The Flor de la Amazonia Arc Volunteer Project

The Project / The Placement / The Location / Pricing and Application

The Work

How Volunteers Work With the Project

The role of the volunteers within the project is crucial to its success. Funding and equipment cannot be properly utilised without people to manage them. The centre has 12 enclosures housing over 100 animals. Volunteers help clean and maintain the cages, feed the animals and build more enclosures allowing the centre to accommodate more rescued animals.

Unlike many other volunteer programs, the Arc gives volunteers the chance to offer and use their ideas. Volunteers at the animal rescue centre are a part of the team, they make decisions and are responsible for the animals on a par with the staff. Volunteers get to make a real and active difference to the lives of the animals.

What Volunteers Do

Volunteers work as one team. There are typically around 10 volunteers at the centre who all work on the same goals and objectives. Some jobs (such as building a new enclosure) are complex and may take days or weeks to complete. Volunteers will split into small groups to work on particular tasks according to preference and ability.

Each morning the volunteers meet to discuss the days tasks in the meeting hut. Then volunteers clean the enclosures, prepare the food and feed the animals. This does require some interaction with the animals (sometimes with a monkey around your neck) but this is kept to a minimum wherever possible. The rest of the morning and the afternoons are spent maintaining the enclosures and areas of the centre, like paths, building new enclosures and jungle trips.

Jungle Trips

Frequent trips are made into the jungle, to release the animals, and more commonly to collect food for the animals. As many of the animals in the Arc are native to the area there are many leaves and fruit available which form a large part of the animals natural diet than the fruit that is bought from the market. This gives volunteers the opportunity to explore the jungle, experience an environment almost completely devoid of humans, and visit hidden waterfalls.

Community Projects

In addition to the work at the centre volunteers will have the opportunity to help the local communities with activities such as harvests, helping to maintain fish ponds and helping at the local school.

Accommodation: the Volunteer House

The volunteers live in a communal house in the animal centre. The house provides spacious dorm rooms, a kitchen, living area, working area and hot showers. Food costs are included and volunteers take turns to prepare evening meals. Bedding is also provided. The volunteer house is a social environment and will give volunteers the chance to relax and unwind as well as getting to know volunteers from other schools and what is going on in the different communities. Although the house is available for use at the weekend many volunteers choose to go to nearby Puyo or Banos. A regular bus service also runs to Puyo giving volunteers easy access to internet and local ammenities.