Vervet Monkey Rescue & Rehabilitation Animal Sanctuary Helper Thornhill, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Help out at an animal and bird sanctuary giving hands-on assistance with a variety of exotic and indigenous animals that are in captivity and non-releasable
Vervet Monkey Rescue & Rehabilitation Westville, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer with rescued Vervet Monkeys at a permitted Vervet Monkey Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release Centre in the lush province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa
Whales, Sharks and Penguins Conservation Gansbaai, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Experience not only Whale, Dolphin, Shark and Penguin research and monitoring but also community education, environmental issues, ecology and ecotourism
Big Cat Sanctuary on a Wildlife Reserve Thornhill, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer at an ethical Big Cat sanctuary assisting with the ongoing care of lions and a tiger saved from dire captive situations mainly in the Ukraine.
Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Bonnievale, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Get involved with horse and pony rescue and rehabilitation in South Africa. If you have experience with horses, great. If not, you will learn with a great team.
Wildlife Rescue, Rehab and Veterinary Clinic Durban, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer with an amazing team of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation experts that are dedicated to giving sick, injured and orphaned wildlife a second chance.
Social Work and Youth Development Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Assist with youth at risk and street children with social work, sports, art, music, teaching and counselling for their personal development
Wildlife Veterinary Medicine and Rehabilitation Midrand, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Assist a top wildlife veterinary medicine doctor and a highly experienced wildlife rehabilitation expert in their daily duties treating rescued indigenous wildlife.
Ethical Predator Sanctuary Assistant Stanford, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer at an extremely ethical predator sanctuary with the care of lions, tigers, leopard, cheetah, caracal and jackal in the beautiful Western Cape
Caring for Wolves Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Give hands-on help at a wolf and animal sanctuary working with rescued wolves, wolf dogs and rescued huskies and other animals like marmosets and farm animals
Endangered Wildlife Monitoring and Research Sontuli, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer with endangered species with a team of dedicated conservationists, researchers and wildlife experts on protected reserves- a true African bush experience
Caring for children at a township creche Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Help at a creche in the townships of Knysna with foundation phase education and assist teachers to care for the little ones
Caring for Rescued Lions at a Sanctuary Alldays, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Give hands-on help with an ethical lion sanctuary in the northern part of South Africa caring for lions saved from bad circumstances.
Sports Experience and Coaching Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
This is the perfect project for the sports enthusiasts! Get involved with creches, schools and community outreach programs coaching sports and learning about sports admin
Animal Welfare and Veterinary Medicine Mwera, Tanzania Volunteer Int. Adventures
Experience a project like no other on the island of Zanzibar assisting with animal care, veterinary medicine treatment, community upliftment and education
Counselling and Social Work skills experience Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer with social workers, psychologists and community counsellors who provide counselling services, training and workshops to people and groups in need of support
Veterinary Medicine Experience Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Are you studying veterinary medicine, nursing or technology? We have two projects rolled in one that are especially for those qualified or studying these related sciences
Wildlife Conservation with Horses Dete, Zimbabwe Volunteer Int. Adventures
The ultimate combination of volunteering with horses while being involved with local community, wildlife conservation and anti-poaching in a true raw Africa setting
Teach at schools in disadvantaged communities Knysna, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer teaching from foundation phase to high school with various subjects like English, Sport, Creative Arts, the Sciences and Mathematics in Knysna, South Africa
Safe House Kids program Knysna Heights, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Volunteer at a children’s safe house in South Africa and assist with home schooling in the school term and fun activities in the holidays
Awareness with Wild Cats and other Wildlife Plettenberg bay, South Africa Volunteer Int. Adventures
Help care for wildlife; feeding, treatment, rehabilitation of wildlife and the resident wild cats and other animals and birds at an ethical awareness centre.

36 Project reviews of Volunteer Int. Adventures

Project Details

We are a small, personal, hands-on volunteer organisation with 15 years experience of working with volunteers in conservation and humanitarian projects on the ground.

Volunteer International Adventures focus is on youth and animal projects which we are passionate about. We see the need for assistance from international volunteers in developing countries and have seen the difference extra hands-on help can make to communities and conservation. 
Our priorities are:

Culture and Cultural sensitivity
We want our volunteers to immerse themselves in the culture of the country that they are volunteering in. Volunteering is very different from being a tourist. As volunteers are much closer to grassroots level, you get an in-depth insight into the challenges the country faces. We love it when our volunteers want to take part in as many activities as possible, meet locals and educate themselves on the history of the country no matter how dark the past might be. As locals, we understand the huge need for cultural sensitivity. That is why we like to work with our project partners and communities and not enforce what we feel is best for them. We never tell them what they need but ask how we can be of assistance. That said, we always appreciate suggestions and creative ideas from our volunteers. Never be afraid to mention your thoughts or ideas. They might just be feasibly possible to implement within the communities we work in - and often are.
Remember: what you put into your project is what you will get out.

