EXPEDITION LIFE
What better way to make a positive impact than by going to the heart of the Bolivian Amazon and working with animals where help is needed most?

ACCOMMODATION
One of the wonderful aspects of this project is that volunteers live and work in two different locations:

Parque Machia
The volunteer “Casa” on the edge of the jungle. The house has a basic kitchen with a refrigerator and a communal area. 1-3 QUEST volunteers usually share a simple room, toilets and hot showers are found outside. 

Ambue Ari
Here you'll stay in a traditional wooden-sided building with a thatched roof, in the picturesque village of Santa Maria. The accommodation is very rustic and volunteers sleep in bunk beds.
 
FOOD
Parque Machia
Whilst at Parque Machia volunteers have breakfast and lunch at the new vegetarian café (run by Bolivian volunteers with proceeds going to the park) next to the volunteer house. For dinner, volunteers usually go into the village to eat at one of the local restaurants, but will also occasionally cook for themselves in the kitchen. 

Ambue Ari
Whilst at Ambue Ari volunteers have breakfast cooked for them in Santa Maria before heading off to the park for the day. Lunch is prepared by a local cook at park, and dinner is had back in Santa Maria. 

Typical daily meals are:
Breakfast: a choice of fruits, bread, pancakes, muesli and yoghurt, tea/coffee (eggs and cheese sometimes available at Ambue Ari)
Lunch: traditional Bolivian vegetarian meal, usually with rice, pasta, beans, lentils or chips
Evening: at Parque Machia; a range of meals from the local restaurants, as well as more international foods such as pizza and Chinese. At Ambue Ari; Meals prepared by one of the local ladies living in Santa Maria, usually includes chicken, rice, corn, vegetables. 

A DAY IN THE LIFE
Parque Machia
Each volunteer has sole responsibility for one animal; a monkey, a toucan or even a puma or jaguar. The following is an example of what the working day can be like but it depends on what animal you are looking after. 

06.30 Wake Up
07.00 Breakfast
07.30 Start work. Clean the monkey cages and feed them
09.00 Grooming and petting monkeys
11.00 Preparation of monkey food for lunch
12.30 Volunteer lunch
14.30 Basic construction and maintenance of monkey park. Food preparation.
16.00 Monkey dinner, final cleaning and monkeys prepared for night.
18.00 Finish work. Free-time.
20.00 Dinner 

Ambue Ari
Here volunteers get to make a lasting contribution to the project by helping to construct much needed new infrastructure such as enclosures for the cats or a new vets clinic. Whilst the bulk of the work involves construction, there are numerous animals and each volunteer is given the chance of taking one of the jaguars or pumas for their daily walk through the rainforest with one of the Bolivian volunteers. If you are really lucky and get to take “Jagaroopee”, the jaguar for a walk then the chances are he will also want to go for a swim in the river with you too! 

06.30 Wake Up
07.00 Breakfast
07.30 Bus from village to park
08.00 Attend to animals if on duty
08.30 Start construction work
12.30 Lunch
14.00 Return to work
17.00 Finish work. Tea time!
18.00 Bus back to Santa Maria
20.00 Dinner 

Free Time
Whilst at Parque Machia, volunteers will not have any weekdays off as it is important that each animal is given as much continuity as possible in terms of who is looking after them. Evenings are for relaxing, playing football against the locals and socialising with other park volunteers.
Whilst at Ambue Ari, volunteers on the 6 week project will get 1 day off each week. Days off are usually spent in Guarayos - a nearby lake where you can spend a lazy day swimming and chilling out in a hammock. Relaxing in the afternoons involves swimming in nearby rivers, playing football and just taking in life in the Amazon basin. Whilst the team is travelling between the two parks they will spend one or two nights in the city of Santa Cruz as the parks are too far apart from each other to do the journey all in one day. 

WHO ELSE IS GOING?
Your team will be made up of between 6-18 people and will be led by an experienced QUEST Project Leader. Volunteers on this sabbatical project tend to be aged 25+.  The Bolivian Animal Sanctuary Project attracts those with a love of animals and a concern for the plight of endangered species.

WEATHER
Both parks are located in the hot and humid tropics and temperatures are high all year-round. (Between 22 and 28 Celsius 71 and 83 Fahrenheit). Most of the rain falls during the summer months (during the British winter as seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere), although the nature of being in a rainforest means that there is a good measure of rain during the winter too. The rain usually comes in short, sharp, down pours and are a welcome relief from the muggy tropical heat.
 
Ambue Ari is located further into the Amazon Basin and as such can be considerably hotter than Parque Machia which stands at a slightly higher elevation. Only during the winter months (which falls during UK summer time) will it ever get cold enough to need a sleeping bag or warm clothing at night.