Australian volunteer Laura Mitchell has been helping the Surviving Together team monitor wildlife in protected areas.

Working closely with field staff and local rangers, our Aussie volunteer recorded signs of numerous indigenous wildlife by examining tracks and setting camera traps deep inside the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex, in protected areas such as Thap Lan National Park.

According to Laura, wildlife conservation in Thailand is an interesting and challenging change from her last job – working with koalas on Australia’s Kangaroo Island, where poaching is non-existent.

When not trapping unsuspecting wildlife on film, Laura found time to visit FREELAND’s community outreach projects in the villages around Khao Yai to see how small-scale agriculture can provide sustainable incomes for former poachers.

Other exciting highlights included the day of the weird white moths, bogged jeeps, ant-riddled camera traps, and encounters that can only be related over a cold Aussie beer.

Laura’s volunteer work for wildlife conservation was made possible by the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program, an Australian Government initiative assigning young people to support sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.

FREELAND’s staff wish Laura all the best in her future travels and hope she’ll come back to visit soon.