New Zealand evolved in isolation for 80 million years, producing an ecosystem found nowhere else on Earth. Its birds, insects, reptiles, bats, and plants developed with no land mammals — and no defences against them. When humans arrived and introduced invasive species, the destruction was swift and continues today.
At Pupu Rangi, you will work to protect that ecosystem in its entirety: all species, from vegetation to invertebrates to birds to bats in a 100-hectare native rainforest on the Kauri Coast. This is not a theoretical exercise or an Instagram project. It is active conservation at a professional standard in forests closed to the general public.
This ecosystem — and this work — exists nowhere else on Earth.
Who Should Apply
This program is designed for participants who are serious about field conservation and want a rigorous, structured placement in a real native rainforest environment.
- Students enrolled in ecology, biology, zoology, conservation science, or environmental management degrees seeking mandatory practical placement hours or university credit — including Pflichtpraktikum, Auslandspraktikum, and stage obligatoire
- Students looking for an Auslandssemester or work semester abroad with genuine field conservation content
- Recent graduates building a CV for a conservation career
- Those interested in whole-ecosystem field conservation — predator control, native species monitoring, and habitat restoration across a full range of taxa
- Participants who have completed the 4-week volunteer program and want to go further
- Anyone serious about field conservation — not wildlife rehabilitation, not city-based volunteering
If you are drawn to conservation but have not yet worked in the field, the 4-week volunteer program is a straightforward way to find out. Four weeks is long enough to move past the introduction phase and start doing real work — checking trap lines solo, running monitoring sessions, reading the forest. Most people who are going to find this work meaningful know it by week two. Most people who are not also know by then. Either outcome is useful.
The Conservation Internship — 10 to 12 Weeks
At the start of the internship, each intern works with the program coordinator to create a structured skills development plan outlining the competencies they wish to acquire or demonstrate. This plan forms the basis of the internship schedule and is referenced throughout the placement.
Interns participate in the full volunteer program and additionally receive:
- A dedicated mentor with regular weekly check-ins
- A personalised skills development plan agreed before arrival
- A supervisor letter and skills log suitable for university placement credit submission
- Advanced responsibilities including activities requiring extended assignments, data analysis, and team coordination
- Exposure to the full range of professional conservation protocols used across New Zealand as designed by the Department of Conservation
The program works simultaneously across three threatened species at the same field station — a breadth that is unusual even by professional research station standards:
| Species | Monitoring method |
|---|---|
| North Island brown kiwi | territory mapping using trail cameras and night time listening, telemetry tracking |
| Long-tailed bat (pekapeka) | active/passive acoustic surveys, acoustic recorder deployment and retrieval |
| Giant kauri snail (pupurangi) | habitat surveying, population transects, microhabitat assessment |
Interns use a set of field equipment and instruments that exceeds most volunteer programs globally and is comparable to professional field research deployments:
- Personal GPS unit and VHF radio — issued to every participant from day one
- Custom forest navigation app — dense-forest waypoint navigation
- Trail cameras — remote wildlife detection and behaviour recording
- Species-specific playback devices — call stimulation and response protocols for kiwi
- Passive and active acoustic recorders — bat activity monitoring and dawn chorus analysis
- Automatic predator traps — remote-set kill and monitoring systems
- Telemetry receivers — tracking tagged individuals across the rainforest
- Drones — canopy surveys and rainforest mapping
- Thermal imaging cameras — nocturnal wildlife detection and behaviour observation
For ecology and conservation biology students, hands-on experience with this type of equipment is a direct career asset — these are the instruments used in professional research and conservation ranger roles.
Field activities also include:
- Invasive species and predator control — installing, checking, and resetting kill and live traps across multiple forest blocks; bait station management
- Data collection and analysis — population monitoring, territory mapping, trend analysis, some of which are submitted to the Department of Conservation
- Habitat restoration — weed control, native planting, seed collection
- Track construction and navigation — GPS, compass, and topo map skills in dense rainforest
The internship is compatible with university practical placement requirements across most European and North American ecology and biology programs. Contact us with your university's specific requirements and we will confirm compatibility before you apply.
Why You Cannot Do This Fieldwork Anywhere Else
A living ecosystem found nowhere else on Earth
New Zealand's flora and fauna evolved in complete isolation for 80 million years. The result is an ecosystem unlike anything in Australia, Canada, or anywhere else — ancient trees, flightless birds, giant land snails, bats that forage like birds, and a rainforest that developed no defences against mammalian invasive species. The conservation challenge at Pupu Rangi is not managing a nature reserve. It is protecting a biological system with no parallel on Earth.
