La Isla de los Monos is a 450 hectare island sanctuary and rescue centre located 30km from Iquitos in the Amazon jungle of Peru. Founded in 1997, their project rescues, rehabilitates and releases monkeys that have fallen victim to illegal animal trafficking.
In 2019 I spent 10 days helping the team on Monkey Island. Most of the monkeys have come from domesticated environments and are extremely comfortable around people. I constantly had multiple monkeys climbing over me whilst I was trying to work.
The goal of the sanctuary is to rehabilitate the monkeys to a point where they can be released into the wild.
The monkeys are free to roam and explore the jungle away from the centre with multiple feeding stations over a large area.
Day-to-day duties included-
- Helping with tours
- Working in the gardens
- Food preparation and feeding
- Transporting materials from the dock to the centre
- Playing and laughing with the monkeys all day long
I loved my time here and can’t wait to get back to Peru. Most of the funding for the project is through donations and they rely heavily on volunteers.
Covid was particularly hard with tourism brought to a halt.
If you love monkeys and you’re looking for a hands-on experience then contact La Isla De Los Monos