TOUCH THE JUNGLE

Touch the Jungle is a rain forest wildlife and habitat protection project sponsored by the US nonprofit Earthways Foundation. Touch The Jungle is working mainly in the South American country of Ecuador at this time. The main interests of this project are:

  • Protect threatened rainforest habitats
  • Protect, rescue, and rehabilitate native animals.
  • Empower local people to preserve the rainforest and protect its wildlife.

These goals are interdependent. Wildlife cannot survive without habitat.
The habitat cannot survive if the local people don't protect it. The
local people cannot survive without wildlife and the forest. Yet extreme
poverty and lack of jobs cause many communities to accept the offers of
loggers and miners just to provide their families with the necessities
of life. If we want local people to support and protect the rainforest
and its wildlife, then we must support them. This Touch The Jungle does, by
supporting community projects such as health care and education, and
assisting them in developing environmentally-friendly sources of income
such as ecotourism.

Since 1995, Touch The Jungle has been working with Playa de Oro, a hunter-gatherer community in Ecuador's Choco Rainforest. This village has designated all of its 25,000 acres of primary rainforest as a reserve for margays and other endangered jungle cat species. In exchange, Earthways and Touch The Jungle have supported the community's low-impact ecotourism project. This project, which is entirely in the hands of the local people, involves hosting visitors from all over the world, so that they may experience and better understand both the rainforest and those who live there.

Upcoming Projects for 2009/2010
Grace Lush of Toronto, a long-time volunteer with the Playa de Oro project, has recently offered Touch the Jungle land in Ecuador's Intag Valley to construct a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. As we begin to realize this new project, details of our progress, information on how you can visit the project, and qualifications for volunteers will be posted on this website.
 
The following is a video presentation about Playa de Oro/Touch The Jungle provided by The National Wildlife Humane Society.
 
 
Upcoming Events

2010 Small Group Tours

March 15 - 28, 2010

July 26 - August 9, 2010

November 2010 TBA

Click Here for More Info

Click the button below to make your tax deductible donation

Online Donation Processing provided courtesy of NWHS.

 
 
 
 
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all website content and photos copyright Touch The Jungle, 2007, all rights reserved
 
website sponsored by Wild Trax Supply