Volunteer in South Africa

  South Africa

Gauteng Province

Durations of Program: 5-8 weeks and 9-12 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks

Description: Work in a wildlife and environmental conservation program located in Gauteng Province, 45 minutes from Johannesburg. The project area is approximately 5,000 hectares, located on a rare veld (bush) type called bankenveld, recognized for its high biodiversity. Less than 1% of bankenveld is conserved under formal government programs, so this private conservation initiative is of critical importance.

Within the conservancy is a 400 hectare area set aside as the game reserve, home to a dozen or more species of native African wildlife and over 150 species of birds. The long term goal is for the game reserve is to expand to incorporate the entire conservancy.

Although there are some seasonal variations, you will most likely be involved in the following activities:

    * Reserve Maintenance: fencing work (construction, clearing, painting), fence inspections, veld evaluations, exotic plant management, water testing, and land reclamation projects (e.g. management of soil erosion and bush encroachment).
    * Wildlife conservation work: participation in game management, including game assessment and reporting, and anti-poaching practises, and collecting, transporting and distributing meat donations (for vulture community).
    * Learning program: Aside from providing on-the-job training, we run three informal workshops which cover basic conservation principles, as well as veld and game management. We'll show you how to track game, and conduct a game count too (providing sufficient volunteer numbers). Please note that the SA reserve program has a varied amount of volunteers at any given time. If volunteers prefer to work with a larger group of volunteers rather than a smaller amount then you would be given the option to switch to another GVN program 8 weeks before you are meant to volunteer.

The type of work which is seasonal is as follows:

    * Block burning (June - August; September - November; weather conditions dependent).
    * Fighting veld fires (June - August)
    * Bird field studies (September - March)

For 2008 you can apply for a placement in October or November. For 2009, the available months are March, April, June, July, August, October, and November. Volunteers start the program on the 1st of the month - irrespective of the day of the week - and programs run for 28 days. Volunteers work five days a week (approximately 7 hours a day) and get the weekends off.

Volunteers are granted one long weekend (4 days) each month to enable them to travel further afield. Volunteers take this opportunity to travel to some of the game parks (e.g. Kruger or Pilanesburg), into other provinces or the kingdoms within South Africa (e.g. Kwazulu-Natal or Swaziland) or into neighbouring countries (e.g. Mozambique).

Qualifications: As a volunteer on this program, you must be in good physical condition and able to walk reasonable distances, 18 years old or over, available for a minimum of four weeks (longer stays are most welcome), able to speak English, and able to work with a minimum of supervision.

Cost in US$: See Website

Experience Required: no

Age Range: 18 years and older

This Program is open to American, Australian, Canadian and Kiwi Participants. This Program is also open to Couples and Individuals

Participants Travel to South Africa Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups of 6

Application Process Involves:

• Online Application plus Application Assessment

Post Services Include:

• Alumni Network

Global Volunteer Network's Mission Statement: The Global Volunteer Network (GVN) is a private, Non Government Organization (NGO) based in Wellington, New Zealand. Our incorporation number is WN/1194442. Our vision is to support the work of local community organizations in developing countries through the placement of international volunteers. We believe that local communities are in the best position to determine their needs, and we provide volunteers to help them achieve their goals.

Year Founded: 2000