Cloud Forest Protection

The volunteer project takes place in a nature reserve located west of Quito in the middle of the Cloud Forest at the foothills of the Andes. This is where nature conservation, tourism and ecological agriculture are combined on 800 hectares of land. About 700 hectares of it are protected forests. In the remaining area, the owners receive tourists in wooden holiday homes or on a small campsite, practice sustainable agriculture and educate visitors and local communities about environmental protection.

The particular focus of this project is protecting existing forests, reforestation of areas that were previously used as sugar cane plantations and educational workshops to raise awareness of the value of the forest. The cloud forest has incredible biodiversity, that needs to be protected for future generations. Hundreds of different bird species live in this project alone, as well as many butterflies, amphibians and mammals. The latter include monkeys, deer, maders, weasels, wild cats, ocelots, agoutis, squirrels, peccaries, armadillos, skunks, sloths, spectacled bears, bats, and others.

The flora is also wonderfully rich in species. The project has a tree nursery where endangered local species are reproduced.

In this wonderful volunteer project, you can learn to do business in such a way that nature is not exploited and still enough for everyone is on the table. The local community is involved so that everyone supports this important development. 

If you like to be in nature and are good in working hands-on, you will love this volunteer opportunity.

Among your tasks may be:

From the project site, about an hour's drive, you can find Santo Domingo. The town has about half a million inhabitants, and is the fourth largest city in Ecuador.

The Pacific can be reached in a four to five hour drive, where you can find beautiful sandy beaches, night life (e.g. in the popular holiday resort Canoa), good restaurants and surf schools - also a great option for a few days off.

The climate in the region of the nature reserve is warm and humid all year round, with temperatures between 16 and 30 degrees. Instead of the four seasons, there is a dry and a rainy season. The rainy season lasts from December to April. Don't worry, it will rain every day, but not all day long. In the dry season between May and November it rarely rains, but the climate is always moderately humid.

Usually the sun shines all year round in the morning and in the afternoon / evening clouds move over the forest, which is what the cloud forest owes its name to.