Volunteering on Nusa Penida island gives you the chance to learn about conservation and community development while living alongside traditional communities. It is a small, unspoilt island of beaches, coral reefs and sheer cliffs – 45 minutes by boat from mainland Bali – where village life and culture is mostly untouched by tourism.
What do volunteers do?
You don’t need any particular expertise, just a willingness to help and a passion for our projects. What you do will depend on the season (we plant in the rainy months), the time you have to plan your visit, and your skills and interests. Volunteers might help in our nursery and organic gardens, monitor birds, turtles, butterflies and bats, help with GPS mapping, teach English and art, or help with marketing, fundraising and grant writing.
If you have specialist skills let us know. Are you great at music or yoga, for example? We might be able to organise for you to run classes for the young people who live on the island.
If you’re interested in formal scientific research, we’d love to hear from you too. Please email us at info@fnpf.org. Find out more about researchers who have worked with us.
We ask our volunteers to work three or four hours each morning, and then the afternoons are yours to enjoy the island. Sometimes we invite local people to our center in the evenings to practice their English and are always on the lookout for volunteers willing to participate in conversational English classes.
Our Nusa Penida team are all local and are sometimes too shy to ask a western volunteer to work, so it’s partly up to you to proactively ask how you can assist. Our goal is for you to help us while having a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
How the island became a bird sanctuary
FNPF has been working on Nusa Penida since 2004, with our main focus on protecting wildlife and rebuilding endangered native bird populations. One of our major projects has been saving Bali’s emblem bird, the Bali Starling.
We transformed Nusa Penida into a sanctuary by persuading every village to offer their protection. They have all passed regulations requiring their community to protect the birds from poachers and traders. Because of this, we can release endangered birds to live and breed safely in the wild.
In other parts of Indonesia, poachers are the greatest threat facing endangered birds.
In return, we support the community by sponsoring local children to attend school and university, run a community library, teach sustainable farming, plant trees to restore forests, and more.
Staying with us
Once you arrive in Bali, you will need to catch a boat from Sanur or Padangbai to Nusa Penida. You can find more details about this in our FAQs.
Accommodation at our center is simple but comfortable and clean – we have rooms for individuals and groups. Bedding (sheets, pillows and a bedcover), along with mosquito nets and fans (there is no air conditioning) are included.
Our center is also home to our nursery, organic vegetable garden, bird rehabilitation facility, office and community library. You will be woken by cockerels at sunrise, occasionally spot pigs and cows wandering around during the day, and you will see endangered Bali starlings in the trees every afternoon.
After volunteering in the morning, you will have enough spare time to enjoy the island and its beautiful beaches and great snorkelling. You can rent a motorcycle or use one of the bicycles at our center to get around.
How to apply
Please fill in an application and send it to info@fnpf.org with your preferred dates. We will be in touch as soon as we can to let you know if we have availability.
Our volunteering fees include the cost of accommodation. You are responsible for the cost of your food, meals and travel to and from Nusa Penida. There are several good simple local warungs near our center where you can get a meal for a few dollars.
You will need to pay a 50% deposit to secure your place. And then the remaining 50% a week before you arrive. We welcome large groups, including groups of older school children. If you have any questions or need more information, we would love to hear from you. Please send us an email.
Note: you need to be 18 or over to volunteer (unless you’re with a parent or a supervisory adult). You must be in a reasonable physical condition and prepared for hands-on manual work in a hot equatorial environment. You are responsible for your vaccinations and might want to bring antimalarials, as well as creams for protection from mosquitoes and the sun. You also must bring a copy of your passport.
Find out what other volunteers say
Read what our volunteers have said on Trip Advisor or check out this journalist’s story in Jetstar’s magazine. There’s this YouTube video about volunteering with us or this one about the release of Bali starlings on the island.
Volunteering fees
As a not-for-profit operation, all proceeds from volunteering go directly toward our conservation projects. When you volunteer, not only do you get the chance to stay in a unique environment and take part in conservation and community development projects, you also help fund our ongoing vital work.
One person in a single or twin room | *one week includes 8 days and 7 nights
| no of weeks | US$ per week | no of nights | US$ per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 158 | 1-6 | 25 |
| 2 | 150 | 8-13 | 23 |
| 3 | 142 | 15-20 | 21 |
| 4 | 135 | 22-27 | 20 |
| 5 or more | 128 | 29 or more | 19 |
One person sharing a triple room or dormitory | *one week includes 8 days and 7 nights
| no of weeks | US$ per week | no of nights | US$ per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 82 | 1-6 | 14 |
| 2 | 78 | 8-13 | 13 |
| 3 | 74 | 15-20 | 12 |
| 4 | 71 | 22-27 | 11 |
| 5 or more | 67 | 29 or more | 10 |
Two people sharing a twin room | *one week includes 8 days and 7 nights
| no of weeks | US$ per week | no of nights | US$ per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 237 | 1-6 | 36 |
| 2 | 225 | 8-13 | 34 |
| 3 | 214 | 15-10 | 32 |
| 4 | 203 | 22-27 | 31 |
| 5 or more | 193 | 29 or more | 29 |