Field habitat conservation, not rehabilitation
Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Costa Rica are dominated by wildlife rehabilitation: injured animals in enclosed centres or managed wildlife encounters. Pupu Rangi is active field conservation in the animals' actual wild habitat — invasive species and predator trap management, habitat restoration, native species monitoring across the full range of taxa. This is the fieldwork that ecology and conservation biology degrees are designed to prepare you for. It is academically superior to rehabilitation work and generates multiple career-relevant skills.
Three threatened species — simultaneously, at the same field station
Most conservation programs, including professional research stations, focus on one or two species. At Pupu Rangi, interns work simultaneously across three threatened species at the same field station: North Island brown kiwi, long-tailed bat (pekapeka), and giant kauri snail (pupurangi). This multi-species scope maps directly to the multi-species management skills that research employers and conservation agencies actively recruit for. It also means that no two weeks of fieldwork cover the same ground — the monitoring calendar rotates across species, methods, and forest blocks throughout the placement.
Professional field research equipment — from week one
Most conservation volunteer programs give you a spade and a pair of gloves. At Pupu Rangi, interns use their own personal GPS unit and VHF radio, a custom forest navigation app, trail cameras, species-specific playback devices, active and passive acoustic recorders, automatic predator traps, and telemetry receivers from week one. This equipment profile exceeds most volunteer programs globally and is comparable to professional field research deployments. For ecology students, this is not an introduction to fieldwork — it is the actual equipment of an active field research operation and the same equipment they will encounter in a conservation ranger or field research career.
True wilderness — not city-adjacent
Most headline conservation programs — in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, and South Africa — are lodge-based operations within easy reach of a city. Participants sleep in towns, drive to a field site, and return to cafes and wifi in the evening. The conservation area is a destination. You visit it; you do not live in it. At Pupu Rangi, the nearest small town is an hour's drive. Auckland — New Zealand's largest city — is 3.5 hours away. The nearest neighbours are roughly two kilometres away. The camp sits directly at the treeline: step out of your cabin in the morning and you are already in the forest. There is no commute. The forest is where you live for the duration of your stay and the work begins the moment you walk into it.
University Placements & Academic Recognition
Pupu Rangi can host students completing a Feldarbeit Naturschutz component, a conservation Freiwilligenarbeit, or a mandatory practical placement from institutions across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and beyond.
Students from German-speaking universities searching for a Naturschutz Praktikum or Ökologie Praktikum in Neuseeland are welcome to contact us to discuss placement compatibility with their degree requirements.
We provide:
- A named supervisor as point of contact for university correspondence
- A structured skills development plan agreed before arrival and tracked throughout the placement
- A supervisor letter and skills completion certificate for university submission
- Documentation of fieldwork hours, species monitored, and protocols applied
The 10-week internship qualifies as a mandatory practical placement under the academic frameworks of most European ecology, biology, and conservation science degree programs. If you are unsure whether our program will be formally recognised by your institution, contact us and we will liaise directly with your placement coordinator.
Previous participants have also used their time at Pupu Rangi to:
- Complete the Service section of the Duke of Edinburgh Award
- Conduct Bachelor or Master's thesis fieldwork
- Complete a work semester abroad (Auslandssemester / stage à l'étranger)
For practical questions about the program, visit our FAQ page. For information about our work with the Department of Conservation, see the About page.
Daily Schedule
A typical daily schedule looks similar to the one below:
8am – 9am breakfast
9am – 9:30am communal area clean-up
10am – 12pm morning conservation activity
12pm – 1pm lunch / picnic in the field
1pm – 4pm afternoon conservation activity
4pm – 6pm leisure activities (free time)
6pm – 8pm dinner
8pm – 10pm leisure activities (sunset watching, dusk bird chorus, game or movie night)
On days where night work is scheduled, the day is reorganised as follows:
free time during the mornings
1pm – 4pm training and preparation
5pm – 6pm dinner
8pm – 1am night monitoring activity
The activities will be decided on the day depending on weather, conditions, and participant interests.
For answers to common questions, visit our FAQ page. If you are a parent researching this program, visit our Information for Parents page.
Practical Information
Pupu Rangi can accommodate up to four interns at a time. Due to the number of operations that we execute and to ensure sufficient practice time, our internships are designed to last a minimum of ten weeks. If you are not able to commit to such a duration, you might consider a shorter option such as our Volunteer program
Minimum Age Requirement
Male participants must be 20 years old prior to the start of the program.
Female participants must be 18 years old prior to the start of the program.
Maximum Age Requirement
If you are in good physical shape, able to walk comfortably 10 kilometers every day, are under 30 years of age, open to change, willing to leave behind the daily comforts, and you finish reading these pages wishing that you were here, get in touch!
English Language Skills
You will need good English language skills to be able to participate in programs that last longer than one week. We don't expect you to be fully fluent, but you have to have enough knowledge to be able to understand the instructions that need to be followed and to be able to communicate clearly via radio with your colleagues, rangers, or with emergency services.
