The following review was written by Mark, who volunteered with his daughter Clover on the Samboja Lestari Orangutan Volunteer Project.
"I will NOT be speaking to the other volunteers, okay, Dad?" - The words of my sixteen-year-old daughter as we flew into Borneo. Excited but nervous and being a bit 'teenage' about two weeks of volunteering.
For ages, we'd been talking about doing something after her exams. Her two sisters climbed Kilimanjaro with me, and I was keen that whatever we did, it should give a similar sense of achievement. Clover was keen to do something with animals (ideally, seals, so that didn't exactly work out…), so volunteering seemed like the perfect compromise. Having spent time photographing mountain gorillas last year, supporting another great ape (and sun bears) at Samboja Lestari soon made its way to the top of our shortlist. Ultimately, though, out of all the orangutan experiences on offer, we chose the Samboja Lestari Orangutan Volunteer Project for more prosaic reasons:
- Does the lodge have air conditioning? Tick.
- Is it catered? (i.e. Dad's not cooking). Tick.
- Do I have my own room (with an en suite)? Tick.
These things matter to a sixteen-year-old girl (and, to be honest, the fifty-something man).
Things got off to a strong start. No sooner had we dumped our bags in our rooms than we were being led down to the Orangutan Islands for our first sight of orangutans, who aren't able to be reintroduced into the wild, though, of course, many others are every year.
There are too many highlights to call them all out, but being around the animals is right up there, particularly the orangutans, such big, soulful creatures, and the programme provides many opportunities to get up close to them. Every day over the two weeks, each volunteer had their own private boat trip to feed the orangutans, and this was so special. You get really close, and the photos are outstanding.
But there were other highlights, too. I wanted us to leave with a real sense of achievement, like we'd done something worthwhile together. The combination of hard work in hot conditions (sawing, drilling, filling sandbags, swinging a machete), working with other like-minded individuals and with the coordinators carefully explaining the context of our activities, Clover and I left feeling as if we had, in our own modest way, genuinely contributed to bettering the lives of these critically-endangered animals.
The people deserve a mention, too. Thirteen volunteers of all ages (Clover being the youngest) from around the world - the UK, Australia, Taiwan, Germany, and the US, who quickly bonded into a friendly group, happy to eat three meals a day together and work sometimes in smaller groups but often all together. Also on the people side, the staff at the lodge deserve a shoutout, as do the technicians supporting the programme permanently. All so friendly. No one deserves more credit than the volunteer coordinators, though Kate, Wik and Aril, taking care of anything and everything and somehow able to turn lugging five hundred buckets of sand to build out an orangutan island into another highlight of the trip.
And what happened to my teenager? She got out of bed on time, got ready in the mornings, worked really hard and made lots of friends. Not only did she end up speaking to the other volunteers, but one commented that they never'd met a sixteen-year-old who talked so much! Many proud dad moments.
In short, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Volunteering with orangutans at Samboja Lestari wasn't just a holiday, but a special experience my daughter and I will share forever.
