite facilitators. You will contribute to the further enrichment of the animals and improve their quality of life, to the building and maintenance work on enclosures and infrastructures and to restoring the once lush forests through tree planting. With many orangutans already in care, and more waiting to be rescued, money and work generated by your volunteering is enormously helpful. Each Orangutan is in need of food, shelter, medicines, rehabilitation and release. Your participation in the orangutan volunteer programme can give the orangutans better welfare and better chances of survival as a species. Your stay will also help provide employment to many local people, who benefit directly from the project.
Your place of rest at the end of a busy day
Jungle Comfort – A comfy bed, a hot shower, 3 meals a day, perfect views of the jungle from your window and waking up to the sounds of the orangutans – sounds too good to be true, we know. But this is exactly what the Ecolodge has to offer. Your volunteer placement price includes accommodation, meals, transfers, volunteer placement and coordination, and donation.
What volunteers have to say – “We spent our first few days clearing the islands we needed to work on and making hammocks out of firehoses for the orangutans, whilst designing structures and working out enrichment in lunch times and evenings. We built 2 big platforms on the islands. It was so rewarding to see some orangutans playing with our new structures on the island and really brought home how important this kind of volunteer work is. Hopefully, the island will become home for some orangutans from the cages so they can live freely once again.
When we left Samboja Lestari on the last day, I think it was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do!!! Our time there was amazing. It was not only hard to say goodbye to the orangutans, especially as there are so many that became important to us, but it was even harder too leave the keepers and the staff who had become incredible friends, so hard to go from seeing them all every day of the week to not at all!!!”
Nicola Clarke. Artist aged 26 from UK.
Volunteer Programme Information
Programme: Orangutan Volunteer Programme at Samboja Lestari, Indonesian Borneo
Price: From £1000.00 per person for 2 weeks (low season). 3 to 8 weeks prices are available.
Start and rendez-vous point: 12th and 26th of each month at Balikpapan airport, Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.
Duration: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 weeks available
Season: Monthly 2010 and 2011. Low season – October to March. High Season - April to September.
Group size: 10 persons (age 18 years old plus)
Price includes: Placement, pre-departure and emergency support, in-country meet and greet on arrival and overland transfers, twin share person eco-lodge accommodation with private ensuite bathrooms, hot water and fan in room, all meals provided, volunteer facilitator, volunteer orientation and programme, equipment and contribution, donation.
Excludes: Air travel, visas, travel insurance, personal expenditure
Our volunteer relationship coordinator will be made available to you to help with pre departure preparations including; visa requirements, vaccinations, specialist travel insurance, advise on flights, quarantine period, volunteer duties and kit list, stay at the lodge, wildlife excursions and entertainment during your stay, where your donation goes and gift aid on donation (UK only), volunteer buddy arrangements, and any further facility and dietary requirements you may have.
If you wish to volunteer please register your interest here and a volunteer relationship coordinator will be in touch with you within the next 48 hours. Click here.
FINALLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…
No cuddling of Orangutans! – The ultimate goal is to release the orangutans. We know, like us, you respect that. We ask you to exercise your passion for orangutans responsibly while on site. There can be NO physical human contact with adult and baby orangutans.
Comments
Comment from Sally Hebden
Time March 26, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I volunteered in 2008 at Samboja Lestari and the experience was amazing. We helped hand rear an orphaned baby sunbear, as well as caring for the orangutans. Another absolute highlight was understanding the speed of reforestation. It is difficult to comprehend when you see miles of trees wich have only been there a few years. It makes you realise change CAN happen, when we try.
Comment from Amy Shorter
Time April 25, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Hi Melanie, I am 15, and feel exactly the same as you do by the sounds of your comment! I don’t know how much it would cost, there are a lot of gap year style conservation things you can do, and lots of sites which will run these sort of trips, try ” real gap . co . uk ” (without spaces) or google frontier gap years or gap adventures. On the real gap website, there is a trip which lasts a year, and you visit Austalia, America, China, Indonesia, Thailand and India (I think) all of which include various conservation projects. I don’t really know how good it would be, but you can do a conservation degree at uni, but there’s also environmental science and geography which both can include various aspects of conservation. I have heard that experience is very useful for this sort of thing, maybe volunteer at a local animal shelter? I really hope this helps, and if you (or anyone else) has any other ideas, please write a comment. Thanks, Amy
Comment from JOAN O’MAHONY
Time May 9, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Hello, my husband Billy & I are animal mad and would love to do some voluntary work possible at Christmas, we life in Ireland and were just wondering if this is possible. Also we have recently made an enquiry about adopting Nita for the annual fee of £120 p/a, all the best Joan & Billy
Comment from Melanie
Time March 22, 2010 at 8:41 pm
hi, my name is melanie and i am 14 years old, i am passionate about how our environment is treated and the possibilaty of saving endangered animals. i would be intrested to know if i would need specific qualifications in order to find a long term carear in animal conservation. i also wondered how much the 8 week volenteer project would be, as i am very interested in getting involved as soon as i turn 18, although i appreciate that the prices may change in the next few years, an example would give me an idea so that i can start saving as soon as possiable. Many thanks, Melanie.