Family volunteering in Borneo
Description of Family volunteering in Borneo
Embark on a Family Adventure in Borneo’s Rainforest!
Immerse your family in the vibrant rainforest life of Borneo, living alongside the welcoming Orang Sungai tribe while playing a crucial role in wildlife conservation on a family volunteering trip. Help protect a diverse array of wildlife, including orangutans, pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, macaques, singing gibbons, and sun bears, by actively participating in the restoration of their natural habitat.
Why Choose Our Family Volunteering Trip in Borneo?
This specially designed family program offers a unique opportunity to experience wildlife conservation up close. As habitat destruction leads to a dramatic decline in Borneo’s species, your family will leave knowing you’ve made a tangible impact on protecting endangered animals like orangutans and elephants. Our inspiring project focuses on two main activities:
Rehabilitate the Jungle: Plant trees to regenerate the lush rainforest, enhancing biodiversity and providing homes for countless creatures. You’ll engage in tree planting, clearing weeds, and nurturing saplings, with parents supervising young children using tools for planting and weeding.
Wildlife Monitoring on the River: Spend time exploring the stunning river and monitoring wildlife from a boat. Witness orangutans swinging through trees, elephants grazing peacefully, and macaques leaping among branches. Young children should be prepared to sit quietly for 2-3 hours to enjoy this incredible experience.
In addition to these primary activities, your family can participate in community education, embark on jungle treks, and visit renowned sites such as the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre, and the Rainforest Discovery Centre.
Family-Friendly Accommodation and Delicious Local Cuisine
You will stay in cosy local guest houses throughout the project, where meals are prepared by your hosts or local community members. Savour the delicious and varied local cuisine—please note that meals will feature local specialties, not typical fast food options.
Itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival in Sandakan and overnight in the rainforest on the outskirts of the town |
| Day 2: | Transfer to the Orang Sungai village for the start of the project. |
| Day 2 - 5: | Wildlife monitoring, tree planting, community involvement and jungle trek. |
| Day 6: | Depart the project site and visit Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre and Rainforest Discovery centre. Overnight in Sandakan. |
| Day 7: | Return to Sandakan airport |
Price information
Includes airport transfers, accommodation, food, visit to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Borneo sun bear rehabilitation centre, Rainforest Discovery Centre and all project costs.
Departure information
Travel guides
Holiday information
Accessibility
Reviews
1 Reviews of Family volunteering in Borneo
Reviewed on 06 Dec 2016 by Mela Greenslade
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Being in a group of mostly 20-somethings was a wee window into their world!
Handling the monkeys was pretty extraordinary!
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Just be prepared to get dirty and for quite physical work.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes we were directly looking after animals.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
It was a very interesting experience and we both learned a lot. But I think my 'roughing it' days are over; I was really glad to get to a nice, clean hotel at the end!
Responsible Travel
Planet
Conserving BorneoThis project is all about conserving the natural environment in Borneo - and hopefully enabling it to regenerate and survive for many more generations to come. Orangutan populations are plummeting, mainly thanks to palm oil plantations and deforestation. On this project, volunteers help to plant new rainforest and maintain it, ensuring that animals have safe places to live and thrive.
Protecting the world
We are passionate about encouraging our travellers to be kind to the environment as they travel. Each participant receives advice about how to care for the environment whilst they are away. This includes water usage, how to avoid single use plastic and electricity usage.
We insist that all participants bring their own water bottles when they travel with us, and clean free water is always available. We have even created a water bottle that can be purchased before departure and encourage people to use it at all stages of their journey including at the airport, on flights and whilst on their project. We are striving for all of our projects to be free of single use plastic.
People
Meeting local needsThis project engages directly with the local community. Meals are provided by local families, boat and bus drivers do all transfers and the guest houses are rented from local families. In addition to this there is an active local education and immersion scheme which allows families to get to know their friendly hosts. Volunteer spending is spread around the local community by engaging a large range of local individuals and businesses. Saplings are bought from locals who grow them to help regenerate the rainforest.
Cultural sensitivity
We emphasise the importance of showing respect for local people and their customs in our briefing material. Participants will work alongside permanent staff, forming close bonds and getting an insight into real life in rural Borneo. Volunteers are briefed on the local cultures and customs. Our policy is to send people in small groups, which minimises the environmental and social impact that the participants have on the destination and helps them to integrate into the local community.
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