from 557€

Fantastic 4.5rating (42)

Vervet Monkey Rescue

location
1 - 12 weeks  ·  Age 18 - 50+

rating  Fantastic 4.5  · 
  Verified by Volunteer World
  Very high response rate

Especially suitable

Age 18+
Singles
Couples
Families
Groups
50+

About the program

Assist in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of Vervet Monkeys and Baboons at this center in the beautiful African bush.

About the Program

Vervet monkeys are one of South Africa’s five indigenous primates. The other four are the lesser Bush baby, the thick-tailed Bush baby, the Samango monkey, and the Chacma baboon. Vervet monkeys are classified as “old world monkeys”, meaning that they have been ...

About the program

About the Program

Vervet monkeys are one of South Africa’s five indigenous primates. The other four are the lesser Bush baby, the thick-tailed Bush baby, the Samango monkey, and the Chacma baboon. Vervet monkeys are classified as “old world monkeys”, meaning that they have been around for over 65 million years - long before apes and humans.

However, their numbers are declining due to habitat loss, formerly classified as vermin so shot and killed by farmers, laboratory testing of medicines, used for ‘muti’ or traditional medicine and the illegal pet trade.

Vervet monkeys are vital to our ecological system and need to be protected. They are an integral part of the natural food chain in parts of Africa as their messy eating habits distribute food from high places to the ground for ground feeding animals. They provide natural insect control by eating the eggs and larvae of many species. They assist in the germination, pollination and dispersal of various floras.

History

This program, established in December 2003, is a privately owned and operated wildlife rehabilitation and conservation centre in the Waterberg district north of Pretoria. It is well known and especially well regarded for its exceptional work with Vervet monkeys. Since 2008 we have successfully rehabilitated 12 troops of monkeys, who are now living free at safe release sites, on Bushveld farms in Limpopo.

The Wildlife Care and Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Facility is located 20km out of Bela Bela in the Limpopo province in South Africa. The founder of the program originally immigrated to South Africa from Germany in 1990 with her late husband. After his death in 1997 she decided to dedicate her life and savings towards the care and conservation of South African Wildlife.

From a rocky start, they began taking care of animals that were almost ready for release back into the wild and in doing so, recognized their true calling: to help wild animals in need.

People from the Waterberg district learned of their work and started to call upon them for help, as did the veterinarians from the region. They became well known and well regarded as a Rehabilitation Centre and have successfully rehabilitated and released many species of antelope, including Eland, Kudu, Impala, Red Hartebeest, and Nyala, Blue Wildebeest, warthogs, bush pigs, Serval cats, zebra, yellow-billed Kites, black-back jackals, porcupines, and many more. They even had the pleasure of looking after an orphaned Rhino baby in 2009, who is now a sub adult and living free.

Monkey Business

Then, by chance, the owner’s heart was touched by a Vervet monkey. It was found abandoned in a cage on a property outside Bela Bela, which was for sale. The owners had already departed, so the estate agent brought the young, female Vervet to the program. A few days later, a neighbour dropped off a younger Vervet. Then, a new Vervet baby was taken away from someone who kept it as a pet and was brought in.

The spark of interest in Primatology was ignited! The quest for knowledge about these special creatures, how to hand-raise them, how to build appropriate enclosures or camps for them, how to feed them, and how to prepare them for release back into the wild was started.

The program is now home to over 300 Vervet monkeys, field guide students and volunteers from around the world to join in the work with these monkeys and all the other wildlife that comes for rehabilitation. They also work in close collaboration with local veterinarians and also function as a transfer station for orphaned or injured baboons in the Waterberg district.

The program recues, rehabilitates and releases members of three of our five South African Primate families:

  • The Lesser bush baby,

  • Chacma Baboon and

  • Vervet Monkey.

    The incredible team of staff and volunteers concentrate mainly on Vervet monkey rehabilitation, taking in injured and orphaned monkeys, forming troops and finding monkey friendly game farms to release a rehabilitated troop. To date they have successfully given 13 troops, a total of almost 300 monkeys, a second chance to live free again after, as a persecuted species, they had lost their freedom due to habitat destruction, illegal shootings by farmers, snares, electrocutions, pet or ‘muti(traditional medicine) trade.

Needs

We are often asked by volunteers what they can bring for the babies so if you have any spare capacity in your luggage, here are a few suggestions:

  • Pampers nappies-newborn to size 3

  • 50ml and 250ml baby milk bottles and teats

  • Soft toys

  • Soft blankets

  • Tennis balls

  • Baby Dummies/pacifiers

  • Baby bottle brushes

  • If you have access to veterinary supplies,

    please contact us 


Typical day

Vervet monkeys show their emotions through biting, they bite when happy, when sad, they give you little love bites and they bite much harder when they are upset with you! Expect a few bruises (especially in the first few days) you will get urinated and pooped on (we call it “Monkey ...

