Wildlife Awareness Centre:-

This Wildlife Awareness Centre is a registered Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre as well as being open to the public displaying many species of indigenous wild cats.  The main focus of the Awareness Centre is education and raising awareness of the status of various wild animals, especially predators and to provide information about non-lethal methods of predator management to livestock farmers. It works a lot with the children of disadvantaged communities around Plettenberg Bay to encourage empathy towards our African wildlife.

Depending on volunteer ability which will be assessed prior and when on site, the volunteer may be assigned a variety of tasks which includes the following:

Hands On Animal Handling – harness-teaching young animals, Crate Training, Enrichment, preparation of food, feeding, grooming, applying medications, rehabilitation work on wild animals which will to be released when recovered, feeding baby parrots, teaching basic disciplines to baby parrots.

Enclosure Management – building enclosures and feature designed to enrich the lives of the animals, cleaning, repairing, checking security of enclosure, conflict management between various species, and inter-relationships between animals in adjoining camps

Record Keeping – Updating information about the animals, their behaviour, treatments, medication, vitamin supplements, permitisation, and enrichment response.

Guided Tours – assisting in the process of taking visitors through the various enclosures to meet the animals

Awareness Centre Duties – Working in the Awareness Centre, supervising the audio-visual equipment, museum layout and Information displays.

Research – identification and labelling of the various fynbos and restios on the property, amphibian identification, and identification and labelling of the indigenous trees in the forest.

Rehabilitation of wild birds and animals – assisting in the acceptance, stabilising and care of wild animals under rehabilitation and preparation for release back into the wild.

A reasonable degree of fitness is required as there is a fair amount of walking which takes place during the day due to the spread out nature of the facility.  The enclosed facility is on 8 hectares, and the whole property is 46 hectares of fynbos and forest.

Animals that you will see at the centre.

African Wild Cats such as Cheetah, Caracal, Serval, African Wild Cats, Black-footed Cats

African Birds such as Marabou Storks, Blue Cranes, Indigenous Waterfowl, Owls, Raptors

African mammals such as Meerkats, Bat Eared Foxes, Porcupines

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West Coast Ostrich Ranch:-

For many years the West Coast Ostrich Show Ranch has been offering a unique experience to visitors of the Western Cape.  Situated only twenty minutes from Cape Town’s Waterfront, the family have built up a very popular tourist destination encompassing informative tours with a high quality, great value leather and curio shops and an ostrich meat orientated restaurant. 

The ranch stocks a variety of ostrich species and other birds, which include the West Coast white ostrich, dwarf ostriches, black-neck ostriches, emus, rheas and peacocks.  The highlight of the trail is the ostrich show, where each member of the tour has the opportunity to sit on a live ostrich. 

Duties

·  Assisting the permanent staff with any project or maintenance work

·  Some admin work may be required while you're there

·  Assisting with general duties in the restaurant, bar and kitchen, possibly helping to prepare meals

• Mucking out and tidying enclosures, and, when necessary, helping to expand existing enclosures or constructing new ones.
• If volunteer has experience working with horses there will be a possibility of helping to groom, feed and ride horses.

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Game Reserves:-

FG Private Game reserve is situated in Worcester.

Worcester is a beautiful historic town nestled in the bowl of a range of spectacular mountains, and is the economic- and service hub of the Breede Valley.  It is the most centrally situated town in the Cape Winelands District just an easy hour’s drive from Cape Town. 

This placement is definitely for nature loving enthusiasts who are willing to work hard and aren’t afraid of getting their hands dirty, but the rewards are well worth it. The reserve itself is a lovely and a very safe place to go walking after work.

Duties

• Food preparation for all the animals. 
• Mucking out and tidying enclosures.
• Collecting data on wildlife within the game reserve. 

• Helping with tours. 
• Helping unload supplies when they arrive.
• Some admin work may be required while you're there.
• General clearing of the reserve to eliminate alien vegetation.
• Also checking for and clearing any rubbish on the property, because litter can cause serious injuries to the animals
• Bush clearing and road construction
• Assisting the permanent staff with any project or maintenance work (i.e. painting fences, repairing etc) that may be needed while you're there.

