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Step 1
Contact your doctor and arrange to have all the necessary vaccinations for working with primates and traveling abroad. You can infect a chimp and he can infect you, so you need to be vaccinated before volunteering. Once you get your shots, have your doctor issue a yellow travel certificate that you can carry inside your passport as proof of vaccination.
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Step 2
Visit a sanctuary in Uganda called Ngamba Island (see Resources below). They try to keep the chimps as wild as possible by letting them live in nature by day, and bringing them into cages at night. If you want the experience but are not that interested in volunteering, you can pay to spend the weekend at the island, foraging with the chimps and sleeping in modern tents.
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Step 3
If you speak French, contact "In Defense of Animals" in Cameroon (see Resources below). Direct access to the chimps is limited, but you can volunteer to fundraise, educate and clean.
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Step 4
Consider volunteering in the USA with a local sanctuary. Chimp Haven in Louisiana is one such place (see Resources below).
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Step 5
Follow the lead of Jane Goodall, the woman who first brought chimpanzee awareness to mainstream audiences. There are several institutes in the US and abroad-one being in Africa. For volunteer opportunities go to the Jane Goodall organization's website (see Resources below).
