While traveling through Perú we volunteered at a small monkey sanctuary in the Amazon jungle and instantly fell in love with everything about it. Owned and run by a local Peruvian, his family, and locals from nearby villages – they give their heart and soul into caring for orphaned monkeys rescued from the illegal animal trade.

We stayed with them several times over a 5 years period, totalling 10 months living in the Amazon jungle surrounded by nothing but rainforest and the furry inhabitants. It was definitely the most unique of working environments with a short walk into the jungle and setting up a hammock between trees to get the best cellphone signal, and keep the laptops away from the curious baby monkeys!

Anyone who has spoken to us for a minute or two about travel will know how special “the island” is to us. And of course we were happy to donate our time to build a new website, designed by Bradley Pratt. We set up an online store selling  their branded merchandise (which we also designed), and raise money for them in any way we can.

We continue to support the island with whatever we can, and will be back to see them as soon as we are able.

The image of us below shows us hand feeding a baby spider monkey that was bought to the island after her mother was killed in the jungle. ‘Emita’ lived in our bedroom for 3 months and was hand fed every 3 hours, night and day, until she was strong enough to join the other monkeys outside.
Monkeys are NOT pets. Never take photos with monkeys on leashes while you travel, don’t perpetuate their suffering, let them live free!