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This excellent project with animals and birds of all ages is based in a beautiful game reserve and wildlife park. The sanctuary is home to many different wild and domestic animal species and about 150 different species of birds. Most of the animals were taken in because they had been badly injured, abused or orphaned, and some are 'unwanted pets'.

The owners boast the most incredible animal enclosures and aviaries in which they house the many species brought to them by the public. Nearly all the baby animals in the sanctuary are orphans that have been rescued from elsewhere and brought to the sanctuary for safety and, where possible, to be released back into their natural habitat in the wild.

Work on this project ranges from hands-on with the animals, to helping and guiding the tourists or assisting in the restaurant and bar. Some of your work will also include general chores in the Park itself. Briefly, your responsibilities will include some or all of the following:

Food preparation for all the animals and birds. You'll learn which animals eat what food, how to prepare it and how much to give them.

• Hand rearing of orphaned wildlife, including birds.
• Nearly all the baby animals in the sanctuary are orphans that have been rescued from elsewhere and brought to the sanctuary for safety and, where possible, to be released back into their natural habitat in the wild. These animals need lots of care and attention.
• Mucking out and tidying enclosures, and, when necessary, helping to expand existing enclosures or constructing new ones.
• Collecting data on wildlife within the game reserve section of the park. This will include, for example, monitoring the movements of wildlife and occasionally doing game counts.

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Cheetah Outreach Centre:-

Cheetah Outreach is located in Stellenbosch which is the heart of South Africa’s wine industry and it is a place of great beauty and culture that is steeped in South African tradition. The Stellenbosch Wine Route is arguably the country’s most famous and the Stellenbosch Wine of Origin area includes 106 cellars

Cheetah Outreach aims to promote the survival of the cheetah as a free-ranging species by working with our five ambassador cheetahs to encourage people to gain a greater understanding of these magnificent animals. 

The daily duties of volunteers include greeting visitors at the facility and informing them about our project and about the cheetah in general, food preparation, merchandise sales, cleaning (dishes, enclosures, shop floors, vehicles etc.). This will sometimes involve hard manual labour like fencing, carpentry, building gates, digging and all things needed for the general maintenance of our enclosures. The amount of time that a volunteer is able to spend with the cheetahs depends on the relationship that the volunteer builds with each of the cheetahs, and obviously this only comes with time and patience, and at the discretion of the handlers. 

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Centre for Dolphin Studies:-

Situated in Plettenberg Bay; you will never forget your first sight of this beautiful Bay. It’s astonishing. With a backdrop of majestic mountains stretching from horizon to horizon, the town lies to one side under a sunny sky and amongst a collage of green forest of fynbos that are separated from the blue of the Indian Ocean by endless white and sandy beaches.

Volunteers are involved in a number of activities whilst at the Centre.  By far the most popular, is joining them aboard our research vessel “Delphinus” to help gather data.  This work includes, recording sightings of whales and dolphins, video work, calculating dive times and group sizes.  Research trips are obviously weather dependent, on bad weather days volunteers assist us with the organization and administration of the Centre.  This involves the filing and categorizing of gathered data.  We also get called to a number of stranded whales, dolphins and seals, which we invite volunteers to attend.  Those who have the stomachs to handle it can, or course, join us when we carry out post mortems on stranded animals. 

Monkey World:-

Since opening this unique sanctuary in 1998 Monkey World is probably the top eco-tourism attraction on the Garden Route for very sound and sunny reasons.  Monkey World has captured the hearts of visitors in its effort to rehabilitate and free previously caged monkeys. 

Monkey World in Plettenberg Bay (The Garden Route) is a unique primate refuge.  The sanctuary provides the primates living there with a stable environment, one with permanence and one where there is definitely no exploitation.  At Monkey World care exceeds the regulations regarding animal welfare.  Monkey World is above all a place where primates are rehabilitated both physically and emotionally.  Part of this rehabilitation is the reintroduction to members of its own species through a process known as the “Eden Syndrome.” If the primate is to behave naturally in a free environment it must first be allowed to return to its natural primate state?

