Program Reviews

Highly capable animal keepers . Lots of animals in need of care. Your involved daily with the enclosure cleaning, feeding and enrichment of the animals you're responsible for on that given day - one day you'll be birds, orangutan etc.

What this place needs is financial backing. This place has taken on that many animals in need there isn't enough enclosures to suit each amimals natural habitat.

More help is needed to acquire release sites. This place does a great job but could be making an exceptional difference given the funding.

i had an incredible time on the Perhentian Islands last year and the Blue temple house was the perfect base! Located in the local village, the house allows you to interact with the local children and experience the Malay culture! Neil and Sabi are Incredible, going out of their way to show you all the amazing dive sites and island experiences! The House and hosts leave you feeling relaxed and welcome for your entire stay! LOVED every minute of my stay, i'll definitely be back!

I stayed one month volunteering for the Blue Temple Project, allying conservation of the coral reef trough surveys and awareness campaign. It was the best holiday I ever had. A lot better than a simple hotel, I had the opportunity to live in the middle of a Malaysian village, see how they live, learn a bit of their language to communicate with them but also play with very cute kids. I really felt that everything was made for the volunteers the enjoy their stay. Food was very good, the house and the bathroom were clean, the equipment, of a very good quality.

There, the mood was awesome! being with other volunteers from many countries in this amazing "marine conservation mood house" managed by Sabi and Neil, the owners, has been a real pleasure!

I first thought I was going to dive! I quickly realize that there, diving is a unique experience! Diving with Blue Temple is very different from "normal diving" you learn about what's around you, you learn how to recognize the different species of fish, invertebrates and corals which makes things a lot more interesting. Sabi and Neil, the owners, are instructors and you will learn so much diving with them. I felt my skills improving a lot there! Indeed I trained to control my buoyancy in a very precise way. Also, I really enjoyed diving with the same people during a month, you take habits, learn to communicate together, you joke under the water, well... that was really cool, and I miss it!

I couldn't leave the place without thinking I would be back, too hard! I'm still pretty sure I will! So... See you there maybe!

Thanks to Sabi and Neil for this amazing experience!

It is fantastic to see the wealth of knowledge and effort that has gone into making this project what it is today. Seh Ling is a fantastic project manager with total dedication to conserving turtles; The facial recognition software which she hopes to implement will not only increase our knowledge of the local green turtle populations in the Perhentians, but will also aid further research elsewhere. All in all this is a brilliant project which everyone I know would love to be part of. It is one of the few projects with meaningful research behind it that will hopefully aid the understanding of these fabulous creatures.

I had an incredible experience during my time volunteering at the Perhentian Islands Marine Research Station in Malaysia. A typical day could involve any combination of diving (or learning to dive), underwater surveys, participation in environmental awareness campaigns, beach clean-ups, engaging with the local community and eating delicious local food. The hosts, Neil and Sabina, are amazing teachers when it comes to progressing your diving skills and qualifications. Their passion for the marine environment is infectious and I learnt alot from them during my time on the Perhentian Islands.

I was fortunate enough to be involved with this project just as it was getting started, and I can say there is little to fault! The islands are truly stunning, the people are really nice and supportive (plus know a lot more than I did on arriving!), and the local food is delicious. On other programs it's easy to feel just like another tourist, but here you can easily taste the traditional island life and meet the local woman (who make amazing donuts: 3 for 18p!!), as well do all the usual stuff like diving/snorkelling. But doing it with the research program has been a lot more informative and hence I think you get so much more out of the experience, as well as the opportunity to give something back and to make a difference. Overall, wonderful experience and I look forward to going back in the future to see how it has progressed!

We weren't sure what to expect when we visited this project. We took a cargo boat to the village and were met by one of the interns. The village is small and full of very very friendly people. Really nice environment and it is clear that the project leader is well respected in the community.

We arrived at the start of the rainy season, so our diving was limited unfortunately, but we did get to do some challenging dives, setting up and moving some of the artificial reefs as well as a couple of fun dives.

The project has been very good for the community, improving waste management (incinerator) and helping in the school with a new water storage, playground and teachers house.

We got to create our own reef pods for the new reef, and helped build up the school house a bit. The accommodation was really nice, small wooden bungalows, with squat toilet, bucket shower and bunkbeds. Nice social area, but only electricity between 6pm and 11pm.

Great fun.

Previous intern with Ecoteer, their project there is awesome especially their project leader, Seh Ling is the key person behind. Patrol every night with professional guidance, learn a lot from hands-on!

Earlier this year, I had an incredible experience on this program. The overnight turtle watch was definitely something I will never forget. If you love nature or, more specifically, turtles, this is the program for you.

We stayed with the Ecoteer project for a week in September 2014, as part of a six-week holiday in Malaysia, and really enjoyed our time there. We went as a family with our 7-year-old daughter, and for her it was one of the highlights of our trip to Malaysia, as she was able to move around the volunteer house and surroundings fairly freely, met local kids, and all the staff and volunteers made a real effort to include her in activities and spend time with her. We stayed at the volunteer house, were we had a little private section to ourselves; the accommodation is pretty basic, but clean and functional; it's also probably as close as we got to the way a lot of Malaysians in rural areas live. The activities were fun, particularly meeting the local children and doing research snorkeling, and it was wonderful to be accepted so easily into the local community. The Malaysian dinners, where you go to private homes for a traditional meal, were particularly memorable.