We want all our volunteers to know that they have achieved something when they leave, whether it be assisting a child to grasp mathematics, teaching school children the game of cricket, uplifting youth with sewing classes, helping to satellite collar an African wild dog, relocating a rhino, collecting data on great white shark populations, treating indigenous sick wildlife, helping to sterilize animals from disadvantaged communities, instilling the love of reading in a child or teaching marimba classes. These are just a few examples of how volunteers have given back in the past. We also want volunteers to leave having fallen in love with the country they are helping in, and having made lifelong friends, who will become future ambassadors for their countries.

Ethical projects
We do not support the trophy hunting or canned lion breeding trade. We will not be assisting in any projects that use volunteers to raise lions for the bullet or for profit in any way.
Our wildlife and animal projects are either wild on free-roaming reserves, in registered rehabilitation centres or sanctuaries where the animals are non-releasable due to injuries, human habituation or because they are exotic and not indigenous to the area.
We support local, ethical animal sanctuaries and reserves as activities volunteers can visit during their free time.
When volunteering for any projects with children, whether teaching, care or youth development, we insist on receiving a paper copy of your CRB check, no older than six months, from your country of origin. The children we work with often come from very challenging socio-economic backgrounds and have been let down by adults many times. We are not prepared to put them at risk, or to allow anyone to endanger them in any way.
Animals and children come first as they are innocents and do not have a voice to stand up for themselves.
We pride ourselves on responsible, sustainable projects with enough locals on board to carry on running when volunteer numbers are low. Still, many of our projects depend heavily on volunteers as there are not enough funds to permanently employ more locals to help.

Cost effective
Over nearly 15 years of working with volunteers on projects, we have realised that volunteering often comes at a very high cost. We aim to make volunteering more accessible, reasonable and inclusive, which is why most of our projects include so many extras. By keeping costs low and having more hands-on help we can achieve so much more. Family, friends and group discounts are negotiable so, the more that volunteer together, the lower we can keep the costs. We will always reward loyalty for those that return to take part in our projects again.
Costs include donations to our projects too

Safety
All our projects have been strictly vetted, risks assessed, and safety measures checked. We will not risk the safety of our volunteers, so some areas are off-limits. However, nobody can ever guarantee total safety in any area. We do have open channels for reporting any incidents and have close relations with in-country support on the ground. We have liability insurance and insist that all participants have personal travel insurance. We perform airport collection and drop offs, so we will see you through, right to the end. We also believe in the personal touch and are available to our volunteers 24/7 in case of emergencies.
Please arrange your travel insurance at the time of booking your trip. 

The main focus of the project is on
Contact Person
Sharon Dreyer
Spoken Languages
English

Social Impact

After 15 years of working with volunteers from all over the world for an international volunteer organisation  on projects involved with marine conservation, endangered wildlife and animal rehabilitation, education from foundation phase to high school in disadvantaged communities, sports development, youth and social work, veterinary medicine and animal rescue both in South Africa and abroad, our founder has established her own volunteer social project having seen ways how she can improve the experience for both volunteers and projects and make it more inclusive both culturally and financially. Over the years she has rescued countless animals, upgraded a creche in a disadvantaged area, sat on the board of an NPO for youth at risk for well over a decade, been actively involved with fundraising in particular for a vehicle for a local NPO, assisted in getting donations and wish list items for  project and overseen large sports school groups with after school sports activities and weekend sports days with lots of happy volunteers that have returned over the years. She has worked with volunteers from younger gap year students who provide motivated hands-on help to highly skilled qualified and more mature volunteers who bring a wealth of knowledge to share both of which have a long term effect on improving projects and keeping them running. During the Covid-19 pandemic with international borders closed and travelling restricted, her partner and her worked actively on the ground coordinating, fundraising and distributing large amount of food donations several times a week to local soup kitchens as part of feeding schemes in the community helping  the many that had lost jobs and were suffering financially and needed extra assistance with meals for their families. We also currently sponsor pet food for a monthly veterinary outreach clinic in a township on the Garden Route of South Africa and also sponsored the end of year (2022) party with gift bags for the youth for a local NPO working with youth at risk. We endeavour to help where we can with verified needs in the community and with our projects.

Pursued Sustainable Development Goals

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