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The Volunteer Project
The owners of the rehabilitation centre have been involved in primate rehabilitation since 1992 and are the “Vervet Monkey Specialists”, having been approved by the South African Government. This is a family run project where you will assist and live on site at the centre.
During your time on the project, you will mainly be focusing your time at the Centre, caring for the animals and other species that are in your care. However, if you choose to volunteer for at least 4 weeks, you will also experience some time at the monkey release sites, working towards placing specific troops back into their natural habitat and researching those already released.
If you would like to work with local communities, especially in schools teaching young children from underprivileged backgrounds, you could opt to spend a week or more volunteering on the community projects available.
The Monkey Rehabilitation Centre
This is not just a rehabilitation centre for monkeys, but for other animal and bird species as well, such as baboons, owls, snakes, caracal, bird and antelope species and crocodiles etc. Any injured/orphaned animals get treated at the centre and when they have recovered, or are big enough, are released back into their natural habitat with the help of volunteers: no animals are kept for display.
You will receive a lot of direction and tuition from the programme manager and his team, who have dedicated their lives to the centre and live on site, providing excellent support and assistance to both the volunteers and the primates in their care.
You will gain an important insight into African wildlife rehabilitation and conservation, whilst also gaining a unique opportunity to work hands on with the Vervet monkeys on a daily basis and with other wildlife species of Africa. At the centre, you will be taking part in some of the following activities:
- Cleaning enclosures and the small clinic
- Collecting food from the farmers (ideal opportunity to meet SA farmers communities)
- Preparing food and feeding the Monkeys and other animals
- Carrying out small medical procedures and operations on the animals, with the assistance of project staff
- Bathing animals
- Bottle-feeding any baby animals present at the centre
- Fixing or building new enclosures
- Darting and capturing monkeys for release
The Centre has also devised a new scheme where Volunteers can adopt their favourite animal at the centre if they like, before their return home. By adopting these animals, you will be helping to safeguard their future.
Monkey Release Sites
During your time on this programme, providing you are there for at least 4 weeks, you should also have the opportunity to visit the release sites of the Vervet Monkeys, which are currently about 300kms from the Centre. Please note however that this work depends entirely on the releases and various stages of the programme.
This project is really focused on the conservation and rehabilitation of its animal residents and is currently going for the Guinness book of records for how many monkeys they can re-release back into the wild. If you do visit the sites, you will go with some of your fellow volunteers and will spend between 3 and 5 days there, carrying out important pre- release and post-release work.
This work includes:
- Clearing future release sites
- Analysing and collecting data on local plant species to make sure release sites are suitable and safe for the monkeys
- Erecting fences, inserting electrical wires and making the compounds suitable for releases
- Pre-release and post-release monitoring of the previously released monkey troops and collecting data on their behavioural patterns and reintegration
Please Note: This work is hot, hard and physically demanding, though extremely worthwhile. However, most volunteers love the change, getting away from the centre for a few days to experience another area of South Africa and helping out on such a vital conservation programme.
You are expected to work as a team with motivation and enthusiasm and to use your initiative at times. There are many volunteers and you will not be ‘hand-held’ throughout your work placement; you will be given responsibility and trusted to use this wisely.
You should keep an open mind; when working with wildlife, things are unpredictable and each day can vary considerably.
The Community Project
The Rehabilitation Centre has been working for a long time now within a nearby local community, developing relationships in line with community development initiatives. Because the project is active in environmental education and involved with different community upliftment programmes, you will have the opportunity during your stay to spend some of your time on a local community project if you like, for at least a week or longer. Both the wild animals at the centre and the school children take up a good few days to get used to you and get to know you, so you must therefore focus on the wildlife or community work for at least a week or more!
The main focus of the community assistance and upliftment is on teaching others the necessary skills and self-support mechanisms to improve their lives and benefit the community in a number of areas, such as:
Teaching in either a rural or urban school: Teaching anything from languages, English, maths, social health, to art and drama, music and sports. You will also help to assist with the maintenance of school buildings and facilities. The children here all come from deprived backgrounds and the schools are extremely under resourced compared with Western standards, so your help is greatly appreciated in caring for the children, and bringing your skills into the classrooms.
PRIESKA Project: This is a new project where volunteers’ ideas and suggestions will be much appreciated, as they strive to establish an 80-student school, nursery/crèche and orphanage. The main focus is on youth programmes.
