Volunteer Opportunities In Africa

This project aims to assist the children in the Red Hill pre-schools, in the out-skirts of Cape Town. The schools have a severe lack of facilities. Educational materials are drawn from containers that are donations to community. You will find that most of the schools have meagre and ill-equipped facilities; but a wealth of children with a desire to learn. As a volunteer, you will assist teachers and contribute to our efforts to provide our children with a better education. In addition, you will have the opportunity to organize your own classes.

As a volunteer you will assist the schools during the mornings with the following tasks:

Assistant teaching: Provide individual attention and assistance to children during lessons
Help with crafts, painting, reading and games
Organize special needs classes for children who have not been able to keep up with the pace of the regular classes
Help with meal distribution: Every child receives a meal, which is often their only meal that day.
Help clean, maintain and even refurbish the classrooms, most of which are quite run down.
After having spent the morning at one of the schools, you will assist the local community services in the afternoon. You will rotate between the following community projects:

Building and painting schools: Schools in Red Hill deal with a great shortage of classrooms and facilities. They are often dilapidated and ill-equipped. As a volunteer, you will help repair fences and windows and re-build and paint classrooms in order to provide and safer and more attractive educational environment.

Educare Centre: Volunteers will assist teachers with after school care by playing games, reading (both one-on-one with the kids and to the group during story time), and other activities such as art, music, and dancing.

Primary School extra-mural involvement: The school principal is very keen to get the sports' programme up and running. Wednesday afternoons are now dedicated for that purpose. Volunteers can help coach sports' activities including volleyball, netball, soccer and rugby.

Masiphumelele Library: Masiphumelele has a library with wonderful resources and facilities. The library offers many services to the community and volunteers are often slotted into existing programs offered at the library. These include arts and crafts, puzzles, games, literacy, one on one reading, homework club and math club.

Volunteer in Zimbabwe - Volunteer to work up close with lions against the backdrop of the majestic Victoria Falls. Be involved in the research of lions' behaviour and participate in the world's only programme for their release into the wild. You will also volunteer to assist the National Park's rangers and to teach about conservation in the local school.

Over 200,000 lions used to roam the African continent, as recently as 1975. The latest estimates show an 80 - 90% population decline in the last 30 years. The end objective of the Victoria Falls' lion project, is the reintroduction of the offspring of captive-bred lions into the wild by means of a four-stage process, which you, as a volunteer, will learn more about during your involvement with the project.

This breeding and rehabilitation project is the World's first and is supported by leading ecologists in this field. We invite volunteers to walk and to work with African lions and to be involved in the in-depth research and data-collection activities. Spending time with the lions in the wild each day is an essential part of the cub's upbringing. If the cubs are to be released into the wild, it is important that they spend time in that environment. They need to adapt to it, learn from it, understand, observe, feel and smell the wild.

As a volunteer you will also work with the CCWA research team and National Parks' rangers on any number of conservation activities and teach about conservation in a local school.

The involvement of volunteers on the Project is paramount to achieving our aims on all fronts. You can expect days to be long: but you will also be able to end each day knowing that you have given something back to Africa; having made a difference to the animals and people that you come into contact with.

Your primary task whilst on placement will be to assist management and their team of guides, handlers and scouts in all aspects of care for the animals in their charge; giving them the opportunities to develop their natural instincts in preparation for their release into the next stage of the program.

Research is a significant part of your role; collecting data not only on the development of the lions, but also joining our research team in the Zambezi & Victoria Falls National Parks.

You will also help us with our various community programs that may include conservation or health education as well as a number of other projects that you will told about on arrival.