Keep in mind that most of our participants have English as their second language, however if you are unsure of whether your English level is sufficient, we can have a quick WhatsApp call to discuss about the program and at the end of it we would be able to confirm on whether or not you will be able to join us.
Who should join this program
This program is designed for participants who are serious about field conservation and want a rigorous, structured placement in a real native rainforest environment:
- Students enrolled in ecology, biology, zoology, conservation science, or environmental management degrees seeking mandatory practical placement hours or university credit — including Pflichtpraktikum, Auslandspraktikum, and stage obligatoire
- Students looking for an Auslandssemester or work semester abroad with genuine field conservation content
- Recent graduates building a CV for a conservation career
- Those interested in whole-ecosystem field conservation — predator control, native species monitoring, and habitat restoration across a full range of taxa
- Participants who have completed the 4-week volunteer program and want to go further
- Anyone serious about field conservation — not wildlife rehabilitation, not city-based volunteering
Preparatory Reading
We strongly recommend that you read carefully the following introduction to conservation on New Zealand's Department of Conservation's website.
On the Tiaki website you can read about what you can do to look after New Zealand during your travels.
Before you arrive at the sanctuary, please learn how to read a Topo map by reading this page and how use a compass by reading this page and by watching this video. Please ensure that you have a solid understanding of these concepts before your start date.
Regardless of the time that you spend with us, there is a lot to learn and memorize. Memorization is important because while you are in the forest by yourself it is not practical to stop every few steps and read from a notebook whatever information or instructions you might have received. Additionally, for your safety you will receive a lot of information that helps you not to get lost, this information needs to be memorized. You can practice improving your memory with the tips on this page.
What should you expect
The philosophy here is simple: we work with what we have, in a place far from any town or supply run. That means patience, adaptability, and a willingness to find solutions rather than reach for convenience. It will not be easy — sometimes you might find it very hard — and that is genuinely part of the experience. People who persevere leave with more than they came with.
You will learn a great deal and you will be expected to apply it. The work is real and it matters; it is participants like you who make this project a reality. When you are out in the middle of the forest, it is the whole team that has to work through a problem and find a way forward — individual choices are acknowledged, but the wellbeing and safety of the group comes first. That is not a constraint so much as one of the things that makes the experience worthwhile.
What most people don't anticipate is the range of what they encounter: kiwi moving through the bush at night, the rare call of a kokako, native snails the size of your fist, ferns and mosses layered across the forest floor, impenetrable canopy overhead, glow worms in the dark by the waterfall, giant trees that have been standing for two thousand years. The more open you are when you arrive, the more that adds up to something you'll carry with you for a long time.
What we expect
Together with your team mates, we expect you to treat the sanctuary as your own home. Keep it clean, put everything that you use back, fix what needs to be fixed, and propose ways of improvement.
Together with your team mates, we expect you to behave with maturity and to participate to the well being of the team. Learn, care, and share your experiences with the others.
Together with your team mates, we expect you to make an effort to remember what is taught, to practice your new skills, and to complete your tasks without mistakes.
Internship Fee
The time that our volunteers and interns donate is very important to the preservation of the forest and to the continuous improvement of the sanctuary. We are grateful for it and we try to reward that contribution with comfortable accommodation, delicious food, knowledge sharing, conservation training, and tourism activities.
Our sanctuary does not receive any funding for operational costs, it is funded solely by the participants' fees.
The reality is that our nature sanctuary is far away from "civilization" and anything that needs to be brought in or taken out travels a minimum of 100km. To able to continue with our conservation efforts, we ask our volunteers and interns to pay a fee that covers the cost of food, fuel, and safety equipment for that person's stay. The fee is less than what an independent backpacker would spend while travelling cheaply in New Zealand for the same amount of time.
Our organization spends no money on administration costs and 100% of the proceeds go back into conservation, infrastructure improvement, or operating costs. We created an environment in which you receive training and learn valuable skills while contributing towards our common goal of protecting the forest and the birds. In addition, you will have experiences that many people visiting or living in New Zealand never get to have: accessing amazing forests closed to the public, seeing kiwi in the wild, working in a forest where the rare kokako lives, or bonding with the locals in an area off the beaten track.
Put another way: the fee covers three meals a day, accommodation, and transportation while with us — the same costs you would carry doing an internship in any other city. The professional training, dedicated mentoring, skills development plan, university documentation, and use of field equipment worth thousands of dollars are provided at no additional charge.
You can check availability and make a reservation directly on our Reservations page.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award, University practical work, and Research projects
Previous volunteers have used their time at Pupu Rangi to complete their Service section of the Duke of Edinburgh Award, to complete a work semester abroad, or write a thesis for their Bachelor Degree. Should you want to complete such work, please contact us with your requirements and we will ensure that you have our support.
