Are you hungry for a South African experience while adding back to its community and wildlife?
We have just the fix for you. Come experience life in one of South Africa’s most beautiful cities. Get involved in a fun filled project while adding value to the community and wildlife. The project involves child care, a tour down the Beautiful Coastline called the: Garden Route and then helping out at Penguin rescue centre. With child care, the volunteers will be caring and teaching abandoned, orphaned and HIV positive disadvantaged children. It will be an experience of a lifetime as you will be giving a child a better chance at happiness. Child Care will happen for two weeks and after that you will head down the Garden Route where volunteers will get to visit our beautiful coastline.. The tour will take three days and after the three days you will get the opportunity to help at a Penguin Centre which is located at a very beautiful and safe village. At the Penguin Rescue Centre you will learn and experience how to do Research, Rehabilitate, Release and Rescue penguins. This is one fun filled adventure of a lifetime. You will also have free time where you will get to participate in other great and exciting adventure Cape Town has to offer. You could dive with shacks, hike through the stunning Cape region, sky dive, dive with sharks, bungee jump, horse ride, etc...The adventure is endless.
Trip
Highlights
- Experience first hand what it feels like to put a smile on a child’s face
- Lay foundations of hope and future to orphaned and HIV positive children
- Get to live and experience life in one of the most beautiful parts of Cape Town
- Get to make new friends with other volunteers in the programme
- Get to save threatened penguins from human impact, global warming, oil-spills and pesticides.
- Tour the Garden Route and get to go to an Elephant Sanctuary, Zip line over waterfalls and Mountains and bungee jump
Fast
Facts
| Project duration: | Min 1 weeks - 12 months : STARTS 1ST AND LAST WEDNESDAY OF EACH MONTH-EMAIL US FOR THE BEST DATE TO COME. |
| Project costs: | $2800 for 2 weeks To convert these prices above to your local currency please click here. Kindly note: All programs have a once off Registration fee charge of $250 USD on top of the Program Fee above. What do your fees pay for? Registration Fee- marketing costs, pre-departure information and liaising with our staff via email before you depart, administration costs, web-design costs, Internet access in the office for our staffs use to communicate with you. Program Fee – Airport pick up Mondays and Tuesdays, Welcome orientation to Cape Town and a free surf lesson (please request this at Orientation if you wish to have one), program supervision, accommodation and self catering kitchen during volunteer placement period, and In-country administration costs, housing, electricity, water, food for the surf school and Soccer Project. |
| Location of the project: | The Project starts in Cape town where you will help out at a Day care centre the we go down the Garden Route and end up in Cape St Francis a surfing town, over here you can teach or help out at the Penguin Sanctuary. |
| Arrival Airport: | Cape Town (airport code CPT) |
| Activities: | GARDEN ROUTE TRIP AND THEN STAYING IN CAPE ST FRANCIS |
| Working hours: | 8AM-1PM- Times may vary. |
| Getting to the project: | The beach is approximately 5 minutes walk from the volunteer Accommodation |
| Requirements: | Minimum age 18, a short motivational letter and pastors reference, bible school reference |
What’s
included?
| Accommodation: | Shared dormitory rooms in the volunteer house/ apartment |
| Food self catering: | Self-Catering allowance of R300 a week given to each person (+-$40 per week) (Volunteers usually shop and cook together) The shop is based 5-10 minutes’ walk away |
| Airport Pick-up: | Pick-ups Included on Mondays and Tuesdays Only- Orientation Day begins on a Wednesday |
| Training: | In-country orientation |
| Support: | Pre-departure help desk, local in-country team and 24 hour emergency support |
What’s
not included?
Flights, Insurance, Visas, Local Transport, extra activities on the garden route
Project
Overview
This project was established out of the love for children and nature but we also wanted to add an element of adventure and fun. There is a great need for love, care, teaching and support for a lot of children in our community. Out of that great need we partnered with a child care centre called Rainbow Educare Centre in an attempt to make and provide a better life for children and to also assist the centre in any way possible. The children at the centre are abandoned, orphaned and HIV positive. The centre accommodates about 65 children who have no parents to look up to. As a volunteer you will get an opportunity to impact a child’s life and leave him/her with a hope for the future.
