Practical Information on wildlife volunteering

Accommodation and Food

The accommodation is basic. Most volunteers will share a twin room, with separate shared ablutions and a living/eating area. We have electricity, running warm water and flush toilets. A bed, mattress and bed linen is provided. You will be responsible for keeping the camp clean and tidy. There is always an outside seating area / barbecue area where you can sit by the fire under the stars. (With the absence of artificial light, stargazing at the Reserves is phenomenal!) Because we live on the Reserve itself and don’t have fencing around the camp, you can expect visits from antelope, monkeys and baboons during the day, and hyaena, elephant, bushbabies etc at night. 

(For this reason please remember it is very important to always use torches when moving around the accommodation at night, and to never leave the immediate camp area on foot when it is dark!)

At every camp we have a communal kitchen where volunteers prepare their own meals. You’ll have an oven, stovetop, microwave, solar cooker and of course a fire to cook on. Most of the time volunteers take turns preparing meals, or one person becomes the "chef" and the others help with chopping, peeling and cleaning. Sometimes volunteers have different tastes and cook separately, which is also fine. We take volunteers into town to shop for groceries every two weeks. We then stock up on everything you will need. As far as possible we try to be environmentally friendly, eg. we don’t buy tinned tuna and we try to use game venison, instead of commercially produced beef and chicken, as much as possible.

Basic food items are provided for within our food budget, enough for 3 healthy meals a day, including fruit. Any additional ‘luxury’ items can be purchased by yourselves should you want them.

The drinking water at the camps is of good quality, but does not always taste great. You can purchase bottled water at your own expense if you prefer.

Maps & Getting There

Getting here is easy. The simplest way is to fly to Johannesburg and then get a connecting domestic flight to Richards Bay where it can be arranged, for a fee of ZAR1000, for a Wildlife ACT project member or reliable transport service to pick you up and drop you off again. For flights into Richards Bay visit www.flysaa.com.

These are the flights to book:

the one arriving in Richards Bay at 11:25am on the Monday of your arrival, and the departing flight leaving Richards Bay at 11:50am on the Monday of your departure.

If you arrive in Johannesburg or Richards Bay on an earlier date, you can stay over as long as needed until pick-up on Monday. If you need ideas of places to stay in Johannesburg or Richards Bay, contact us and we’ll gladly help you out.

A second and cheaper option is to travel by coach and leave from Durban Station on a Monday morning to arrive at Richards Bay by 11:50am. Check out the details here, where once again a Wildlife ACT project member or transport service can be arranged to pick you up at the drop-off point (the McDonalds) for a fee of ZAR1000.

Other Activities

The area we work in is within easy reach of the coast where you can get involved with a wide variety of exciting leisure activities. Since only the occasional Sunday is considered a free day during your placement, we would recommend that you plan to spend some extra time here before or after your placement if you are thinking of taking in some of these activities. Below you will find a list of some of the available activities in the area (please note: as these activities are not associated with our Wildlife ACT monitoring work, you will be responsible for arranging your own transport and  accommodation should you choose to participate in them).

• Whale & Dolphin watching (seasonal)
• Turtle tours (seasonal)
• Deep sea fishing (all year)
• Scuba diving (all year) or a 5-day Open water course.
• Visit to local fossil sites
• Hiking (all year)
• Surfing lessons
• Surf board hire
• Horse riding
• Kayaking
• Tiger fishing
• Birding/River cruise