How to get here:-

The Rehabilitation site and Center for Conservation Education and Fund-Raising are both located in Khao Pra Theaw Non-Hunting Area at the Bang Pae Waterfall, Phuket, Thailand. It is about 9 km. east from the Heroines Monument. You can visit our center and see some of the gibbons from the veiwing platform. The Center open daily 9am to 4.30pm. We do not charge an entrance fee.

We are around 20 km away from Phuket International Airport, from here you should follow the sign to the Heroines monument and turn left onto road 4027. Follow the road until you see the sign for Bang Pae Waterfall, where you turn left and drive for 1 km to the entrance of the park. You will have to pay an entrance fee to the National Park Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department. Once inside the park a car park is provided and you can walk from here to our center.

Road to Bang Pae Waterfall

The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) was set up in 1992 by Mr Noppadol Preuksawan, the chief of the Royal Forest Department in Phuket at that time, Mr. Thavrn Sri-Oon, Bang Pae Sub-Station chief, the Asian Wildlife Fund and an American Zoologist called Terrance Dillon Morin. In 1994 the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WARF) started to support the project, we are now a research division of WARF.

TD Morrin

1. Develop a method to successfully rehabilitate white-handed gibbons back into their natural habitat: The GRP has been testing methods of reintroduction for the past 17 years. Every reintroduction is a learning opportunity. Reintroductions remain a relatively new division of conservation movement as well as uncharted terrain for research.

2. End the demand for the illegal use of gibbons as tourists attractions and as pets: Through the education of visitors at our Center for Conservation Education and Fund-Raising, the GRP hopes to create awareness of the plight of the captive gibbon and to the role that tourism plays in the demand for baby gibbons.

3. To repopulate the last remaining rainforest in Phuket-Khao Pra Theaw Non-Hunting Area (National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department): The gibbons were poached to extinction in Phuket over 30 years ago. The GRP hopes to repopulate this forest thought the rehabilitation for gibbons that were previously being help in captivity.

4. To create awareness of the importance of conservation of the environment: The GRP is also a effective resource for teaching the local community about the importance of conservation. The GRP runs education programs to enable local villagers and children to see the forest and its animals as an essential life supporting source.

5. Provide the opportunity for volunteers to study the white-handed gibbon: volunteers come from all over the world to study the white-handed gibbon. The gibbons at the GRP allow for the many forms of research, such as reintroduction methods, behavioural research of both captive and released gibbons, and research into disease of gibbons in captivity. However, As a foreign researcher wishing to undertake any category of research at any WARF project site, two requirements from the standard Nataional Reseacher Council of Thailand B.E 2525 must be met. Only once these steps are completed, can WARF consider granting permission for field work to be carried out. Read Research Condition in our volunteer page for more information.

How to get here:-

Road to Bang Pae Waterfall

TD Morrin

White-handed Gibbon