But we also understand that because of these great need and challenges that our community faces, it can get really heavy and hard to take in, which is why we decided to add a little bit of fun and excitement to the project. We decided to add the Cape to Garden Route tour where the volunteer will get to visit the beautiful coastline. This will start on the second Friday of joining the project and volunteers will get to participate in a lot of optional extra activities. Details for the tour are as follows: (Details may vary according to how many volunteers are
Friday: at 10:00am sharp we depart Cape Town and head along the N2 past the 3rd oldest Town in Southern Africa, Swellendam. We finally reach the coastal Village of Wilderness at approximately 18:00pm. Here we will stay at the Beach House Backpackers which is just above the Golden Wilderness Beach under enchanting Milkwood trees. There is always a good vibe here with great Pizzas that you design yourself. In the evening we go check out the Friday night village market.
Saturday: We leave Wilderness strait after breakfast and head to Knysna (voted SA's Favourite town..) to view the Knysna Heads, a very beautiful piece of coastline where a massive lagoon enters the Indian Ocean between two massive headlands. We then head through the Knysan forest until we reach "the crags" where you can choose to either visit an Elephant sanctuary, Monkeyland or Birds of Eden (I have given a bit of detail below). From here it's onto Tsitsikamma where you will go Zip lining (if you wish) through the trees and over waterfalls (this is a fantastic experience and a lot of fun). And finally to end of the day, those brave enough will have the opportunity to do the highest Bungee Jump in the World....the 216 meter (709 feet) Bloukrans Bungee!! Tonight we will stay in the Cape St Francis Village (known as the home of the Endless Summer). Situated next to a pristine white beach, catch a evening swim to refresh you from the day or enjoy a evening walk on the beach before dinner.
Sunday: From Cape St Francis we head back along the N2.
Price includes: All Transport in vehicle with CD player
Accommodation at really nice backpackers
Three meals- self catering (You will be taken to the shop once a week to buy food or the shops is 10-minutes walk away)
We have a fully equipped kitchen where volunteers can rotate cooking meals or cook your own meal
Optional extras:
Monkeyland: R110 per person Monkeyland is unique in that the sanctuary caters for several species of monkeys, and they are not caged, they are free to move about the forest, and do so in harmony. The monkeys are therefore not found on predetermined points displayed on a map, the emphasis is to search for them, and the reward is to see them as they should be: free and in the wild.
Birds of Eden: R120 per person this is the largest aviary in the world. It houses hundreds of bird species which are free to fly around the jungle housed in aviary. Elephant Sanctuary: R250 per person An experienced guide will introduce you to the elephants, and you will learn about their backgrounds, behaviours, characters and more while being able to touch, feel, feed, interact and walk trunk-in-hand with the elephants. If you would like to ride an elephant minutes, it is an extra R650
Bloukrans Bungee Jumping: R620 per person
Waterfall Zip Lining: R300 per person
Total : R1100 ( This is not included in the project costs)
After the three days on the tour, volunteers will get the opportunity to help at a Penguin Rescue Centre. There volunteers will help and learn how to Research, Release, Rescue and Rehabilitate the Penguins. This part of the project will be in Cape St Francis (Named after the home of the endless summer). The aim of this project is to provide treatment and temporary care to injured, diseased, displaced or oiled indigenous marine birds. Our aim is the return of these animals to the wild in order to help maintain population figures. Volunteers will assist the centre in Emergency Response & Rescue, Medical treatment, Housing, Nutrition, Captive Management and Conditioning
The project promises loads and loads of fun and a great deal of adding back to the community and wild life.
Location
Only a 20-minute drive from Cape Town, Muizenberg is a very well known and sought-after holiday destinations, located on the eastern shore of False Bay. Once making our way down the Garden Route tour you will be staying in a beautiful safe village called Cape St Francis (Named after the home of the endless summer) situated 2 minutes walk from the beach and perfect for bird watching, learning to surf, sun bathing and exploring.