Typical day

Vervet monkeys show their emotions through biting, they bite when happy, when sad, they give you little love bites and they bite much harder when they are upset with you! Expect a few bruises (especially in the first few days) you will get urinated and pooped on (we call it “Monkey blessings”) so you will be dirty at the end of the day. It will all seem worth it when you have gained the trust and confidence of one of our orphans who climbs onto your lap for a cuddle or a nap.

Normally the working day starts at 7h45am and depending on the season, finishes between 17h00 (winter) and 18h00 (summer). Always remember that the needs of the animals come first, so working hours and duties can change at short notice.

Typical day: 

07h45-10h00: Cleaning of cages, food preparation, feeding, cleaning up of grounds and food preparation area
10h00-11h00: Brunch
11h00-13h00: 
Program work
13h00-14h00: 
Lunch
14h00-15h00: 
Food preparation, feeding of cages and cleaning of food preparation area
15h00-17h00:
 Program work. Examples of program work: cage repairing, fire clearance, making enrichment tools for the cages, food sorting and cage building. 

The work is not too physically demanding but a reasonable level of fitness is required. As in most remote areas of South Africa, there are no facilities for the disabled. 


Free-time activities

Bela Bela formerly known as Warm Baths (English) or Warm Bad (Afrikaans) is a small Bushveld town famous for its hot springs. The small town is now mostly a stopover point for the many safari reserves in the area and popular with holiday makers from Johannesburg. The village has all ...

Free-time activities

Bela Bela formerly known as Warm Baths (English) or Warm Bad (Afrikaans) is a small Bushveld town famous for its hot springs. The small town is now mostly a stopover point for the many safari reserves in the area and popular with holiday makers from Johannesburg. The village has all shops you might need for groceries, clothing, medical services and restaurants. 


Requirements

Requirements

Minimum Age: 18 years

In order to join the program you need to be at least 18 years old on the program start date. There might be exemptions if you can provide the permission of your legal guardian(s) or if your are accompanied by your parents.

Language Skills

You need to speak English (basic level)

Nationality Restrictions

No restrictions. Helping hands from all over the world are welcome.

Other Skills

It is important that volunteers of this program understand the importance of the following: Caring for animals requires patience, compassion, and a calm demeanour. A positive attitude, willingness to help and learn, and a sense of humour are essential - volunteers should expect to be dirty and exhausted by the end of the day!

What's Included

What's Included

Services by Go With Khaya

  • Accommodation in shared volunteer dorms (male and female separated)
  • 3 meals a day (light breakfast, brunch and dinner)
  • Supervision of your activities
  • Contribution to the running costs of the program

Transfers between Johannesburg (O.R.Tambo International Airport or you pick up point of choice) and the project in Bela Bela are done by Citi Shuttle. This transfer is about 180km (115 Miles) one way and the cost is around 130 USD one way.

Accommodation

The program is based in the bush on a privately owned wildlife reserve and offers the unique opportunity to be away from the craziness of everyday life and enjoy true nature. You will not only have all these monkeys around you but also passing troops of baboons who frequent the center on most days, porcupines who come visit at night, a herd of zebra who love the long grass outside the volunteer house and other animals. There are even tracks of leopard seen close to the house so nature is on your doorstep.

The volunteer accommodation consists of 2 rooms which sleep 4 each with en suite bathrooms (shower and toilet) and in the middle a lounge/kitchen area to cook and relax. The outside ‘stoep’ (porch in Afrikaans) offers a shaded area to eat meals and socialize.

The volunteer accommodation is shared with some of the orphaned monkeys and baboons as volunteers will need to care for them 24/7, feed them every 3 hours and change their nappies so expect to share your bed with a monkey or two.

If you prefer a private bedroom with own bathroom we offer this for a surcharge of 15 EUR per night for a single person or 10 EUR per person

There is internet access 24 hours a day available for a fee of R100 (about 7 EUR or 8 USD) per week for usage during your off time.

On weekends only the bar will open for a game of pool and a drink or two and volunteers can ask permission to use the swimming pool on the premises. 

Food & Beverages

Meals are included and consist of cereals and rusks with coffee and tea early in the morning and a brunch at 10:00AM.

Dinner is served at 17:30 and volunteers rotate with cooking and cleaning duties. Fifteen minutes prior to dinner time, a team of two will set the table with supplies from the volunteer house.

This same team will clear the table after meals and do the dishes. A schedule that will include you will be posted within a couple of days of your arrival.

We usually shop twice a week in town and volunteers will be given the opportunity to travel into Bela Bela to shop for themselves and for the other volunteers. We also run a small shop at the premises with beers, snacks and sodas and all profits go to support the monkeys. 

