RM 2,280 nett

Country

Malaysia

Location

Village along the Lower Kinabatangan River, within a Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah

Duration

07 days

Summary
of Programme

You and your family will start and end your programme in the quaint town of Sandakan, gateway to rainforest and wildlife.

After a thorough introduction on the Corridor of Life (more on corridor of life) and the importance of the conservation work you will be carrying out, you will enter a remnant of paradise called the Lower Kinabatangan Floodplain Rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo.  The wildlife sanctuary you will be living in is home to singing gibbons, orang-utans, proboscis monkeys, sun bears, hornbills and the pygmy elephant as well as a host of other rarely seen wildlife.

This programme is specially designed for families on a volunteering mission so there will be other families in the group.  Be prepared to share your experience with people of other countries.

1. Record wildlife along Kinabatangan River with focus on orang-utans and pygmy elephants; 2. Understand and compare situation of captive animals and those with threatened habitats; 3. Plant trees and maintain planting sites important for orang-utan and pygmy elephant; 4. Understand the threats to habitat and wildlife and make a personal impact in conservation; 5. Live in the same village as the Orang Sungai – “People of the River” and have your meals with them; 6. Raise awareness on responsible living and travelling among tourists, local community and students.

Project Sites

Sukau, Lower Kinabatangan River, Sabah

The project base is within the Corridor of Life itself, located in the village of Sukau.  The village is approximately 2 hours from the Sandakan Airport and has a population of approximately 1,000.  There is one primary school in the village and most villagers derive their income through tourism, plantations and related village businesses.

The main part of the programme will be in Sukau village with activities conducted in and around the village or along the Kinabatangan River.  You will live among the gentle, ever-smiling Orang Sungai or “People of the River” during this programme.  You will respect their ways of life and join them in their homes for meals.As the project is within the wildlife sanctuary where pygmy elephants and orang-utans roam, we are responsible to ensure that their habitat is protected.  While the authorities enforce protection, we assist by restoring destroyed habitats.  Much tree planting have been done by many organisations and we contribute towards the reforestation of the Corridor of Life to preserve the remaining wildlife and biodiversity in these sanctuaries

Arrive Sandakan Airport (SDK) and transfer to dormitory-style accommodation

Please ensure you have provided us with the correct flight details and the correct airport

1800 hours, meet at lobby for welcome dinner & introduction to the programme

After breakfast, transfer to Project Site: Sukau. 

After showing you to your accommodation, your will be given a thorough Health & Safety briefing as well as an orientation around the village.

The project at Sukau involves wildlife observation to collect important wildlife population data. Habitat restoration work involves tree-planting and maintenance activities at high priority areas.  These are crucial in connecting fragmented forest in the area to encourage healthy orang-utan and pygmy elephant populations.  Community and Education programmes involve interaction with the villagers and the students of the village school.

0900

Depart Sukau after breakfast and transfer to Sandakan Airport

Transfer to Sandakan Airport – suggested departure flights to be after 1800 hours  

Project Days & Activity Description

PROJECT DAYS are days where participants will contribute towards conservation via various means.  You will join at least 3 of the following activities:

Wildlife Population Density Data Collection:  This entails cruising on the river to observe and record the endangered wildlife roaming the forest along the river banks.  A lot of time is spent observing wildlife and their habitat.  This will be done from a boat cruising along the main river and its tributaries within the wildlife sanctuary;

Habitat Restoration: The most crucial activity ensuring the survival of wildlife.  You will take part in tree planting, nursery care and seedling generation, sapling maintenance, mulching & composting, clearing invasive species and also tree growth data recording.  The planting of trees will be in sections identified as high priority and will build towards the creation of corridors for wildlife to move from one section of a sanctuary to another;

Education Programme: Spend half a day with school children of the community to work on conservation issues that the children deal with on a daily basis and emphasise their immediate and personal impact on conservation. You will be provided with a framework and the facilitator will guide you in the planning of this session;

Community Development: This involves the development of a continuous project with the community of the local village.  Volunteers will interact with the community on various levels while working on this project.  You will learn some local skills required for their daily livelihood and maybe assist them as well;

Rumble in the Jungle: The mysterious tropical rainforest of Borneo has a lot to offer not by going jungle trekking.  As an introduction to the flora and fauna of the rainforest, you will take the time to understand what the rainforest has been traditionally offering the inhabitants in terms of medication, food and survival;

Cultural and Community Interaction: Living and contributing back to the community is a big part of this programme.  Lunch and dinners will be in the private homes of individual villagers.  Take time for them to warm up to you and you will get to hear about their daily lives, chat with the children, learn about their family structure and see how the Orang Sungai have been living off the rivers and jungles  for centuries.