If you are looking for a longer, more structured program with dedicated mentoring and a personal development plan, take a look at our conservation internship.
Meals
Meals will be provided three times a day. After a long day in the forest, there is nothing better than a delicious meal savoured while watching the sunset. The menu includes muesli in the morning, sandwiches/wraps or leftovers for lunch, and for dinner: stir-fry, homemade hummus and falafel, organic burgers, rösti, tika masala, dahl, couscous, chili con or sin carne, pancakes, and the occasional apple crumble.
If you do not know how to cook, you will learn. Everyone contributes to the meal preparation and by the end of your stay you would be able to cook a delicious dinner for ten people.
We cater to most dietary requirements (vegetarian, gluten free) if we are told beforehand. Black tea, hot chocolate, and instant coffee are included and available throughout the day. For snacking outside of the scheduled meals, please bring your own snacks, special food, or drinks. We will not be able to keep them in the fridge, but we could store them in the pantry for you.
The cleaning of the kitchen, washing of the dishes, etc... is part of the daily tasks that each participant has to complete.
Vegan Diet
Our daily activities are physically demanding. Due to our off-grid, remote location, we are not able to provide the variety and quantity of plant-based food required for someone heading deep into the forest each day. We are therefore unable to accommodate participants on a vegan diet.
We can accommodate vegetarian (must eat eggs and cheese), gluten-free, and most other dietary requirements.
Alcohol and Drugs
The Pupu Rangi Nature Sanctuary is an alcohol and drug free zone. You are not allowed to consume or bring alcohol or drugs into the sanctuary.
Smoking
We cannot accommodate participants that smoke due to the risk of fire to the forest. This includes e-cigarettes.
Facilities
Our facilities are basic but functional. The main facilities — kitchen, showers, dining room — are housed in recycled shipping containers. We are fully off the grid and try to use as few resources as possible. We reuse as much second-hand material as we can find.
Accommodation
The accommodation consists of insulated cabins fitted with two bunk beds (four beds per cabin). There is a separate cabin for males, one for females, and one reserved for couples.
Should you require a special accommodation arrangement, please get in touch before making a reservation.
Electricity and Water
We do not have mains electricity or running water. Hot showers are available daily or every other day depending on rainfall. It is best to assume you will be able to charge your phone once a week.
Phone and Internet — Digital Detox
Strong mobile phone signal (Telecom, Vodafone, Skinny, 2degrees) is available in the common area. There is no reliable signal in the forest and no free Wi-Fi at the sanctuary.
To allow you to immerse in the forest experience and to be part of the team, mobile phone use (except for taking photos) is not allowed between 8am and 4pm, or during meals. If you do not think you can live with these rules, please do not join our program.
Health and Safety
We work in groups and do not perform dangerous activities. All participants are trained in compass and radio use, ensuring continuous contact in the field. Staff are trained in first aid and first aid kits are available.
The New Zealand forest is very safe — there are no dangerous animals or reptiles.
The closest medical clinic is in Dargaville, about 50 minutes and 50 km away. The closest hospital with an emergency room is in Whangarei, about 100 minutes and 100 km away.
Vaccinations
The CDC and WHO recommend the following vaccinations for New Zealand: hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), chickenpox, shingles.
Insurance
You need medical travel insurance to participate. You will also need liability travel insurance with a minimum coverage of USD 5,000 — you will be working with equipment worth thousands of dollars and will be asked to cover the cost of any damage.
An example of a company offering affordable travel insurance can be found at World Nomads. If you are a UK resident this company offers health insurance and liability insurance. For most US and Canada based travellers their home insurance might cover liability insurance while abroad, check with your insurance company.
What to Bring
The weather can be chilly and wet even in midsummer. You will need:
- wet weather gear (rain pants, rain jacket, solid hiking boots and rubber boots)
- warm clothes for cool nights
- enough socks and underwear for at least two weeks
- hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen
- a torch/headlamp to allow you to move around at night - your mobile phone will not be enough
- a warm sleeping bag (not just a summer bag) - we can lend you a second hand one if you wish to travel with less luggage
- notebook and pen — there is a lot to learn and remember
You might also consider:
- insect repellent for the occasional sandfly
- swimming gear
- some snacks or drinks
Transportation and Pick-up
If you do not have your own vehicle, we will pick you up in Dargaville on Monday at 4:30pm. To reach the meeting point you will have to depart Auckland at 7:30am on Monday morning, therefore you will need to ensure that you arrive in New Zealand at least the Sunday before - earlier is recommended to recover from jetlag. At the end of the program we will drop you off in Dargaville on Monday morning at 7am.
More detailed information about reaching the meeting point, meals, and what to bring will be provided after you make a reservation.
Conservation intern using telemetry to monitor native species
Intern assisting with a health check on a native bird — a product of the fieldwork, not its purpose