Program Reviews

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.

The three days I spent with the Orang Asli people were both wonderful and unforgettable! Both the Ecoteer team and the Orang Asli people welcomed me with such warmth and I immediately felt part of a close knit family. Experiencing the traditions of the community was a big highlight such as practicing with the blowpipe or learning to catch fish with the cleverly designed Bubu trap! Getting to meet the kids in the community and helping them with their English was also a fantastic opportunity! I whole heartedly encourage people to get involved with this wonderful project which not only gives an unforgettable experience for the volunteer but also supports the Orang Asli community.

I only volunteered for 2 weeks, but wish I was able to stay for longer! What struck me was that straight away, I felt like I was part of the community. I was involved with so many activities; awareness campaigns, teaching English, kuih (dessert making), computer class, beach clean-ups, school clubs, snorkelling tour etc.! Everybody was so friendly and welcoming, the Ecoteer Staff were great and I settled in quickly. It was amazing to see how this project runs so well with the locals.

The Perhentian Islands are simply stunning. Words can not truly describe the views we saw every day. I loved the whole experience and would highly recommend it to anyone! :)

I loved every part of this experience. The ecoteer team are so incredibly friendly and the children at the school are fantastic to work with. There are so many parts of this project to get involved in - English club for local women, school clubs, beach clean ups and awareness campaigns. You can really see the difference this project is making within this small community and it is great to see a project working so closely side by side with locals.

The island itself is honestly gorgeous - clear, turquoise waters make for wonderful snorkeling in free time as well!
Thanks to the ecoteer team for everything and well done for all the incredible work you do!!!

I finally got to witness sea turtle laying eggs. I learned a lot on how commercialised tourism badly affects the environment and wild life. Now seeing uneducated tourist shouting and disturbing the sea turtles eating makes me realise how important volunteerism should be promoted.

Ecotourism: when a trip leaves an imprint on the common good

We are passionate about travelling and discovering new places. We are passionate about trying to understand de world, from the different perspective of each culture. We enjoy, specially, the nature and its beauty, and the challenge of understanding its operating mechanisms, balanced perfectly from millions of years of evolutions. In fact, everything is nature, and the world we know is not possible without it.

For this reason, we support the idea that the maintenance of all our ecosystems, most of them endangered, are the key for the common good of the humanity and for its continuity in near future.

For all these reasons, the trips that enriched us the most are the trips that we are in contact with the nature, awesome landscape in harmony with flora, fauna and native culture. Always with this idea we have undertaken a long round the world trip during the year 2015, which will bring us to discover the most beautiful and interesting places of the Australian, Asiatic and American continents.

Our trip will be based on ecotourism principles. We want to discover destinations, activities and local programs always environment-friendly, worried about the conservation of the common cultural heritage and fostering local economy.

For this reason, we contacted ECOTEER, and the Turtle Conservation Program in the Perhentian islands. We joined the team as volunteers for two weeks in a just started program in early 2015. The assessment of the experience has been excellent in all the aspects; we will point to the main three

1. Interest and scientific approach of the conservation program.

We consider that the technical management of the program, led by experimented biologists in the field of marine conservation and marine turtles, has focused a project based in an unequivocal identification strategy of each individual turtle. Implementing a non-invasive methodology, based in a photo identification technique to better understand the resident, transient and nesting population of hard shelled marine turtles.

A part from the identification, they work together with the fishery department looking for turtle nests, avoiding poachers and keeping the eggs in the hatchery. They are also developing an awareness campaign in order to inform tourist and local people, how to juggle in a sustainable way the environmental preservation of the islands and tourism.

In parallel to this project, and to add efforts, they work with another team of ECOOTER, who lead the Community Project. Placed in the village and whose aim is to teach and support the islanders to caring for their habitat.

2. Humane treatment

We want to remark the friendly staff who lead both projects. Our warm welcome, the integration to the project and the day work, make us feel as being among friends, they also gave us the opportunity of sharing experiences with local people as in the Malay dinner, a real immersion in a Malay family.

3. The beauty of the Perhentian islands

The last but not the least important, the landscape of Perhentian islands, with vast potential. We did ones of our best snorkelling in there, a part from enjoy the jungle and swim in beautiful coves.
For all these reasons, we strongly recommend, to live this volunteer experience with ECOTEER.