Orangutan volunteer programme in Borneo

Our volunteer programme has been running for 10 successful years. Initially based in the Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) it has since moved around to different areas of our work in Central Kalimantan. Our programme is unique. It promises some exciting opportunities for adventurous individuals; not only do volunteers participate in work in our project areas that really makes a difference, they also get the chance to see orangutans in their natural habitat.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO HANDS-ON WORK WITH THE ORANGUTANS – WORK IS OF A MANUAL CONSTRUCTION NATURE.

Volunteers in the 2010 programme will be working in the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, a Government-designated orangutan release area where the Orangutan Foundation UK operates five release sites. The reserve is closed to the public but as volunteer employees of the Foundation you will be permitted to live and work there. Past projects included the construction of a jetty, guard posts and a soft release site to enable release of further rehabilitated orangutans into the wild. Tasks undertaken will most likely be chiseling, sawing, painting and cementing. (No experience is necessary – everyone learns on the job!). 2010 projects are yet to be confirmed but there is a likely to be a range of small maintenance tasks across existing camps.

All volunteer work actively contributes to the protection of orangutans we re-introduce from our Orangutan Care Centre and Quarantine facility as well as existing wild populations. The projects will operate in remote and basic conditions and you will be living “in the field” with no telephones, no email and only generator-produced electricity.

All programmes are six weeks in length with a maximum of 12 people per team. The programme is open to anyone over the age of eighteen. Throughout the programme volunteers will be working closely with the local staff which provides a fantastic insight into the Indonesian culture and an opportunity to learn some of the Indonesian language.

We want all volunteers to come away from the experience with a knowledge of orangutan and forest conservation and so we ensure that volunteers are taken on visits to as many of our project sites as possible. Paying volunteers inject an income and workforce into our field projects and without volunteer participation our orangutan release sites would not be nearly as smooth-running or numerous as they are – your participation really does count.
Volunteers will stay in a rural and remote region of Indonesia Borneo and living “in the field” pretty much 24/7. The programme requires a great deal of physical exertion in hot and humid conditions. Depending upon the project you are participating in you will be required to undertake some of the following activities; strenuous walking/hiking, digging, carrying loads and/or working in swampy areas.

Accommodation is extremely basic and personal space lacking, but this never seems to bother anyone! You work a 6 day week and have one day a week off to catch up on washing/ help cooking etc or just relax and enjoy your surroundings. There are early starts but a long lunch to digest and miss the heat of the day. Bathing is in the nearby river. Volunteers must note that they will not have hands on contact with orangutans or participate in scientific field research. You will, however, see many free ranging ex-captive orangutans in the locality of Camp Leakey and opportunities will be available to stay at Camp Leakey or a similar camp and visit the daily feeding.