One of the fundamental questions we asked when designing Wild@Heart was this:

"What does it take to transform the theoretical knowledge of a subject into a deeper, informed, internal change in a student?"

We believe the answer is to make students into stakeholders in real, long term projects. The success of many of these projects relies largely on the contributions of students who bring the creativity, curiosity, enthusiasm and even the cash to make dreams like replanting a rain forest, or rehabilitating an orangutan into a reality.  All students are given the opportunity to make a personal, tangible impact on the project they take part in, and from the amount that every student pays to take part, around one third is contributed directly into conservation and community based projects in the local area.

Examining the Grey Areas

Every student gets the chance to make a tangible impact on the habitats, species and communities they encounter. For example:

Habitat – partnering in the reforestation of huge tracts of rain forest in Borneo, removal of invasive species such as water hyacinth, collecting data on plant species and diversity, regeneration of waterways or the clearing and protection of beaches used by nesting turtles.

Community – working with local communities in ecologically important areas to increase their awareness of conservation and sustainable use of resources, community projects such as painting murals, setting up recycling programmes, or helping to create village reading rooms. We also make sure local people benefit financially by sourcing good and services such as food, accommodation and logistics as locally as possible wherever possible.

Species – students may work on improving the welfare of captive animals, or play a role in moving others closer to the goal of being rehabilitated back to the wild. Beach patrols to protect turtle nesting places and wildlife census data help protect and monitor endangered species, whilst work on habitats and with communities aim to provide a sustainable future in which all three parties can exist together.

The Wilderness Becomes the School Lab

There are many scientific techniques in use for the investigation and monitoring of current environmental issues. We invite you to bring your school lab to the wilderness – where students can take part in data collection on a wide range of projects from wildlife censuring and orangutan /sun bear behavioural studies to tree growth and environmental quality testing. Some of this data is handed over to organisation such as the WWF and state wildlife departments to help in their wider conservation initiatives; other data collection takes place purely as a tool to allow students to better understand. The amount of scientific work can be adjusted depending upon your school requirements –whether you are looking for a purely science based programme or a more general environmentally based school trip.