Volunteer in Namibia - This wildlife sanctuary gives volunteers the chance to care for and handle African wildlife in the gorgeous desert landscape of Namibia. Over the past 30 years, this family-run sanctuary has been involved in the care, rehabilitation and housing of orphaned, injured, neglected, abused and abandoned wild animals, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, meerkats, baboons, various antelope species and other animals.
Wild animals are often regarded as "problematic animals" in Namibia due to the considerable damage that they cause to livestock and agriculture. Local farmers often resort to shooting and trapping to reduce the problem. The sanctuary works to educate local farmers, provide positive solutions to the ongoing contention between farmers and wild animals, and give a safe haven to vulnerable wildlife. Furthermore, the sanctuary has established a trusting bond with the indigenous bushmen in the surrounding region (including the aptitude to speak their native language) and draws upon this understanding of their customs and needs to help promote conservation goals.
This volunteer project offers the opportunity to get some real hands-on experience assisting many different species of Namibia's wildlife. The sanctuary operates a guiding principle of never turning an animal away so if you want to contribute during your stay in Namibia, this is an ideal project with which to get involved. Not a week passes without a new occupant arriving, thus you will have many opportunities for hands-on work with animals.

Volunteer in South Africa - Nestled in a picturesque location at the base of the Drakensberg ridge in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, this center has become a refuge for the rehabilitation and care of abandoned, injured and poisoned wildlife.
Wildlife is brought to the center from all corners of South Africa, and once healthy enough are re-introduced into their natural environments. Those animals that cannot be returned to the wild due to the nature and extent of their injuries are cared for at the center and are used to educate the many people who visit us each year, both from across South Africa and abroad.
Another central role of the reserve is breeding. The center has successfully bred and released several species into wild including the endangered crowned eagle, the serval and many others.
These projects are run by a non-profit organization and rely solely on the support of the public.
As a participant in this program you will be occupied with many facets of conservation and animal care. You will also work and live with volunteers and professional staff from around the globe.

Volunteer In Kenya - This program was founded by a private organization in 1997 whose goal it is to conserve various primate species in the region of Kwale. Particular attention is given to the endangered colobus monkey whose numbers only reach into the thousands. Kwale is considered as one of the top 25 global 'biodiversity hotspots' (an area containing a large variety of plants and animals), therefore the preservation of this habitat is imperative. However, because of unrestrained and rapid economic growth the natural resources of this region are under pressure. As a volunteer in this project, you can take an active part in the conservation and study of primates and their natural habitat, while enjoying the natural attractions and amazing beaches of this area. You will live with other volunteers and staff from around the world, meet local people and experience new cultures.

There is a variety of projects underway at any one time. As a volunteer in this project, you will be allocated specific duties depending upon your relative experience and current openings, however all volunteers should be willing to assist with any aspect of the work when required and to change focus if the need arises. Some of the volunteer duties in include:
Facilitate animal welfare, husbandry, rescues and releases;
-Work with local communities in education, wildlife conflict and habitat restoration;
-Work alongside Kenyans fixing monkey bridges, de-snaring, maintaining monkey cages;
-Carry out valued primate consensus and forest health surveys;

Volunteer in South Africa - In order to preserve indigenous plant life and wildlife, it is essential to get local communities involved. The current local educational curriculum lacks a detailed photographic database of the wildlife in the St. Lucia area. In association with the Green Vision Foundation, this project aims to create such a database which will be used for educational purposes. As a volunteer, you will contribute to this goal by taking photographs of as many wildlife species as possible. You will photograph large animals such as elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard, as well as smaller creatures such as chameleons, insects, and some of the 521 bird species that call this World Heritage Site home. The best pictures will be included in our database. The project is an exciting chance to encounter some of Africa's most exquisite wildlife on a daily basis, improve your photography skills, and contribute to conservation efforts.
To enhance awareness of UNESCO's objectives and methods, as well as conservational efforts in general, it is vital to involve and educate St. Lucia's local community. As a volunteer, you will visit local schools giving classes and workshops about the reasons for, and methods of conservation. You will also, along with a conservation education syllabus, use our photography database to do this. In addition, you may take local school children and orphans into the bush on field trips. By experiencing the World Heritage Site and its wildlife for themselves, the children will learn to appreciate the area they live in, and get a better understanding of why these efforts are being made. It will also provide them with a fun and relaxing day out; something they don't experience often!