Working with animals

Incapuppy

captainladypants wrote: »

WOW!! That sounds amazing! They say standard stay is 3 months but will consider other time limits so I will email them and find out. Thanks for your help on MEF.

Don't worry about emailing them, I will speak to my friend and come back to you later

captainladypants

Thank you!
Is your friend there at the moment??

Incapuppy

captainladypants wrote: »

Thank you!
Is your friend there at the moment??

My friend volunteered at MEF back in 2006 and from that experience went on to set up her own charitable foundation (recently gaining full charity status and gaining membership of WSPA) for the street dogs of Sri Lanka:

http://www.dogstarfoundation.com/

Dogstar is based at MEF and my friend spends half of her life there! She was at one time dealing with the organisation of volunteers for MEF on behalf of MEF's owner so I am just about to fire an email off to her (I would call her but I have the mother of all coughs atm and find it very difficult to speak! :rotfl:)

Sammy85_2

Hi,

We were in the river with the elephants, bathing them, giving them a good scrub down! About as close as you can get really. There was no riding elephants or anything touristy like that, but then i really wouldnt want to after seeing what some of these elephants have been though working at tourist camps.

I cant recommend this place highly enough.

Just looking though their website, they have a new project starting near Bangkok, you can do your first week there and then they will drive you up to chiang mai to do the second week up there.

Thailand is very cheap. We got flights for around £480pp return, and hotels for the rest of our stay were around £10/nt, we could have gone even cheaper, but we wanted a certain level of comfort. I loved the place, beautiful country.

captainladypants

Sammy I agree, I wouldn't want to ride the elephants either, not into that at all! I've just had a look at flights so thanks for that. I saw the new project advertised and was going to ask which one you did?! To be honest, if I went I would prob just go and do the voluntary work, wouldn't have to worry about booking extra hotels then! It looks amazing!

Incapuppy, your friend has a big heart. I think it's fantastic that she has set up her own charity, she sounds like a true angel. I'm just worried that I would be being difficult by only going for one or two weeks when the norm is three months?? How did you manage to spend a week? Did you find it very hands on? When do you think you would go back??

I hope people don't mind me asking, but i'm only 22, do you think I would be too young to do a trip like this?? When you both went were there many other volunteers doing it too? So many questions!!!

Sammy85_2

Hi

I was 23 and my OH was 25. We werent the youngest, but not far off! There were around 10 couples (or pairs) i would say, a couple of young girls on a gap year, and the rest were a real mixed bag. Quite a few older generations, and some middle aged people who had been made redundant from the banking sector and decided to take the opportunity to travel. Made coversation interesting on an evening.

Ive just been having a look at other voluteering project is SE asia as we are going travelling for 6 months for our honeymoon. I cant believe how much it costs! 2 weeks in Cambodia voluteering in orphanages is £650pp B&B only. Wont be doing that then!

x

Incapuppy

captainladypants wrote: »

Incapuppy, your friend has a big heart. I think it's fantastic that she has set up her own charity, she sounds like a true angel. I'm just worried that I would be being difficult by only going for one or two weeks when the norm is three months?? How did you manage to spend a week? Did you find it very hands on? When do you think you would go back??

Tbh I think most volunteers go for a month not three.

My OH and I were incredibly lucky to spend Christmas 2008 at MEF as personal guests of the owner (its not what you know its who you know! ) we travelled with my friend that set up Dogstar and her daughter.

The normal volunteer programme is very hands on, I did a few things as I was restricted by poor health but as I say I was extremely fortunate to be there as a guest rather than a 'proper' volunteer.

I can't remember how many elephants they have at MEF at present, I think it may be around ten or so. It is a rescue facility but two of the younger very healthy elephants are used to give rides (bare back and causing absolutely no discomfort for or distress to the elephants) to tourists as a means of raising income to pay for the food and vetinerary care for all the elephants there.

This is Rani and I. (I am the one on the right :rotfl:) Rani likes lemon puff biscuits



And this is OH and I getting a shower from Lakshmi who he was looking after for the week :cool:

WolfSong2000

Two weeks is a really, really short time span...realistically you'll quite possibly be charged extra by some charities, as all they will be doing is training you - you wont be there long enough to be of any real use...this sounds harsher than I intended, but I can't think of another way of putting it :S...I guess it's like think of a temp job with animals - if a person applies to do a 2 week job that's never worked with the particular animal the job deals with, you'll just spend the 2 weeks training them, whereas if they were there for 2/3 months, they's be trained up within a few weeks and be of much more use. Not saying what you're after is impossible, but may be more tricky.

Is it possible to take a sabbatical from work, or maybe even do a "gap year" - yes you'll be out of work for a year, but just think of all the skills you'll be able to learn and show to future employers. Maybe look at moving into the charitable sector for jobs? It's competative, but may be worth thinking about.

I got invited a few years ago to volunteer (pretty much free of charge - just pay for flights and basic board, none of the other "fees" a lot of companies pile on) at a place in Thailand (pretty sure it was Thailand. Been a few years ) that dealt with rescued tigers...unfortunately I lost the guy's details and to this day am utterly gutted .

If you'd asked this question a few years ago, I would have recommended the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Charity in The Gambia, West Africa - was set up by my grandfather, run by my aunt until she died...is now closed to the public (long story), but they did lovely eco-tourist packages where you could stay at the camp and get boat rides out to the islands where the chimps live...okay, not as hands-on as you may have been expecting, but still a magical experience!

Also, while I think of it, if you can make a longer-term placement, try VSO...if you have the skills they're after, they sometimes even offer paid work, but you have to be *very* experienced, usually.

captainladypants

Love the pics!
I can understand what you're saying wolfsong but I can't afford to leave work or take a year off, I have house and bills to pay for and I car to run when I get back!
I'll have a look at VSO.
Shame you lost the phone number, would you not still do it now?

WolfSong2000

captainladypants wrote: »

Love the pics!
I can understand what you're saying wolfsong but I can't afford to leave work or take a year off, I have house and bills to pay for and I car to run when I get back!
I'll have a look at VSO.
Shame you lost the phone number, would you not still do it now?

Well, like I said, if you're still dead-set on the idea, look at the possibility of working for a charity - some of these jobs require overseas travel and a "hands-on" approach .

And if I still had the phone number I would do it in a heartbeat - every time I think about it I kick myself for losing the details *sighs*.