Orangutan conservation tour in Malaysia
Are you looking for an adventurous trip with a purpose, or on a gap year or career break? If you want to make a difference in some of the world’s most important conservation areas - and in community projects - then volunteer trips are for you! Volunteers tend to have a sense of adventure, and come from a range of different backgrounds and from all over the world.
Edward Abbey said 'sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul'.
How Orangutan conservation tour in Malaysia makes a difference
Environment
According to the World Wildlife Fund, over the past 100 years the population of orangutans has fallen by over 90%, thus leaving fewer than 63,000 in the world today most of these living in Borneo. Illegal pet trading, poaching and destruction of their natural habitat have all led to this decrease in numbers. As orangutans only give birth to one baby every 8 years then concentrated efforts are needed to conserve current populations and to promote and protect breeding programmes to encourage orangutan population growth. The ultimate aim is to reintroduce animals into the wild. For that, and safety reasons, there is no human contact with the animals as this would be detrimental to the programme.
So, how will you make a difference?
- You’ll have the opportunity to see a number of different orangutan conservation organisations, focusing on education and raising awareness.
- You’ll be giving practical help at one of the centres including feeding, facility maintenance and care and enrichment for the orangutans.
- You’ll also have the chance to learn traditional handicrafts, cooking, survival or fishing techniques from one or more of the various tribes and talk to them about their traditions and lives. As well as promoting cultural understanding this visit helps to boost the local economy.
We believe that travel should have a lasting positive impact that helps to change lives for the better. Our ethos is that under the right guidance from our local partners you can help to bring about positive change. It is a simple fact that most the countries we visit do not have adequate resources to financially support or staff up new initiatives and that’s where you can make a significant difference – in lending your time, energy and enthusiasm to ensure that the projects have a constant flow of volunteers ready to get stuck in and eager to help them achieve their goals.
Through our programme of supported volunteering we assist volunteers to participate on existing projects, which have often approached us for support. These projects existed before our partnership and would continue without, albeit a little slower in achieving their goals. We believe it is vitally important to support worthwhile projects in a sustainable way that doesn’t have a destabilising effect on their development and the wider community.
Community
People who travel on our trips return home with a much deeper understanding of the country visited than a typical tourist would ever gain. Prior to departure all our volunteers receive information containing guidance on how to travel and experience a culture responsibly.
Wherever and whenever possible, all the staff and leaders are sourced locally providing a great insight into the way of life; we use locally-run accommodation and we encourage use of local markets and public transport to help ensure as much money as possible goes into the local economy.
Orangutan conservation tour in Malaysia