Your Role

At SANDAKAN on Arrival
Upon your arrival at Sandakan, you will be met and transferred to the lovely longhouse style accommodation in Sepilok.  Here, you will spend a night understanding the Corridor of Life and the project.  The programme facilitator will meet you at 1800 hours for the welcome dinner and briefing.

Take the opportunity the serene surroundings of Sepilok offers to rest and recover from your long inbound journey.  If you arrive early and wish to explore, Sandakan is approximately 35 minutes away.  There are also many small clusters of shops and housing areas all along the road to Sandakan where you can also stop to explore.  Some sections are Mile 4 and Mile 7.

Sandakan is a lovely little town that starts becoming lively at 5am.  Spend time on the first or the last day exploring its nooks & crannies.  Take a walk along the seafront or check out the many old town shops.  If you feel adventurous, seek out a sumptuous seafood lunch in one of the water-village restaurants

SUKAU
The following day, you will enter Sukau village to start the habitat restoration work. 

Habitat restoration is hard work.  You will not only plant trees but will also help to maintain other plots of land that have been planted by previous volunteers to ensure that the trees have maximum survival rate.  Restoring selected plots of land will create corridors of greenery for the orang-utan, elephants and other wildlife to move between the remaining fragments of forests.  We have sighted macaques, deer and birds within the very trees that were planted by earlier volunteers.  If you feel tired take a break. Do not continue working as you put yourself and other volunteers in danger.

You will help record orang-utan, pygmy elephant and other wildlife numbers to increase our knowledge of species numbers and feeding patterns.  Tourism already creates a financial incentive for local people to protect their wildlife but we need scientific data to give decision-makers evidence on what to change. 

Note: Wildlife monitoring is conducted from a boat as you cruise along the river.

All animals are wild and therefore their sightings are not guaranteed.  You will not be able to touch orang-utans or elephants or any wildlife within the wildlife sanctuary.

Working with the Community
The community living along the Kinabatangan are mostly a local tribe called the “Orang Sungai” who have lived along the river for generations and have always depended on the rainforest and river for daily resources: food and drinks, medicine, poison, hunting tools and traps, building materials, clothing, carrier bags, even cosmetics.  Today, many of them have found alternatives by working in the tourism industry or with research and conservation teams along the river studying this beautiful landscape and its inhabitants.

Working with the community is an integral part of conservation and the most successful ones are those that have brought the community into the folds of the conservation programme itself.  Our community engagement lies strongly in the interaction.  While we have most of our meals in their homes, eating local home-cooked lunches and dinners, we also have mini-projects that we carry out with the community, working with them to understand the complicated conservation world that has descended upon them.

Integral to the community are the children attending the only school in the village.  Aged between 6 and 12, these children grew up swimming in the rivers and romping in the rainforests.  They are the custodians to the exotic destination you are heading to and we work to ensure that these children learn things that will bring them back to their roots.  They are the ultimate guardians of the rainforest.  While we are not able to change the education system, we are able to spend time developing conservation based programmes that will help them take responsibility of and cherish the environment they live in.

Please make sure that you wear t-shirts that cover your shoulders (no singlet, or sleeveless shirts) and long trousers and suitable footwear. It is a good idea to wear 25 SPF sun tan lotion as you may be working outside for all or part of the day.

Note: It is at the discretion of your programme facilitator to amend and change some of these routines and the times they are carried out. This is a guide, not a definitive programme with exact times.  Life in Malaysia is not of the same standards as what you are used to at home.

Due to the short frame of time, you will not be able to partake in all activities listed.  However, rest assured that the group that is staying on longer will be able to update you and you can also keep in touch with our programme facilitator to find out the progress of work.