Merapoh is a tiny village in the Malaysian jungle. It’s completely untouched, no tourists, no hotels and no bars. The closest Starbucks is 228 km away. The only outsiders are a great team of interns and volunteers living within the community.
They’re fighting to save the last wild Malayan Tigers, and help the Batek tribe cope after their eviction from the forest. There’s a million reasons you should volunteer with them, these are just the top ten…
1. Tigers
There are as little as 250 Malayan Tigers left in the wild. And Merapoh is the only place you can join the fight to save them.
The best way to do this is trekking through the jungle with a Batek guide. It’s so exciting looking for signs of human or animal presence. Pugmarks, scratches, scat, snares or traps. Any findings are photographed and sent to the corresponding authority:
Tiger data – MYCAT
Elephant data – MEME
Sun bear data – BSBCC
Pangolin data – UMT
Human encroachment data – Wildlife Crime Hotline
This doesn’t only help tigers, but also sun bears, elephants and pangolins.
How does this help?
Merapoh suffers some of the highest poaching rates. It’s also situated in the Sungai Yu wildlife corridor, which is crucial for tigers to be able to pass through.
By collecting and sending this data the Merapoh Team are helping the various organisations fight for the protection of the jungle and it’s wildlife. Also just by being a presence in the area and actively seeking snares they are helping to deter poaching.
This is such important work. Earlier this year a snare was found, disabled and it’s details sent to the Wildlife Crime Hotline. Two days later the team found tiger pug marks in the same area.
2. Jungle School
The team teach the Batek tribe kids the basics. Reading, writing, basic arithmetic and handling money. All skills necessary to help them get by in modern Malaysia. And you can help out as much or as little as you like!
It’s great to see them thinking, because they are SO intelligent. Far more switched on than most kids their age. Their problem solving and creativity is incredible.
The other great thing about Jungle School is that it is so flexible. It encourages kids to also learn jungle skills from their elders. The kids are free to move into the jungle with their families for weeks at a time. Which they’ll usually do during fruiting seasons, or when the village is unbearably hot.
How does this help?
The Batek are Orang Asli, native people of Malaysia. In the early 1990’s the Malaysian Government forced all native people out of the forests and into purpose built concrete villages. In exchange for schooling and health care they had to speak Malay, not Batek. And convert from Animisim, belief in Jungle Spirits and Dieties, to Islam.
The Batek and modern Malaysian people have had a long and violent history. The Batek have spent generations running in fear as the rainforest shrunk around them. They are still extremely wary of outsiders, particularly Malay. Older Batek people still believe if they venture out of the village they will be murdered.
When the Batek children first attended Malaysian schools it was a disaster. If they were hungry they would wander out of class to find food, and not understand why they were punished for doing so. The teachers didn’t know how to teach children who couldn’t read, write or speak fluent Malay. And they were bullied by other children because they looked different. Eventually their parents stopped sending them.
Without an education the kid’s futures look bleak. Manual labour is their only real option, and there is a cruel irony in working on the plantations that replaced your home.
Project Merapoh would love to allow the Batek to go back and live permanently in the jungle. But unfortunately they cannot control that. Besides, after 20 years of phones, motorbikes and TVs not all tribe members want to move back permanently. However through Jungle School Project Merapoh can give the kids a choice over their own future. Whether it’s closely tied to the rainforest, or venturing out into the modern world.
3. Caving
There are over 60 beautiful limestone karsts around Merapoh. Each one with a complex network of caves below, many of which are still unexplored. You have so many to choose from! Exciting caves you can crawl through. Adventurous caves you can swim through. And beautiful caves you can admire.
There are so many bats that in smaller sections they create wind tunnels. It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. The best part of these caves is that they are so raw. They haven’t been commercialised. No tourists, no trash and no man made additions. Just exploring an untouched a cave in the middle of the jungle.
How does this help?
Firstly caving provides the community with an alternative income to poaching. Secondly these limestone karsts are rapidly disappearing. Being mined to provide limestone for cement. By exploring these caves and funding the caving industry we are proving they are worth more standing. And that the jungle is worth more wild than it is cleared for plantations.
4. Batek Sports Days
There is no better way to spend your day. We played tug of war, three legged races, sack races, made crazy bubbles, science experiments and had water fight with the Batek kids. Be warned, if it rains the kids love a mud fight!
How does this help?
Even in Jungle School the attendance drops over time. Partly because school is still a very foreign concept for the kids, but also because they are incredibly shy. Sports days are a great way recapture their interest, and cox them back into school.
5. Night Safaris
The team jump into the back of the pick-up truck and drive slowly through plantations with torches scanning for wildlife. Night safaris are great fun and you get the chance to see so many animals you wouldn’t catch in the daytime. Civets, leopard cats, long-tailed macaques and the occasional owl.
How does this help?
Admittedly, this is mostly for fun! But it does give the team a greater understanding of the wildlife figures.
