Amazon Eco-volunteering in Ecuador

Yanacocha Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Center

Visiting the Amazon is not as easy as spending a week in Hawaii, but it can definitely be a life-changing and awarding experience. You can fly to South America and stay at a lodge in Ecuador for less than $3,000 which is relatively cheap compared to other international journeys. This is something that I found out first-hand when I volunteered at the Yanacocha animal rehabilitation and rescue center in Puyo, Ecuador for a month. The role of the Yanacocha center is important towards conservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon, taking rescued animals and providing them with a better quality of life, with the ultimate goal of reintroducing them to their natural habitat, and giving them a second chance at freedom.

Handing out fish on designated days to the Tigerillo,
a type of feline found in the Amazon. 

The Amazon rain forest is a primeval tangle of canopy and undergrowth filled with life. Upon entering and being guided through the premises of Yanacocha, I was in awe of the wild assortment of animals in their enclosures such as Capuchin, Wooly, Spider and tamarind monkeys, toucans, macaws, parrots, coatis, ocelots, margay, peccaries, kinkajous, olingos and tayras. Also of the wide array of indescribable exotic flora that I had never seen before. 

The cabana I slept while volunteering at Yanacocha.

During my stay there, I was lodged in a cabana that was equipped with bunk beds and guarded with mosquito netting, basic electricity, and at the time cold showers (now they luckily have hot water available). Everyday I would wake up to the sounds of the rain forest which were a symphony, an orchestra of animals and rain, a hallelujah chorus of nature. There was a mischievous little squirrel monkey who lived outside my cabana who I would see sitting on my window ledge or squeaking for attention. She was rescued by the center and released, but since she was so accustomed to human interaction she found her way back to the center and would constantly be following volunteers around and stealing food from the buckets we used to feed the animals in the enclosures. 

Attempting to read while relaxing in the hammock.

My daily morning routine consisted of heading to the communal kitchen to eat breakfast with other volunteers and staff. Afterwards, I would head to the food preparation house and prepare the diurnal animals' food. Then we would bring all the food to their designated exhibits and allocate the specific food to the each animal. Depending on the day, the team of volunteers would group together and carry out other tasks throughout the center that needed to be done such as enclosure creation or building new pathways. After lunch you would have a little free time to rest and relax. Volunteers would meet up about an hour after and arrange the afternoon activities and prepare the nocturnal animals food. This usually lasted until about the late-afternoon and then for the rest of the day we would be able to have free time and head into town in Puyo for food or to get some drinks. There was also wi-fi available in one part of the reserve which made it easy to keep in contact with family and friends back at home and a swimming pool and Jacuzzi that we were able to use and spend time with other volunteers. Volunteering is a great opportunity to meet tons of new people from different parts of the world that have the same types of goals that you have in mind. One of my personal favorite things to do during my free time was take night hikes and witness all the fauna when the Amazon really comes alive. 

Me introducing a coati doing a slow-release
technique into the enclosure. This is a process where you
introduce the animal in various steps in order to see if it
 is properly adjusting the new environment.

Those looking for an out of the ordinary vacation while simultaneously doing something beneficial for animal conservation should look beyond the normal vacation and look into eco-volunteering for some type of organization like Yanacocha within the Amazon rain forest. My trip to Ecuador volunteering was an experience that I would do again in a heartbeat and will never forget - and surely something you would never forget either.

For more information about volunteering or visiting the Amazon rain forest please contact one of our travel advisers and they can help plan this experience for you.