The Rural Village Project: This is a community development programme involved with training, teaching, and developing artistic skills in manufacturing beadwork, pottery, traditional jewellery and utensils (making use of recycled materials). This is an ideal opportunity for volunteers to be creative in giving their artistic ideas and seeing it manufactured in an ethnic way. You may also assist with environmental health issues, focussing on community hygiene, for example building toilets and washing hands etc.
What makes this a unique experience is that you will be working with sexually & mentally abused children. You will be assisting with an agricultural project and training the community to be self supportive in manufacturing, marketing and selling their various products. You will also be educating the community on sustainable natural resources in order for the entire community to benefit.
If you do wish to partake in some of the community work during your placement, please talk to us at the time of booking and we can request it with the project.
Please Note: All the community projects are approximately 30-50 minutes by car from the Rehab Centre.
Project Support
Throughout your stay in South Africa you will have the support and guidance of the project directors, Bob and Lynne and their team who live on the project site. They will provide you with competent assistance and help you with any questions or advice you may need during your stay.
The staff will be on hand throughout the day to ensure your comfort and safety. In addition, we will provide you with a 24 hour emergency contact number before you depart, so that you can contact one of our UK staff at any time should you need to.
Project Orientation
On your arrival in Phalaborwa Airport in South Africa, you will be met by our project staff and transferred to the project to meet your fellow volunteers and other members of staff. You will spend this first day acclimatising to your new surroundings and getting to know everyone, including the house pets and all of the animals at the centre.
In the evening you will have a really big group dinner, cooked by Lynne and her very friendly kitchen staff and also receive a briefing of your programme, using this opportunity to ask lots of questions and get to know the programme in greater depth.
The following day, you will begin your project work, with some assistance on site. However, if you do have any questions about what to do, just ask.
Accommodation and Meals at the Project
Accommodation and Meals at Monkey Rehabilitation Centre
There are 2 big dormitories at the Centre, one sleeping 7 and the other 9, with an additional hut sleeping 4 – 6 and a 2 bed hut. This creates a great community feel at the project, though there are plenty of quiet spaces for relaxing during the day.
The volunteer camp has open-air showers (hot and cold) and western style toilet facilities. The camp has a fantastic rustic feel, with an open cooking/kitchen area and seating where you can relax at the end of the day. When groups are big, sexes are usually split up; otherwise you can choose to have mixed sleeping. Couples can also be accommodated together (depending on availability) and sleeping outside can also be arranged. The buildings are designed to give you a real rustic African experience.
There is also a beautiful river close to your accommodation, which provides an extremely peaceful and relaxing setting. They have a zip-line there too for anyone looking for a quick adrenalin fix. The river is clear and perfect for swimming in, or you can just use the swimming pool close by.
Breakfast is served at 09h00 and usually consists of toast and cereals etc. Lunch is prepared in the main kitchen and can be taken down to the dorm area or next to the pool. Dinner is served at 18h00 and is extremely wholesome, filling, home-cooked meals, catering for both meat eaters and vegetarians. You will also have access to fridges and free tea and coffee throughout your stay – vital for those early morning starts!
Accommodation and Meals at the Release Site
The camp you are staying in is a fantastic rustic experience, where you will be cooking outside on the fires under the stars, sleeping in large and comfortable ‘army-style’ tents and drinking in the treetop bar (only at Entabeni release site) in the evenings.
Volunteers love the change that this release site offers, allowing them a chance to get away from the centre and head out into the African bush for some back-to-basics camping. There is an excellent team spirit during this time, as you sit around the campfires at night.
You will receive three meals a day, prepared by yourself as part of a team at the camp by campfire and a few gas hobs. The meals will need to be filling due to the hard work you will be doing each day and lunches will either be a packed lunch, or eaten back at camp.
Accommodation and Meals on the Community Project
During your time at the community projects, you will be staying in one of two chalets, which can accommodate 2-4 people. These chalets have electricity and their own showers and toilet facilities and are located on the same premises as the Community project owners and coordinators.
At the Prieska project you will stay in a farmhouse inside the village under the supervision of the coordinators.
You will receive all of your meals each day on this project, prepared for you by your coordinator Ellanie and her staff. Please be prepared to take your own packed lunch each day to the project, if necessary.
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