Tararu Valley
New Zealand, North Island, Tararu Valley
Ecosystem: Coromandel forest
Join the Tararu Valley volunteer Programme! - Tararu Valley Sanctuary is a co-operatively run rainforest property at the head of Tararu Valley, surrounded by 140'000 acres of the Coromandel State Forest park 1.5 hours from Auckland, New Zealand.
They work to encourage the global community to participate in activities that restore native forests ecology and increase sustainability.
Their vision is to ensure that a special portion of the Coromandel forest is protected in perpetuity and to create a sustainable residential education centre where volunteers will learn about New Zealand's temperate rainforests and assist in forest conservation.
The work includes: Conservation work is their highest priority: frequent walks to check the pest-control traps and maintain a track system, seed gathering, seed-ball creation, and tree planting to restore eroded slip faces and regenerate the forest, GPS data gathering, and GIS map making. Also Green building is part of the Tararu's activities. Other work includes:
- Forest track creation and maintenance
- Environmental weed control
- Gardening, fruit tree care, mulching, pruning
- Animal care (chickens, goats, dogs)
- Building and adobe brick making, maintenance
- Chopping firewood and recovering timber for building, craft projects
- Animal pest control
- Admin functions (planning, finance, website)
- Fundrasing for conservation
Recreation and Relaxation are an important part of the experience. They undertake 1-2 day trips every week and weeklong trips every 4-6 weeks. These include sea kayaking, mountain hiking, rock climbing, horse trekking, caving and visiting wildlife parks.
Accommodation and facilities: They have a range of accommodations, rooms are shared, some are old farm buildings others modern. Facilities are simple, waterless loo's or composting toilets. They have running hot and cold water and power is generated through wind turbines, solar panels and diesel generator.
Programme cost and duration: Tararu Valley Sanctuary does not make any profit out of the land it owns - and restoring the rainforest doesn't yield a benefit that can be counted in dollars. Quite the opposite, living in a slightly remote location means some expenses are higher than average. Tararu Valley Sanctuary is a charitable trust, which receives very little government money and therefore depends on the support of community including participating volunteers in order to exist.
Programmes run through out the year with a minimum duration of 6 weeks, maximum of 9 months. Longer duration can be negotiated. They are currently recruiting for the summer season from March/April.
Full programme contributions are NZ595/week. (225 GBP)
What is included in the above price?
- All accommodation, in the valley and on group trips
- Food
- Transport from Auckland City/Airport to the Valley
- All internal group travel
- Schedule group activities, including gear hire where necessary (Sea kayaking, multi day hiking adventure. rock climbing)
- Educational instruction and tuition
- Personals such as alcohol, take aways, dining out, luxury food etc is not included.
For more details on the above programme and how you can volunteer or become a supporter, please fill in the following form:
Contact Details:
Tararu Valley
PO Box 5
Thames
Thames
New Zealand
0064 7 868 8988
sanctuary (a) tararuvalley.org
