The Great Orangutan Project - What Will You Be Doing?

Posted by Connor Whelan on 1st Feb 2016

The Great Orangutan Project was our flagship programme and has since morphed into a multi-award-winning Orangutan project based at the Matang Wildlife Centre in Borneo. It is on offer with 20% off this month, so we thought that we would bring you a little bit more information about what you will be getting up to if you are lucky enough to book!

Enrichment

This is an absolutely crucial activity. You will be creating different enriching environments to ensure that the Orangutans, Sunbears, Macaques, and other animals at the centre are mentally stimulated. The idea is that you will help create and come up with ways to encourage and promote the animal’s natural behaviours. This enhances their potential for release as well as improving their lives whilst they are living at the centre. So get thinking and be creative. No idea is a bad one where enrichment is concerned!

Husbandry and Maintenance

This will make up a large majority of the work you’ll be doing whilst at the project. As the average male orangutan is 7 times stronger than a human male, they have a tendency to break things very easily, and all of these things will need fixing. This where you come in! As well as this you will be feeding the animals and cleaning the enclosures, but don’t worry, gloves will be provided.

Construction

As Matang grows, more and more enclosures are needed for the wide variety of animals who call the centre home (temporarily at least.) In the past volunteers have been involved with the building of aviaries, gibbon cages, feeding platforms in the forest, boardwalks around the park and ranger stations in the National Park so there’s plenty to get your teeth stuck into here!

Organic Farming

This is perhaps one of the things that the staff at Matang is most proud of. Over the past few years volunteers have helped to create an organic farm to grow food for the animals at the centre, enabling it to become a more sustainable institution. The centre is determined to remain organic, going against the many suggestions which have been thrown their way about using chemicals to keep the weeds at bay and they rely solely upon the manpower of volunteers to do this. As a result, tending the farm has become a regular job for the volunteers!

Free Time and Additional Activities

As with most places, the working week is Monday to Friday here on the project meaning you have the weekends off. I’m sure you will have realised from the multiple hours spent on a plane getting there, but Borneo is a long way to travel so we recommend making the most of your time off and exploring the surrounding area. There is so much to do that you’ll have to plan your trips well, but you can visit Kubah National Park, Damai Beach, visit local communities and bond with the residents, or if you are really looking for a once in a lifetime experience you can visit a longhouse and meet the Iban tribe.

As you can see, there is a lot going on at Matang! If this sounds like something you would like to get involved with then you can do so and find out more by clicking here. Remember there’s 20% off until the end of the month, so why not holiday differently and book this once in a lifetime trip now!

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