Last week The Daily Mail posted an article online all about the IAR Orangutan Project. In particular it is making reference to the a particular orangutan named Mely. Mely was taken from her mother 16 years ago, chained up and kept as a pet. When news of this story surfaced our charity partner International Animal Rescue were green lighted by the Indonesian government to go and rescue her. The money raised by The Daily Mail, a little over £8,000 from its generous readers was used to transport Mely from captivity into her new home at the IAR orangutan centre in Ketapang.

Now the need is even more evident for volunteers to visit the IAR orangutan project in Borneo to look after the orangutans already there but to mainly help with the construction of the new centre that IAR are constructing so that many more orangutans like Mely can be rescued and given a new happy home.

Below Mely can be seen having a rest on a hammock at her new enclosure within IAR. Please join us to help give many more orangutans like mMely a chance for a happy life!!

Click here to view the IAR orangutan volunteering Project

To view the whole story click below:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121776/Building-work-starts-new-jungle-house-Borneo-rescued-orangutan-Mely-pals.html

The Great Projects is proud to announce the winner of our 2012 competition in conjunction with Responsible Travel and Tourism Malaysia, Natalya Welch! She will be attending our Orangutan and Tribes Voluntour on the 3rd May with her mother.

Below is Natalya's response when we told her that she had won:

"Are you really sure that this is not a hoax? Im still in disbelief that I have not only won a competition, but the chance to go on the most amazing adventure to my absolute dream destination with my bestest friend, my mum.

My love of animals, especially of the Ape variety and the chance to visit beautiful Borneo is so very exciting and I cannot wait to don my hiking boots and get there!

So the dreaded Leeches aside, I’m most looking forward to experiencing a way of life that I know so little about, immersing myself in the tribal culture, spending time being a jungle Jane and exploring the rainforests is yet another goal to tick off the wish list.

I feel incredibly fortunate that I will be able to see the magnificent Orangutans in their natural environment, which in the future may so sadly be no more. I’ll be sure to keep a grip on my camera as I’ve heard that Orangutans have a rather cheeky side and fancy themselves as photographers! Camera firmly attached, I’ll come home with an array of breathtaking photos to bombard the wonderful people who have made this fabulous trip a possibility with. I cant thank you all enough and will of course be eternally grateful! Is it time to go yet?"

As you can tell Natalya is extremely excited to go and we here at The Great Projects could not be more excited to give someone as enthusiastic and keen to help with our conservation efforts as Natalya, the chance to go to Borneo and fulfill a dream of hers. As all past volunteers will know this trip is very fulfilling and we are sure she will come back with many wonderful life long memories!

We would like to give one final thank you to Responsible Travel and Tourism Malaysia who have helped give everyday people the chance to live with the native Bornean Iban tribes and understand the challenges associated with the conservation of the orangutans!

We look forward to hearing all of your stories upon your return!!

Last year we here at The Great Projects, in conjunction with Tourism Malaysia and Responsible Travel, ran a competition to send two people to Malaysia to partake in our Orangutan and Tribes Tour for 2 weeks.

The competition ran for about a month on Responsible Travels website and we got a record 1765 entries showing peoples serious interest in wanting to travel abroad responsibly to help save the orangutans native to Borneo. The winners will embark on an unforgettable orangutan jungle tour of the island of Borneo visiting 2 orangutan centres - the Matang Wildlife Centre and the Semenggoh Nature Reserve and 3 national parks - Bako National Park, Kubah National Park and Batang Ai National Park.

This voluntour was crafted to raise awareness of the conservation efforts made in Sarawak, Borneo, to bring harmony between people and orangutans. The 14-day/13-night voluntour  gives the traveller one-day "back stage passes" to see captive orangutans being rehabilitated at Matang Wildlife Centre and the released semi-wild orangutans of Semenggoh Nature Reserve. Around this they will visit the seven different habitats of Borneo in the amazing National Park at Bako and engage in a one week trip into the rainforest. Here they will meet the descendents of the legendary headhunters of Borneo - the Iban tribes - now the custodians of the wild orangutans of Batang Ai National Park.

To celebrate the lucky winners' chance to experience this life changing opportunity we will be holding an event in London to welcome them onto this Great Project. This will be a chance to meet past volunteers to learn more about what they can expect as well as being a great chance for past volunteers to meet up again to exchange stories and catch up with each other. We will soon be announcing the winners and the location for this event here so mind this space!

We would finally like to take this chance to thank Tourism Malaysia for this amazing opportunity to collate our mutual views on responsible travel to then encourage people to travel to see the amazing sites Malaysia has to offer.

Since last year we have been working closely together to try to promote Malaysia as a destination in hope that others will share our enthusiasm for the travel destinations in this country, namely those based around orangutan protection and welfare. As our past volunteers know we run some fantastic projects there including our flagship Great Orangutan Project. So if you are a past volunteer or are considering a trip to Malaysia we urge you to consider the fore mentioned project, and invite you to be part of our community of people who on their own hope to, and together with us DO make a serious impact on both the conservation of orangutan front as well as the continued community support of the local Iban tribes.

Wrapping travel around a cause like conservation or community development at destinations like Borneo, Africa and the Amazon is the shape of travel tomorrow. Get ahead and choose from our latest specially crafted collection of luxury wildlife safaris and ecotours but with that developmental twist.

We have experienced that luxury travellers today are very clear about what they want in a holiday. No longer drawn by ostentatious services, they have moved towards an understated luxury, and plan their trips with a focus on authenticity and a privilege to get behind the scenes of local people’s life abroad. Life enriching travel is the essence of The Great Traveller and with charity donation built into the package, you are ensured that travel with us means you are helping save endangered animals or helping local communities create wealth from an ethical travel.

Choose from our new The Great Traveller collection and make a difference, whilst still enjoying your creature comforts abroad.

We are calling on all wildlife travellers to be part of this experience and help us bridge the gap between local people and the gorillas who share the same vulnerable rainforest habitats.

Volunteers will engage in a wide variety of activities as part of the project, involving themselves with the local community and supporting areas of conservation, tree planting, aiding in the education of the people living around the national parks and of course, taking part in a breathtaking (quite literally) trek to see the beautiful mountain Gorillas.

You will have the opportunity to visit the gorillas not only once but twice on this experience, with the addition of being able to learn about them from the world famous gorilla specialist Ian Redmond who worked closely with Dian Fossey (Gorillas in the Mist).

We will also be sending members of our team from the UK over to make sure this is the best tour yet!

Please click here to view more information about this very special tour!