Working with wild animals has been an amazing privilege.
I have volunteered with wildlife in Thailand and Guatemala, where I worked hands-on with animals in rehabilitation and retired Asian elephants. If you go to the right places, you contribute to animal rehabilitation, rescue, education and conservation.
Below you can read my honest volunteer experiences in Guatemala & Thailand.
In Thailand, I got to make many new friendships, not only with wonderful humanbeings from all over the world, but also heartfelt bonds with some lovely old ladies of the species Elephas maximus. In Guatemala I wish I had learned some Spanish, and I struggled through a week of hard labor with exquisite, vulnerable wildlife.
Furthermore, you can find out about what it’s like to spend six weeks in a research station in tropical Belize, where I did a bird banding internship to expand my knowledge on bird banding techniques and getting hands-on experience with beautiful birds.
ARCAS Guatemala wildlife volunteer
Passionate about wildlife? Eager to learn and use Spanish in a working environment? Look no further! I visited ARCAS Guatemala in lake Petén for a week in October 2018 while I was in the country. This is my own personal…
Volunteering with elephants in Thailand
I volunteered with the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (hereafter WFFT) back in 2015 in the summer break between my Bachelors and Masters. This post is about my volunteering experience at the elephant sanctuary, and suggestions about things to do on…
A bird banders biggest dream: Banding tropical birds in the Belizean rainforest. Is six weeks enough to get confident in the American bird banding scheme?
So is six weeks enough to gain confidence in banding exotic, mystery birds and teeny, wiggling warblers from North America, you may ask? In this post you can read my experience at the bird banding station in Belize in September-October…
My top 5 gap year travels and experiences in wildlife biology and thoughts on career paths
In the first part of this post you can read about my early career decisions and my process along the way. If you want to jump directly to: “My top 5 adventurous travel suggestions for your gap year or career…
Please look carefully into any other organization you are considering. Some may be harmful towards the animals! For example: In Thailand you can visit ‘An elephant camp’. Here you can ‘swim with the elephants, scrub them with brushes etc.’. Look online for testimonies. Are the elephants treated right? Are they chained before and after your stay?
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Traveling Female Ornithologist 