Internet Access

Limited access at the project site

What's NOT included?

What's NOT included?

Airport Pickup at O.R. Tambo International Airport

An airport pickup isn't included within the program fees either.

Flight Tickets

The nearest airport is O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg. We assist you to find cheap flights to South Africa. FIND CHEAP FLIGHTS

Travel Insurance

Going abroad is an adventure and it is always best to be prepared. Sudden illness or injury, cancellation or theft - a travel insurance for South Africa provides security and is a plus to have. GET A QUOTE

Vaccines

If you are intending to volunteer in South Africa you should seek medical advice before starting your social journey. Check your required vaccinations for South Africa. VACCINE CHECKER

Details on arrival

Important to note that Avis transfers does not do transfers at night.
Transfer times are only between 08:00am - 14:00pm.
Availability
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Program fees

1 week (min. stay) 557€
2 weeks 950€
3 weeks 1,334€
4 weeks 1,723€
6 weeks 2,544€
8 weeks 3,360€
12 weeks (max. stay) 4,992€
Average fees 486€/week

Program fees

486€ per week 1 - 12 weeks Age 18 - 50+

Payment methods

Visa Master Card Maestro American Express PayPal

NO CREDIT CARD FEES


Duration

1 - 12 weeks

Deposit

The deposit is simply to reserve your volunteer placement. Payments are handled by PayPal, our trusted global payment provider. If you don't have a PayPal account, you can also pay using a credit card.


Final Payment

Your final payment will be agreed with Go With Khaya during the application process. Common solutions are either via bank transfer or a cash payment at the project site.


Meet your organization

Go With Khaya

Fantastic 4.5 rating (42 reviews)

Agency - founded in 2005

Verified by Volunteer World

  Very high response rate

Coordinated by

Igna

Spoken languages: English

About the project

Go With Khaya provides responsible and affordable volunteer projects. Take a gap year, work with communities and children, teach sport or work with wildlife.

Meet your organization

“Khaya” means village or dwelling in several African languages – but it also has a deeper meaning, that of ‘belonging’. In Xhosa it also means home or homestead and in Swahili it means boma, which is an enclosed secure area for cattle. At Khaya Volunteer Projects, we make our volunteers feel that they belong. If you choose Khaya to organize your volunteering experience, you will feel secure and well-informed. You will also feel that you belong to the project you decide to work with, as Khaya fits the right people to the right projects.

History

Khaya Volunteer Projects was established in 2005. We offered international students the opportunity to come to South Africa and experience working with local companies and organisations as interns. Our goal was to offer an incomparable experience of the diverse culture and socio-political landscape of this amazing country, and our hope was to inspire people to offer their time and effort in return.

We soon found that many volunteering projects needed more hands and financial support than interns could provide, so in 2009 we started to offer volunteering opportunities to people of all ages and walks of life, such as gap year students, travellers, and conscientious older people with time to spare – whoever you are, you will find the right project for you and fit right in. Things took off from there and we didn’t look back - in 2011, Khaya expanded to Tanzania (Arusha and Zanzibar) and Zimbabwe. Today we have offices in South Africa, Zanzibar,Tanzania and Malawi.

Our Mission

Our mission is simple but resonant: we provide volunteering opportunities for international travellers that are both unique and as affordable as possible with high standards of service and facilities. Needless to say, we also prioritise our selected volunteer projects’ needs in ways that benefit both project and you, the volunteer.

At Khaya Volunteer Projects, our greatest desire is to show people the true Africa, with its dynamic cultures and its incredible raw beauty. To live and work locally in South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi, Zanzibar or Zimbabwe means immersing yourself in these countries and experiencing your travels in an entirely unique way you will never forget.

Our offer

Khaya Volunteer Projects will introduce you to affordable volunteer projects which have been personally chosen by or established by us. You can choose from a number of viable, sustainable, rewarding ventures: working with children, healthcare, sports development, education, conservation, animals – whatever you can think of, that project wants and needs your time and energy!

We have developed an extremely hands-on and personal approach to your experience. You will have a project facilitator working closely with you throughout your volunteering program to make sure your questions are answered and your concerns addressed. No question, suggestion or complaint is too silly, small or simple! This is just one of the many reasons Khaya has volunteers coming back to us year after year.

Dynamite comes in small packages! One of our points of pride is that our volunteering projects are selected and developed for quality over quantity. This means you won’t have to stand in a queue to touch an elephant or to take part in an activity – this isn’t Disneyworld!  Many other volunteer projects have 30 or 40 volunteers involved, which we feel dilutes your experience and denies the volunteer project your focus and enthusiasm. Some of our volunteer projects are rather new and in the process of improving, so we at Khaya make it our priority to uplift and support where we can and grow these projects to new heights – and for this, we want our volunteers to be as involved as possible and not just people who paid a fee to be ‘faces in the crowd’!