The Children and the Penguins
Children
The children come from very disadvantaged backgrounds; some are orphaned while others are HIV positive. These children will give anything to have someone look after them to give them love, hope and support for the future.
Penguins
Penguins are cute little marine birds with legs set far down on their bodies. These beautiful creatures are quiet at risk from human impact, global warming, oil spills, pesticides and construction. Thus they sometime get injured, diseased, displaced or oiled and the centre aims at mitigating some of that.
Accommodation
and Food
The place the Volunteers will be staying at is a clean Modern House/Lodge called Abreakaway- It’s a clean and homely place to stay and you will for sure feel like you are having a Fantastic Break Away. The place sleeps a Maximum of 18 people. (If the Volunteer requires their own room this is also available at a different price)
You will be supplied with fresh, 100% Cotton bedding. The lodge is close to the beach (10mins walk) so there is no need for Transport. Volunteers will be taken to the shop once a week to groceries food or the shop is 10mins walk away, and cook in our fully equipped kitchen. You will be given a budget of apporoximately £35/$50 a week for food.
Project
Life
Once arrived in Cape Town, you will be picked up at the airport by one of our team members and taken to the place you will be staying. The Homely volunteer house/lodge chosen for you is a clean and Homely place to stay where all the other volunteers will be staying. On the first week you will have an induction to the area and get a free surf lesson.
In this week you will be told about the Area, Good places to Visit and get taken on a Free Orientation Train Adventure around Cape Town and get taught how to catch the local trains.
Volunteers will be helping at an orphanage/nursery in the township for a minimum of a week and then go on a tour down the beautiful Coast line called the Garden Route and then ending your trip in Cape St Francis where you will volunteer at the Penguin Sanctuary. You will get the chance to meet other travellers from all over the world and work with other volunteers as a team.
The Volunteers will also have the opportunity to get involved at our Dynamic lodge if they wish and gain experience in the Tourist Industry, whilst having the chance to meet other travellers from all over the World and work with other Volunteers as a team.
In your spare time you can relax on the Beach, visit the Waterslides on the beach front, play mini Golf, Hike up the Mountain to see the Caves/Waterfalls, Visit the Penguin Conservation, Go on a Wine Tour, Experience Cape Towns Wildlife, Go for a paddle ski on the River, Cycle around the Village or simply Relax at the Lodge. (If you don’t feel like relaxing: there is a lot to keep you busy in your spare time...)
African Safari’s and Trips to see the Garden Route are Available and very worth while to experience-these can all be arranged for you at Abreakaway lodge, however this project is an adventure on its own.
Eligibility
and Skills Required
No specific skills or qualifications are necessary but a short motivational letter, passion for children and a bag of enthusiasm will be greatly appreciated. Minimum age is 18 years
Flights,
Transportations and Visas
We can arrange flights for you if you let us know your dates, otherwise Flight Centre, Dial a Flight or Chelsea Flights are good to use, or any agent you prefer. However flight costs are not included on the Project costs. A free pick-up and drop-off service is offered on arrival and departure. A three month Visa is normally issued on arrival in South Africa
Dates
and Duration
The project runs through out the year and volunteers are expected to stay for a minimum of 2 weeks and a maximum of 6 months.
What to expect from South Africa and the style of living
We offer nice accommodation for all the Volunteers, please remember it is communal so you will be meeting lots of other people. It’s best to take time out for yourself whilst Volunteering with us and ensure that you do have alone time as living with lots of other people can get challenging at times, however all round it’s an amazing experience and you will make lots of new friends. The township is based 15 minutes walk away and you will be teaching the children from the townships to surf. You do need to be careful with your belongings and not walk alone at night. The volunteers usually do stick together and do things together. The children hardly have blankets net alone food, so whilst volunteering here please come with an open mind and willing-ness to help. You may bring any old clothes, blankets, food etc that you may have. The community appreciates any help you can give them.