Volunteers mainly plant, mulch, and water trees during the season, work on water conservation in the forest and around the community, cook, clean, maintain the community area, and spend time with local and community kids.
Throughout the whole year
The minimum stay is 4 weeks from December 1st to March 31st and 2 weeks from April 1st to November 30th. We are also very interested in long term volunteers/interns staying with us for a period of six months or longer.
We practice an eco-friendly way of life including veganism, alternative construction, solar energy, biodegradable toiletries, and compost toilets.
Free facilities for volunteers include a small swimming pool, free 24/7 unlimited access to the Internet with your own laptop, four hours each day (excluding Fridays) of AC power to charge electrical items (sun permitting), a small collection of books, the use of several bicycles, and a playground for children. There are also daily workshops offered that are run by our volunteers and vary each week and can be anything from yoga, to Capoeira, to non-violent communication, to arts and crafts, and much much more!
We are working to re-create the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest indigenous to our area. This forest type is found only in Southern India and Sri Lanka and provides a rare biological richness due to its very high species abundance (over 1000 species of trees, shrubbery and liana). The Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest is now close to total extinction as only 0.01% survives. This is a last moment effort to keep this very rich and beautiful Forest on earth. As part of our reforestation effort we are also working on water conservation and soil management.
At Sadhana Forest we eat a pure vegan diet, which means no animal products from living or deceased animals. We eat fruits, vegetables, rice, millets, beans, and dal. Sadhana Forest is a non-profit ecological project that does not generate any income; therefore we unfortunately cannot afford to provide free food for guests. We share the cost of our 100% vegan meals equally. The total cost of food per person is 400 INR per day (just under 7 USD per day).
We look forward to welcoming you to Sadhana Forest soon!