Cost: 40,000 Baht (approx. £770) for 1 month placement. Includes airport pickup, accommodation, 24 hours support, programme activities. Does not include food (you should budget around
£5 per day). Price structure differs on how long you intend to stay. Contact us for more details.
Travel: You will need to get to Phuket island, reached easily by plane or overnight bus from Bangkok. You will be met in Phuket by a project representative and taken to the project location.
Work: Rehabilitate and Monitor stolen gibbons back to the wild. Educate the public about their plight. Opportunities for specific academic research also available.
Introduction
Gibbons are small, monogamous, territorial apes that live in the upper canopy of the lowland rainforest of South East Asia. These apes have a unique form of locomotion, an arm-to-arm swinging movement called brachiation. Also unique to gibbons are their loud territorial songs, which can be heard for several kilometers in the rainforest. In the wild, gibbons feed mainly fruits, leaves, flowers and insects. They can live for more than 30 years.
Thailand's gibbons are threatened mainly by destruction of their rainforest habitat, but they are also poached for meat, medicine and the lucrative pet trade. All nine species in SE Asia are listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In Thailand it has been illegal to take gibbons from the wild since 1992. Sadly, this practice still continues.
Project Objectives:
- Rehabilitation: To develop successful methods to rehabilite white-handed gibbons back back into their natural habitat. - Education: To end the demand for the illegal use of gibbons as tourist attractions and as pets: Our Center for Conservation Education and Fund-Raising was created to raise awareness of the plight of captive gibbons and the role that tourism plays in the demand for baby gibbons. -Regeneration: To repopulate the last remaining rainforest in Phuket. The gibbons were poached to extinction in Phuket over 25 years ago. We hope to repopulate this forest with gibbons that were previously being help in captivity. - Awareness: To create awareness of the importance of conservation of the environment: We are active in the local community, educating about the importance of conservation. We run educational programs to enable local villagers and children to see the forest and its animals as an essential paret of the ecosystem in which we all live.
Daily Life
You will support the project in two ways: with the rehabilitation and with your donation. You have to be available for at least three weeks. Depending on the duration of your stay, your education and experience, you may participate in the following activities:
- Assist the Animal Keepers (preparing food, feeding) - Assist in the research (for instance behavioural research. The way the released gibbons spend their time is observed. Behavioural elements are registered, for instance: territorial behaviour, urinating, threatening behaviour towards the observers, coughing, sneezing, foraging, abnormal behaviour and singing. Special emphasis lies on dominant behaviour, the place of the individuals in the group, explorative behaviour and their behaviour towards people, e.g. the observers. - Building and maintaining the cages. - Daily cleaning of the cages. - Giving talks to tourists, telling them of your experiences and those of the animals at the project as well as enlightening them on the current situation of the wildlife protection in Thailand. - Teaching in your native language to local schools
You will work under the supervision of staff at the project, learning most things while doing them. If you are only available for four weeks, most of your activities will consist of building or repairing cages, preparing food and showing visitors around. You will only have limited contact with the animals. If you are available for several months you can participate in activities in which you will have closer contact with the animals.
Volunteers who have nearly completed their studies for a degree in for instance biology, ecology, primatology or veterinary science, may be able to do research on behaviour and disease. All research takes place second to your duties at the project and under the supervision of the project manager; you have to be available for at least two months in order to do research. For volunteers with an education in the tourist education or public relations sector it is possible to participate in the further development of the visitors-centre and the "visitors-management". Research condition
It is a six day working week, at variable working hours in a morning shift and an afternoon shift. On your days off (not necessarily on the weekends) you can go sightseeing or visit other parts of Thailand. You can't claim a specific day off or specific activities you would like to do. The needs of the project will decide what has to be done and when. The atmosphere at the centre is informal and relaxed and by mutual agreement many things are possible. The project is developing quickly however and therefore the work that has to be done is changing all the time. You will be scheduled where you are most needed and where your skills can be used to the maximum advantage. Please understand it is sometimes not the idyllic and easy holiday that some people expect, the work can be quite draining, however the rewards of helping in the conservation of this country out weigh any of the momentary hardships.
Accommodation
You will stay in locally built volunteer accommodation on the project site. The rooms are basic, but have everything you need to be comfortable.
Requirements
* Min age 18 * Minimum 3 weeks commitment * Basic Spoken English * Full travel & medical insurance * Necessary vaccinations * Necessary flights & visas
NO commission is added to the cost of this project by Global Nomadic. We ask instead for a flat placement fee of £195 per project (paid securely via Paypal). We offer full pre-departure support, ongoing email assistance and a full range of discounts with our selected partners.
Send us an email enquiry to find out more, or click the 'Join this Project' button below if you are ready to get involved.