Why Khaya?

Affordability

We focus on keeping our volunteer projects’ prices transparent and as low as possible while still offering the highest level of service. We encourage…no, we CHALLENGE you, our prospective volunteers, to compare our prices with other organisations. We offer incomparably affordable experiences for the level of service you will be receiving. We make sure to eliminate hidden costs and ‘fine print’ as far as possible in our volunteer project pricing. All your meals, transport and 24/7 supervision and guidance is included in our offering (this MAY differ per project, so please double-check with us).

Where does your money go?

We donate a good portion of your volunteering fee directly to the projects we work with (this can differ per project, you can check with us). This means that not only are you helping and supporting the projects with your time and energy, but you are also financially contributing to them! Khaya ensures that the costs involved in our projects are as transparent and uncomplicated as possible so that you know exactly where your hard-earned money is going to. Please contact us if you have ANY queries whatsoever regarding your fee, and what kind of mileage you are getting for your buck!

Locally based

Khaya has one fantastic advantage over other volunteer groups – we’re based right here in Africa, and are therefore directly involved with the volunteer projects on an ongoing, hands-on basis. We make every effort to visit all our projects regularly to ensure that everything is running smoothly, and to ensure that both projects AND volunteers receive all the necessary support and guidance. Our direct partnership with our projects allows us to see immediately how you, the volunteer, fit into the bigger picture, and at the same time we can help with the day-to-day details of your stay.

Very important to us: Khaya strives to create employment in Africa by employing local people at several of our projects and giving them much-needed income opportunities.

Going the extra mile

Khaya believes in going the extra mile. Whether you have questions specifically about the volunteer project you have embarked on, or just a general travel question (er no, lions and elephants don’t usually run rampant in city streets here! :). Ask away with impunity, nothing is too big or small for us to find the answer.

Khaya also conducts ongoing coaching and training of our local partners and coordinators. We train the staff of several projects on how to deal with volunteers, how to utilize them, and the best possible way to assist them. In doing so, we offer support for volunteers and at the same time foster an environment of empowerment for the full-time project workers.

Keeping it real

The pictures that you see on our website are authentic – they were taken by volunteers and Khaya staff. We want you to see exactly what you get if you sign up for a volunteering project with us. We are NOT involved in this industry merely to make a buck – we have a passion to make change happen, and to create a win-win situation for all involved. Also, we really want you to send us YOUR pictures and words, your vision of your experience, for our own knowledge and for potential future volunteers.

Pre-departure and feedback

Before you depart your home country, Khaya will supply you with a pre-departure guide with information about the project you choose. We will supply everything you need to know about visa requirements, and a list of what you need to bring with you; the climate; what to expect culturally and environmentally; and much, much more information!

We always aim to improve our services wherever possible, so once you have completed your time as a volunteer; we will ask you for feedback on your experience with us. Your feedback is of utmost importance to us to keep improving and growing our partnerships to new heights.

All volunteers will receive a Certificate of Participation after completion of their project.

42 reviews · rating4.5

Lison Mc Nicoll rating4.6

2022 at Vervet Monkey Rescue

I stayed 2 weeks in Bambelela in June-July 2022. It was amazing! People there are so nice and we have plenty of monkey time. The tasks to do are easy but so helpful for them! An experience of a life! I’ll always remember my beautiful monkeys there! ...
corinne loze rating5

2022 at Vervet Monkey Rescue

it was an amazing experience with a lot af support and involing of volonteers. The program is very serious and it was just so adorable to take care of pink faces ...
Asia Giordano rating4.2

2019 at Vervet Monkey Rescue

I just came back from this fantastic experience and I already miss the sweet little monkeys I took care of ... I went as a volunteer and stayed at the Jabula lodge, a very nice and spacious chalet, surrounded by greenery and trees. Vervet monkeys, baboons, peacocks and small warthogs live around in ...
Martijn rating4.6

2016 at Vervet Monkey Rescue

What did I get myself into was my first thought after arriving at the project in Bela Bela, South Africa. I have always loved primates and searched for a long time to find the right program to me to assist in true conservation and have a chance to work with monkeys close up. The eccentric German ...
Claudia Fiedler rating3

2024 at Teach Assistant

School: Overall the teaching experience is an experience that changed my view on the world. However, if you are visiting from europe you need to be aware, that things in africa work differently than at home. To me, the project seemed quite unorganised. The communication with the school was ...
David Mason-Williams rating4.4

2023 at Assistant at Siyafunda Game Reserve

Volunteering with Siyafunda was one of the best decisions of my life! Everyone involved in the project is passionate and knowledgable about their work, which I find inspirational. I learnt so much during my six weeks with Siyafunda, and I cannot wait to one day return and learn more! Anyone who is ...

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