The Great Orangutan and Pygmy Elephant Project

The team at the project were superb, I cannot recommend this project highly enough you can see just how much it is benefiting the community and environment. Everyone is very knowledgeable and passionate about what they do and are keen to grow and expand their work. The project is really interesting and varied and my time with them just absolutely flew! I’d love to go back one day and see how the work is progressing.

This was my first volunteering trip and without doubt THE best thing I have ever done. From booking this trip nearly a year ago I was in good hands right up to my departure date The Great Projects Team were on hand to assist with any questions and were so helpful. I arrived in Sandakan, Borneo a little weary from the flights (understandably)! and met up with some fellow volunteers on route which was great - The Great Projects had put me in touch with some of the people going. Our driver was already at the arrivals waiting to take us onto our accommodation. When we arrived we were all so impressed by how friendly the staff were and the rooms were great, we had a dorm style room for the one night which was fun. If you love being in the great outdoors then this is the place to go. There were toilets and showers and mozzy nets over the bed and although basis (what do you expect) really comfortable and we all thoroughly enjoyed our first night there. Second day we moved on to the village where we would be staying for the next 8-9 days. The staff... This was my first volunteering trip and without doubt THE best thing I have ever done. From booking this trip nearly a year ago I was in good hands right up to my departure date The Great Projects Team were on hand to assist with any questions and were so helpful. I arrived in Sandakan, Borneo a little weary from the flights (understandably)! and met up with some fellow volunteers on route which was great - The Great Projects had put me in touch with some of the people going. Our driver was already at the arrivals waiting to take us onto our accommodation. When we arrived we were all so impressed by how friendly the staff were and the rooms were great, we had a dorm style room for the one night which was fun. If you love being in the great outdoors then this is the place to go. There were toilets and showers and mozzy nets over the bed and although basis (what do you expect) really comfortable and we all thoroughly enjoyed our first night there. Second day we moved on to the village where we would be staying for the next 8-9 days. The staff were great, the food delicious and the accommodation was comfortable. There were Macaque monkeys everywhere! We saw a beautiful owl that would visit the pier every night and a lovely snake - harmless, coiled round a big tree next to where we would sit and have our meals. Our tour guides Mark and his apprentice Mus were magnificent, so full of knowledge on the area and the animals we saw - which were A LOT!!! They were a lot of fun. Along our river tour we took every day, we saw a variety of beautiful birds from eagles to hornbills, kites to egrets. We saw Orangutans, twice we saw a mother and her baby - I was overwhelmed when we saw them. Proboscis monkeys, gibbons, long tailed macaques, pig tailed macaques, a crocodile, a water monitor lizard. A feast for the eyes for animal and bird lovers! During our stay we were volunteering in the forest maintaining the newly planted trees from last year and planting new ones - we planted 500 trees between the 8 of us in our group. The work is so rewarding at the end so you don't mind the heat and the odd mozzy bite. The work they do there is helping the wildlife - in particular the orangutans and sun bears enabling them to move through the forest safely. Due to the deforestation of the area from logging and the palm oil plantations, there has been a significant reduction of forest area for these beautiful animals to live in. The planting of these trees is vital and the restoration of the forest will repair the damage caused by years of destruction. Go and volunteer and make a difference - I promise you it will be the best thing you will ever do!!! (Show More)

Trip of a lifetime. Something I didn't realise until I was there, as a tree planter, you get access to the sanctuary that not even the locals get. Extremely rewarding, hard work sure, but it's such an important job, and you get a very balanced perspective on Palm plantations and how we can do better as consumers by choosing products made with sustainably farmed Palm oil, it's up to us to apply pressure to the western companies. We saw all the critters. Woken up in the middle of the night by the sounds of bulls calling out to the herd across the river, saw baby elephants, young orangutans making their nest for the night, so many birds, crocs, and literally hundreds of monkeys. Meals were amazing, some at the place we were staying, many in the homes of local villagers, where we learned recipes and more about the culture. I signed up for this trip by myself and met the most amazing like-minded folks. Highly recommend, I'll be returning for certain.