Samantha Barnes was fresh out of high school when she decided to take a gap year ahead of a university degree in conservation. Her path led to Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo – tropical, exotic and well off the beaten track. She volunteered at a wildlife sanctuary for a month in late 2019, before returning in January 2020 for another stint.
Then the pandemic took hold of the world. Was she stuck or would she stay?
“It was a bit of both,” admits Sam, who has now spent three and a half years at the
