I’ve just spent a month with the NGO 'Andaman Discoveries' and it was the best month of my life!! They're based on the North Andaman Coast and do eco-tourism with villages that were destroyed by the tsunami. In fact it was the villagers who came up with the idea after having lost everything and realising they were in need of finding a new way of income and sustainable livelihood. I did a mixture of things, from jungle hikes and snorkeling off deserted islands, cooking with my home-stay family, orchid and mangrove conservation, soap making and batik work shops etc etc... Then I spent two weeks teaching in the local school. They do so much other cool stuff as well but it depends how long you want to stay and what you decide to do with your time. You can stay for anything from one day to a few months, unlike some other organizations like this which make you commit for a long time an pay a shed-load!! That’s another great thing is you get to choose your itinerary yourself so you can have as much work and as much play time as you want!! It's like nothing I've ever done before. I really felt like a part of the community- they take you in as one of their own and the interaction is like you'd never get in any of the popular destinations like Phuket and some of the other islands. I'm going back next year to teach again and revisit the villagers. I really recommend it for anyone really- single travelers or groups, families...apparently the youngest volun-tourist they ever had was 7, and the eldest who is coming back for a second time is 73!! So if you’re specifically looking for something interesting to do this holiday, or you’re in Thailand and fancy a change for a day or two, go see them coz they’re wicked! Everyone should do it, it's the best thing ever!!

Interesting organization. You need a visa to do work in Thailand, even volunteer work. Andaman Discoveries charges its "volunteers" to volunteer...I always think there is something a bit dubious about paying an organization for the option to do work...

KimJapan: good point!

Also this is the OP one and only post.

Yeh I totally know what you are both saying, but as this is eco-tourism and an initiatie devised by the villagers themselves, the reason the volunteers pay is to cover the cost of the home-stay and food as well as activities that the villagers do with them. In this way, ALL income from volun-tourists goes to the villagers, therefore providing them with a livelihood to replace those which were lost in the tsunami. I promise you its all legit! The org has won awards for their work. Hope that clears things up a bit...I too am v sceptical of a lot of these projects that charge people to 'volunteer'.

OK...this organization offers all kinds of tours. They are clearly a tour operator. You can not legitimately volunteer in Thailand on a tourist visa. I've seen lots of spam about this company on other forums.

You have apparently been misled as well. On the Andaman Discoveries website, they say they are a tour company, and they also continue work of the North Andaman Tsunami Relief. They say that 80% of the money goes back to the villagers, not 100%. (and how much of that is spent by villagers to host the guests?) That's more take off the top than an agent gets for booking a hotel or tour for you...
http://www.andamandiscoveries.com/about/about.html

Andaman Discoveries is a for profit tour company. Good for them for getting some money to those who need it...and taking their 20% for doing so. There are a multitude of similar schemes out there. Beware of all of them.

If you want to volunteer, please do...it's is a wonderful thing to do. But do it through a reputable NGO or NPO, get the proper visa (Non-immigrant O), and avoid the tour company who tries to make you feel good about the money you spend with them by misleading you to believe that you are volunteering (sure, you may do work, but better than volunteering, you pay the organizer for giving your labor...great scheme for the organizer, free labor plus money!).

sallybrit sounds suspiciously like a marketing exec trying to be cool.

My nose is twitching.

As I said on another thread "I smell a rat."

This is just another example of a tour operator jumping on the eco/voluntourism bandwagon. simple. Most NGOs will advise people to steer well clear of such organisations who provide little real benefit to the people they purport to help. If you want to volunteer go to a legit NGO and ask about short term volunteering.