Plantations are also the most dangerous areas for tigers, if found they would be shot without hesitation. If we found one first we could call the hotline to get it relocated immediately. Being able to save one tiger can do amazing things for population levels when there are only 250 remaining.
6. Foraging With The Batek
Heading out into the jungle with the old Batek ladies foraging for the different plants they use for everything they could ever need. Collecting plants for food, plates, make up and cigarette paper (they’re always smoking leaf roll-ups!).
When we went hair accessories were highest on the agenda. They filled their hair and ours with flowers, leaves and shredded stems. They looked beautiful. We looked like a bunch of foreigners with some flowers in our hair ?
This was a completely different experience to when we went jungle trekking looking for tiger tracks because we went completely of the trail. If they spotted something they needed, they hacked through the jungle to get to it. (Tiny Batek lady size hacking, get ready to crouch!)
The Batek don’t celebrate birthdays so we’re not sure how old they are, probably 65 – 75. Either way, they put us to shame. Hopping up steep slopes, macheteing through thick jungle with the flick of a wrist and all barefoot too. These women are INCREDIBLE.
How does this help?
Younger Batek generations might be torn between the jungle and modern Malaysia. But these old Batek ladies only want to be where they have spent the vast majority of their lives, the jungle.
While we can’t give them the freedom to move back into the jungle. We can provide them with an income for doing what they love. And of course, we get to learn about the Malaysian jungle from the world’s leading experts. Badass experts.
Most importantly we mark all the plants they use with GPS creating a map of how they use the forest. This data is sent to an Anthropologist at The University of Exeter who is building a report to show how important the forest is to the Batek, and why it needs to be protected.
7. Malay Dinner
Malay Dinners are a chance to actually see how other people live. You’re invited into a local’s home to eat traditional food in the traditional way.
It’s amazing how close the team are to the local community. The dinners are so successful that they’re regularly invited to weddings and other personal events too. The team will even get a telling off if they haven’t visited someone recently enough!
How does this help?
We pay for the food, much like going to a restaurant. But the difference is it builds a genuine connection between the project and the locals. And this is the best way to combat poaching.
Usually it’s the women who are the most open and welcoming. They listen to why we are in Merapoh and understand the project. Think about it, if you’re a tiger poacher you’re not going to listen to a white foreigner lecturing you to stop. But if it’s your daughter, wife or mother lecturing you, that’s a different story!
Cultural change is a slow process. Trying to tackle it with all guns blazing won’t get you anywhere. Prosecuting poachers and disregarding local traditions won’t encourage the locals rally behind you. They’ll rally against you.
8. Camping With The Batek
The best camping experience you will ever have! If camping is getting back to nature, this is being at one with nature. We came with sleeping bags, roll mats and some raw food. That’s it, the jungle provided everything else.
By this point in the week you’re well on the way to becoming an honorary Batek! Barefoot in the jungle, flowers in our hair & bathing in the river.
Because these incredible women are so badass it was really surprising that they were scared of the dark. They huddled together and built a quick makeshift sarong barrier around themselves. We asked them what they were afraid of and they answered “the birds”. Phew! That’s fine then, probably a spiritual thing. Then they laughed, “Big cats silly, big cats!” A sudden reminder that we weren’t alone in the middle of the jungle!
But hey, we had our firecrackers ready to scare away any potential guests. And being afraid wouldn’t change anything! So we left that one to the Batek and went back to roasting marshmallows and playing cards. (Spoiler alert: we survived!)
How does this help?
Again, anything that provides the Batek with an income for doing what they love helps them significantly. It also gives them the chance to do their weekly shopping! They came home with bags full of fish, plants and flowers.
9. The Ecoteer Team
It’s the people that make somewhere, and these guys are AWESOME. When we weren’t out having adventures we had such cute downtime. Film nights up on the roof, baking cakes and playing card games. The flat has a really welcoming vibe (and everyone will love you even more if you can cook!)
How does this help?
You can tell everyone is so passionate about the project, and everything it is fighting for. And when the team is really passionate it’s infectious.
10. Responsible Travel Will Benefit YOU Too
You’ll gain so much from even just a week volunteering.
It will open your eyes to why forests are disappearing, and taking the wildlife and indigenous people with them. But also act as a great reminder that there are so many GOOD people out there. Doing all that they can to make the world a better place.
There’s something so special about being somewhere that’s never been impacted by tourism. The locals aren’t constantly trying to sell to you, and there’s no friction between locals and tourists. When those barriers are removed it’s so much easier to connect with people. See things from their point of view. And open your heart & mind to a whole different way of living.
Plus, it’s ridiculously fun!
YOU CAN HELP TIGERS & THE BATEK TRIBE
Every time someone visits the project they’re helping it grow and do more great work ?
Step 1: Visit the project, they’d love to have you!
Step 2: Share, if it’s not your cup of tea but you know someone who would love it let them know!
Step 3: Stand up against palm oil, one of the main drivers of deforestation.
Step 4: Subscribe to become a Wild Hearted Traveler and stay informed about exploitation!
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