Teach English to rangers and tour guides.
Accompany village guides, park rangers on jungle treks.
Stay with host families in the national parks, NTAs, or in villages.
Create awareness of the importance and advantages of protecting wildlife and environment.
Help to survey fauna and flora in the parks, threatened by poachers and illegal logging.
Promote sustainable and community based eco tourism as an extra revenue for the local population.
  
OpenmindProjects
supports Community Based and Sustainable Eco Tourism projects in Laos. These projects are located in some of Lao’s most important National Protected Areas, NTAs, for biodiversity conservation. The Lao NTAs have very limited resources and receive almost no international help to protect wildlife!
The interests of the NTAs and wildlife frequently clash with those of local villagers, when for instance wild elephants eat the village crops.

Phou Khao Khouai, Central Laos, the Water Buffalo Mountains. A saving wild elephants and ecotourism project. Teach English, train village guides and host families.

Phou Khao Khouai, is an NPA about 90 minutes by car from Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. 
A very exciting region to explore, which is very sparsely populated, heavily forested and has interesting wildlife such as the rare clouded leopard, wild elephants, sun bears and more.  The Nam Ngum River offers exciting world-class rapids in stunning forest and mountain scenery.
The Lao National Tourism Agency, NTA,  in cooperation with a German agency, DED, has supported ecotourism development in two villages, Ban Na and Hat Kay between 2002 – 2005.
OpenmindProjects volunteers have helped out since 2005 to teach English and train village guides and  host families.
Volunteers may also be invited to teach at the village school. Check www.trekkingcentrallaos.com, a website about this project made by OpenmindProjects volunteers!

Teaching English in a Lao  Eco tourism project,  implemented by WWF in cooperation with the Lao National Tourism Administration and OpenmindProjects.
The Xe Pian NPAs  in the deep south of  Laos is one of the three most important National Protected Areas in Laos. At least 13 globally  threatened mammals have been found in Xe Pian. There is however currently no international support and little national protection of the Xe Pian wildlife and trees. Poaching and logging is a problem. This new eco tourism project  started in April 2007,  and works with five villages, administered from Pakse town in cooperation between the Laos NTA and the World Wildlife Fund, W.W.F.

Volunteers teach English to help guides and villagers to basic conversation skills to take care of tourists.  Volunteers may also help train village and provincial guides how to guide tourists on a trek/jungle walk as well as help villagers to learn to take care of guests. Volunteers can also help the project collect information for tourists about target villages, treks, jungle walks, elephant rides, boat rides and transportation to/from target areas.

Other Eco tourism activities to be developed include elephant trekking, bird watching, canoeing, hiking and forest walks, cultural performances and interaction with local communities.

Accepted volunteers will receive a 3 days volunteer orientation in Nongkhai, the OpenmindProjects base, and normally stay in Nongkhai 2- 3 more days to prepare themselves prior to going to the national park.

Volunteers stay at the national park, have their rooms in a cabin or similar, eat with the local staff, have opportunities to go trekking, places where tourists cannot go. Accommodation and food at the placement is included in the fee. 

Good command of spoken, written English. Willing to teach English to staff and villagers.
An understanding and interest in eco tourism and environmental/wildlife protection. 
Initiative and ability to work independently
Ability to go trekking on field trips.

Laos Country Information
Laos is the smallest of the South East Asian nations with a population of only 4-5 million, and until recently perhaps also the most isolated.   Today it is easy to get a visa to visit Laos. A popular entry point is the Friendship Bridge in Nongkhai.
Laos is a communist state by name  in Vientiane private small business is visible everywhere. To the poor rice farmer in the countryside life goes on like it always has.
               
Laos offers much scenic beauty, ethnic and biodiversity despite its modest size. 

Many Lao are ethnic brothers with the Isan population in Thailand. There are many other ethnic groups speaking other languages. Many minorities are animists, though Buddhism is the dominant religion.

Laos had the least exploited nature in S E Asia, but Lao forests and animals are threatened today. Legal and illegal logging and poaching of hardwood trees and endangered animals goes on. With the Lao forests gone, little if any will remain of SE Asia’s once abundant and diverse wildlife and nature.

Visa
Today it is easy to get a 30 days tourist visa (about USD 30). 

Travel to Laos
Many visitors arrive via the Friendship Bridge in Nongkhai. The capital, Vientiane, is connected by flights from Thailand  but it is also possible to fly to Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand and to take a bus from there to reach the border.
Regular rail and bus services link Bangkok to Nongkhai,  the border town to Laos.

Travel in Laos
There are an increasing amount of  bus services operating from Vientiane to many towns throughout the country; but traveling in Laos is time consuming!

Banks
Open Monday to Friday between 08.30 AM. and 04.00 PM.

Lao currency
About 270 Lao Kip equals one Thai Baht! Most foreigners use Baht  or USD instead.
Laos operates on 220 volt.