Please let me explain in a few sentences why I chose to become a short-term conservation volunteer.

I am an Environmental Engineer and I was working for a small hydropower consultancy in the UK for the last 4 years. I want to go back to my home country, Austria, but before settling down there I decided to travel around Southeast Asia for a few months.

I started off in Ho Chi Minh City, where I volunteered for 2 weeks helping in a food outreach programme for the poor. After that I went to Cambodia and did a diving course on Koh Rong Samloem. Based on this course I was able to do 2 weeks of volunteering with a marine conservation NGO there. My activities included lookinf after the coral nursery and cleaning beaches and reefs from rubbish. Since then I have been travelling around Cambodia and I really like this country.

Today I have visited the Mondulkiri Elephant Sanctuary: I was amazed by the elephants and by what LEAF does for the environment and the local community: I was speaking to the volunteers there and decided to join as a short-term volunteer for several days.

I enjoy gardening, care for the environment (I often pick up litter) and as a hydropower engineer I am obviously interested in the micro-hydro schemes at the sanctuary.

I’m looking forward to working with you. Please find a few photos of me attached.

Best regards,

Florian