Conservation of Coastal Birds:-

The centre is located on the banks of Famingo Vlei with wonderful views of Table Mountain and Cape Town in the distance.  The Vlei is also home to an amazing variety of water birds including resident Pelicans, Cormorants and a colony of Pink Flamingos.  Close by are the popular beaches of Blouberg and Big Bay, famous for the “postcard” views of Table Mountain.

Please note that duties are issued based on the volunteer’s experience.  You will be very hands on as you are taught how to catch, hold, feed and tube feed these wonderful birds each with their own individual character.  You will also be involved with many other tasks such as:-

·  Scrub pens and keep entire Centre clean and hygienic

·  Assist in the Intensive Care Unit

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Animal Rescue Centre:-

The Centre is a non-profit, pro-life animal rescue society, since the beginning of the centre in 1999, they have re-homed over 4500 animals. The Centre works directly with local communities and informal settlements not only rescuing animals but also providing food parcels, veterinary treatment and animal care education for those that could not otherwise afford it. They rescue dogs, puppies, cats and kittens from abuse, cruelty, neglect and starvation and offer shelter to abandoned animals. They come from the townships, the freeways, and industrial and residential areas.

The Animal Rescue Centre is in the business of social improvement. They try to teach children compassion for animals. Studies have shown that where traumatised and sometimes brutalised children, teenagers and adults are taught to care for something more helpless than them, the cycle of abuse can be broken, and this is an area where the rescue centre is trying to have input.

The Centre relies on volunteers to keep the organization alive.

Your work here will take on many roles from feeding and caring for the many animals to working closely with staff as they go out into the local informal settlements to collect, return and vaccinate animals on site. There is also the opportunity to work along side the resident vet, who requires assistance daily; this is not for the faint hearted. On quieter days you can get involved with a program called ‘Open Paw’ which is a training programme to help the dogs understand basic commands helping with the adoption process.

Work and free time

Projects last for a minimum period of 28 days (all programmes start with a 5 day Cape Town city tour, not offered by any other operator, then the duration or your stay on your chosen project)) and a maximum of a year. You will work approximately 35 to 40 hours per week. Whether your free time is at weekends or during the week will depend on the project.

Accommodation and food

Most of the projects provide accommodation and some food if not all meals, you could be in a hostel or with a host family depending on which project you choose.

You will find that the cost of living in South Africa is cheap. If you need additional cash, it is possible to withdraw money using credit and debit cards (Maestro/Visa or Mastercard).

A volunteer's perspective

Extracts from volunteer letters.

"Hi Carol. Yes it was fantastic i enjoyed it so much, everything about the placement was perfect the people at the placement were more than welcoming. Its so good im going back in the new year."  Aaron. (AD Private Game Reserve)

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Hi Carol, South Africa was amazing and I miss it a lot, it feels like 6 months ago now and travelling on my own showed me how fun it can be....

Cape Town is such a fun a beautiful place. The tours were in so much detail, especially the Township Tour the guides are so passionate and some obviously have lived through the hardest times, and yet still so willing to rise above it and teach others about the history of district six.

The project is a wonderful place, the set up is great and all the animals are really fun to work with, I just wish I had longer with them. On my days off we got to go to Jeffries Bay, and I also hired a car with 2 girls to drive to the Tsitsikamma Mountains. Then the girls went bunjee jumping off Boulkrans bridge and I went on a horse Safari at Plettenburg bay.  Ali also took us to Addo Elephant Park which is beautiful, we saw lots of elephants which for me was one of the reasons why I wanted to got to South Africa.

African Dawn is a wonderful place. Many thanks for all your help getting me there especially when my flight got cancelled! Lucinda, (AD Private Game Reserve.)

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"It was great, we saw a lot of this wonderful country and we want to visit South Africa again. I miss Hensie and I hope to become a volunteer again." Marcel.

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"I miss South Africa A LOT! I wish I could return to P.E. today. It was an amazing time for me and I'll never forget what I experienced down there. And I  definitely will come back one day!" Britta.

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Visa requirements

We will provide you with information to assist you in obtaining a volunteer visa for South Africa.