Pod Volunteer

The ethos of the Lanta Animal welfare centre is excellent. The volunteer experience will possibly be better depending on the supervisor’s experience as they seemed to be inexperienced when I volunteered. The accommodation I was offered had to be paid for in addition to the volunteer fees along with a 3000 baht deposit for the property which was not returned to me. As I left the project early the centre kept the fees paid 9000 baht per month plus the deposit and insisted I leave the acccomodation even though I had paid for another month as it’s only for volunteers , yet there were apparently no other volunteers coming at that time.
There is a locked area for volunteers where the rooms on site are located and lunch is left here but also this area was used to house two dogs as one wouldn’t allow anyone to put a lead on her and take her out for walks therefore the area was also used for toilet by the two dogs therefore you can imagine heat and flies around the food as people rarely replaced the lid on the food container.
The information given by Pod volunteering site states that you work six hours per day and do a night shift, what they didn’t say was you work 7 am to 1 pm have six hours off when it is your turn for night shift then work 7 pm to 7 am sleeping over in the kitchen on site where dogs are housed then you have another shift tagged on from 7 am to 1 pm.
The heat and humidity are high therefore the smell is unbearable. The bulk of the work is cleaning scrubbing out dog and cat enclosures, emptying and scrubbing litter trays , feeding dogs and cats and a few walks but often the dogs seemed reluctant to walk.
If you wish to participate in this project it would possibly be better to arrange it directly with Lanta Animal welfare Koh Lanta Thailand than through Pod volunteer as they charge huge fees in comparison. T shirts were provided by centre for work. There are also two washing machines across from centre for laundry 30 and 40 baht good value.

I really enjoyed my experience, volunteering at Costa Rica. Kids saving the rainforest is a great project and loved working out there. Pod volunteer made the process go smoothly. Everyone should volunteer aboard.

I really enjoyed my experience, volunteering at Costa Rica. Kids saving the rainforest is a great project and loved working out there. Pod volunteer made the process go smoothly. Everyone should volunteer aboard.

I really enjoyed my experience, volunteering at Costa Rica. Kids saving the rainforest is a great project and loved working out there. Pod volunteer made the process go smoothly. Everyone should volunteer aboard.

I really enjoyed my experience, volunteering at Costa Rica. Kids saving the rainforest is a great project and loved working out there. Pod volunteer made the process go smoothly. Everyone should volunteer aboard.

Volunteering in Thailand is one of the best experience of my life to date. It was so eye opening and inspiring to be up close and personal with the elephants. I had the opportunity to learn so much about their natural history and the plight they face every day, as well as getting in lots of cuddle time. Working hard everyday to help improve these animals lives also gave me the opportunity to learn alot about myself and who I want to be. The first week back home was hard and I got home sick for Thiland!!!

If it wasn't enough I got to bond and work with these gentle giants I also got to meet people from all over the world. I made friends with people almost every corner and learnt alot about different cultures and heritages too!