Volunteer in Borneo

If you would really like to experience life off the beaten track on your gap year or career break then why not volunteer in Borneo? You can volunteer in Borneo on a number of exciting projects - from getting involved with the conservation of orang-utans to working with local tribal communities.

Both of Gap Year for Grown Ups' ‘Volunteer in Borneo' programmes are based in the northern half of Borneo belonging to Malaysia. When you volunteer in Borneo you will be visiting one of the world's most extreme environments - Borneo is a huge island and some of its remotest inland jungle is still largely uncharted territory. The island's most famous residents are the orang-utan apes - the only great ape to exist outside of Africa. When you volunteer in Borneo on either of the programmes you can get involved with orang-utan conservation and do your bit to try and ensure these beautiful creatures don't become extinct.

If you volunteer in Borneo on the Malaysia Orang-utan Interaction Programme you help to conserve wild orang-utans and also assist with the rehabilitation of orang-utans rescued from captivity. This ‘Volunteer in Borneo' work is absolutely vital - a combination of the illegal pet trade, hunting and deforestation has depleted orang-utan numbers to dangerously low levels (it's estimated the world's entire orang-utan population is now only 20,000). When you volunteer in Borneo on this programme you spend the first ten days learning all about orang-utans by working at a zoo in either Kuala Lumpur or Taiping. After your zoo placement you then head off to volunteer in Borneo, monitoring orang-utans in the wild.

When you volunteer in Borneo you get to stay in the jungle itself, inside a traditional longhouse. Adding to this unique cultural experience is that fact that when you volunteer in Borneo you also work closely with local Iban tribes-people. When you volunteer in Borneo, apart from monitoring the orang-utans another important aspect of the programme is helping to promote the idea and concept of eco-tourism among the local population. The focus of this ‘Volunteer in Borneo' programme is very much the basic message that orang-utan and environmental conservation is for the good of everyone - not just the orang-utans.  

If you would like working with the Iban tribe to be your main focus of your programme when you volunteer in Borneo a better option is the ‘Malaysia Tribal Community Project'. If you volunteer in Borneo on this project you will still be assisting the Iban with their orang-utan conservation work. However when you volunteer in Borneo with the ‘Tribal Community' programme you also get more heavily involved in community-based projects concerning the local people themselves. Examples of this type of ‘Volunteer in Borneo' work include helping with the maintenance of jungle trails, working as a teaching assistant at local schools and assisting with the restoration and repair work of the traditional long-houses.

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