Program Reviews

I spent 2 weeks in merapoh and they were jam packed. I experienced hands on conservation, tracking foot prints and putting up camera traps and reviewing the photos. Also working closely with the batek tribe made the experience even better. The kids were amazing and eager to learn and the elders have lots of forest knowledge to pass on. All of the staff from ecoteer made me feel right at home and answered all my questions and adapted the time table to fit in caving, trekking and attending eco film festival and promoting their plastic brick press to help combat the world's plastic problem. The team were great and I would definitely recommend this site.

I was travelling for 7 months and participated in quite a few volunteering programmes, none however quite match the potential and impact of this this one!

The week i spent with the team in Merapoh was awesome. They were all great to work along side and as it was their first week in this new location it was great to see things getting started. It showed me how much potential, and how much good the work they are doing there has and will continue to have on the local Batik community and wildlife in the area.

The area itself is absolutely breathtaking! Coupled with the hugely diverse list of activities we did during the week and you have yourself a life changing experience.

Whether we were hiking through the rain forest and camping out under the stars or climbing our way through caves and battling over waterfalls, there really was no end to the beauty and diversity the area has to offer.

Our time spend with the local community was very particularly special. Watching this bond develop between the local Batik community and the team there was very encouraging. It great to see how much of a difference these sessions had on the kids. However, it was not only the kids that benefited from the sessions with the teams. As many of the adults there had very little or no interaction with outsiders before it was nice to see them getting involved with the activities. We played a game of football with them, and its safe to say that we didn't stand a chance against some of these wannabe professional players. I would have loved to stay longer to have seen these relationships develop.

On our last night we had a picnic ontop of a peak overlooking the whole area. Safe to say that the view could bring a tear anyones eye.

And the food was to die for! We had a home cooked meal prepared for us by some local Malay women and ate with their family which was an experience in itself.

I could literally talk for hours and write paragraph after paragraph about the Tiger Conservation and Trekking Programme but if you don't go and experience it for yourself then you really are missing out.
Go and give it a go! I promise you will not regret it!

I want to send a huge thanks to the team out there! You really made my week (which was way to short) the most incredible week of my whole 7 months travelling. Thank you. :)

I have been at ecoteer's Wildlife Rescue Centre Jogja project for 7 months now as their intern volunteer coordinator. I came here with the focus to improve the volunteer program. Since I have been here we have included cultural engagements and extended wildlife release education programs for volunteers. While I love all of the animals here and want to see the best for them. We also have a unique opportunity to benefit a low economic area with extended education problems and help small traditional business' in the area (e.g gamelan lessons and batik lessons). These were simple things we are able to provide that had been ignored in the past. I have had so many opportunities here to develop personally and I feel more confident in my abilities. But I never came here for myself. I came here for this community and for my volunteers. And I constantly see the amazing opportunities both are offered and the life changing impact it has had on both.

We had a great time trekking through the jungle (I was part of the Elephant crew:)

Learnt a lot as well as re-connecting with nature

And nature (well, the leeches) re-connected with me too - but as I'm a believer in the health benefits of "bleeding", i just let them do their thing and get their fill

They drop off after a while ...

Teaching, eco-snorkeling, beach cleans, Malay dinners, kuih sessions, painting, gardening and so much more... Volunteering at this project gives you a total view of island life, while making a small difference. And if you don't make a difference on the island itself, it's you as a person that changes. I don't think I've ever stayed in a village that is more welcoming than Kampung Pulau Perhentian. And that's exactly the reason why I decided to come back for a couple of months in 2015, after volunteering here for just two weeks in 2014.

How great was it to have neighbours sending over the most delicious meals through our window; to save marine life while picking up so many pieces of rubbish; to run camps; to guide school groups; and to inspire travellers to care just a little bit more about the crazy world we live in. On top of that I was blessed to meet heaps of people that inspired me and taught me lots of different things. It the place to be with like-minded people... A big hug to everyone I met during my stay!

I volunteered at the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Jogja through the Ecoteer program. I originally chose this program because of the comfort level that I felt in with all my correspondence with the Ecoteer staff and founder Dan Quilter. However, I went back for a second stay because of how wonderful my experience was. I was drawn to the Centre by the animals, but I found that the staff and locals were the ones that made the most impact on my experience. The Centre is very beautiful with many surprise amenities, such as air conditioning in the rooms, wifi on site, and a private local chief to make all the meals for the volunteers. Each morning is spent with a different animal keeper, where you act as their assistant while they care for their specific animals. The afternoons were for “special assignments”, which could consist of animal enrichment activities, building nests, assisting the onsite Veterinarian, and other necessary daily tasks for the well-being of the animals. After the work day is finished, the volunteer coordinator has cultural activities set up for each evening. During my stay there was the option to learn to play Gamelan (Music of Indonesia), visit a local animal release site, kids club with local school children, teaching English to local adults, and participate in a batik arts class. The volunteers have the weekends off so they can explore the local area. The volunteer coordinator will also set up a local driver for you to go wherever you desire, at a very fair and low price. Over all, the energy at the Centre is tranquil, welcoming, and secure. All of the staff are so friendly, easy going, and happy to assist with any needs you may have. And my favorite is that there are constant sounds from animals that became like a harmonious song always playing in the background. If you decide to volunteer at the Animal Rescue Centre in Jogja… be prepared to work, be prepared to learn, and be prepared to leave a better person.

For a project that just started this year, their achievements so far are quite impressive, especially their ability to identify individual turtles without needing to refer to their database of turtle photos. I've been photo-identifying the tails of North Atlantic humpback whales for a year and I still need to go through the whole catalog of whale tail photos to find a match. Maybe it is because the turtle photo database has only less than 60 individuals while the humpback whale catalog has more than 8000 individuals. However, I believe it is because the ones who were photo-identifying the turtle photos and the ones who took the photos are the same people - they were actually there and personally interacted with the very turtles they are trying to protect. Furthermore, as the project is situated right next to two resorts, it makes it easier for them to reach out to tourist and raise awareness about the importance of sea turtle conservation. As the project has just started, it is hard to say how much of an impact they have really made. But I believe that if they continue on this path, with some power-ups along the way (more funding, better software to catalog and photo-id), I'm sure they will eventually achieve their goal. But I hope the project and the staff (along with their friendliness and enthusiasm) will still be there whether the goal has been achieved already or not because I did promise to come back :D

I stayed at WRC for two months in May-July 2015 and I can't recommend it highly enough.

The staff and the greater community are incredibly welcoming; they both taught me Indonesian words and made me the most delicious food. Joining in the kids' club and community English sessions was a great chance to experience the local culture, and the staff from WRC were great at showing volunteers around and helping us see some of Jogja's hidden gems.

Small volunteer groups means you really get to interact with the animals and actually feel like you're making a contribution to the centre.

I loved everything about my stay and will definitely be back.

it was an awesome experience. The accommodation was amazing, it was just by the sea with a private beach(yes a private beach). Everyone was pretty nice and friendly. The snorkeling was amazing, specially the tours. everyone should give it a try x

This volunteer program was a great way to see Jogja, spend time with locals and work with wildlife. Spent lots of time with locals and learning bits of Indonesian, overall it was a really well organized experience.