Lemurs

Hi,

I am going to Madagascar for 3 months since february and I am going to find (I don't know how) an opportunity to work/help/ being a volunteer (not to pay for being volunteer almost 900$ per 2 weeks) with lemurs or other wildlife. If You have some knowledge where or how or give any other tips, I ll be more than grateful.

Cheers!

Hey Juliusz.en,

The reason you are asked to pay for volunteering is because taking care of volunteers is a complicated and expensive business. For us to have volunteers at our reserve in Sainte Luce, we need to pay for extra staff to support and guide you, 4x4 transport to the reserve (around $100 each way), salaries for canoe drivers to get you to and from the reserve across the lake (and every time we need to move something back and forward), your food and the food of the whole team supporting you, communication costs (to telephone the reserve a couple of times a day to see what's happening and how the volunteer is going / coping), fuel to power the generator to provide electricity and charge communication devices at the reserve (e.g. your phone), fuel for the water pump so you can have a shower, your accommodation in town when you first arrive and before you leave, the materials for the project that you are working on, first aid materials, wear and tear on equipment, breakages, insurance, office admin support in town, someone in town on standby 24/7 the whole time there are volunteers at the reserve in case of emergency, and the list goes on. To run a well managed volunteer program that considers safety as the highest priority, at least in our case where our reserve is in an isolated spot, is very expensive. Security issues in Madagascar are no joke, and since most places with wildlife are isolated, I would imagine most organisations would feel the same way I do.

If you have appropriate qualifications and language skills (e.g. veterinary qualifications and fluent French) then you might get a voluntary position at one of the zoos. You could try Parc Tsimbazaza in Antananarivo. Unfortunately if you don't come with skills that the host needs, it is my feeling that you might struggle to find something free.

However having said all of that, I wish you good luck and I hope you will come back here and let us all know what you find, because I get lots of requests from people who want to volunteer without paying and I would love to be able to pass them on to someone who needs them.

Good luck :)

First-ever World Lemur Festival Celebrated in Madagascar
Here is an article to add to your knowledge of lemurs.
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-mittermeier/firstever-world-lemur-fes_b_6077208.html?utm_hp_ref=green]

In my opinion, I think that volunteer tourism is the best way to gain an in depth understanding of culture and customs plus any other interests you have. The few hundred dollars you put in for your education will be well worth it.

Suggest you go and have a holiday there. Travel and live simply and meet the Malagasy.

#1, great reply, its a shame more volunteers don't realize all the work behind the scenes that goes into volunteer projects.

Thanks dogeatinghotchips (makes me want to fry up some chips and share them with my dog)...

TBH knowing what I know about volunteering, I would be scared to join a free volunteer program unless someone explained where the money was coming from to provide my support...