Monkey Sanctuary near Kruger Park - South Africa

Product Details

Travel in South Africa is an amazing experience with countless opportunities from wine tasting to wildlife tracking, to surfing and climbing!

Join this project and assist in the day-to-day operations of the Vervet Rehabilitation Centre for monkeys near Johannesburg. Volunteers may be caring for injured or orphaned monkeys as well as doing general work around the centre. Anyone with a passion for animals and an interest in conservation will fare well here. You'll be involved in caring for the animals and maintaining their environment.

Project details:
This sanctuary operates the biggest rehabilitation centre for monkeys in South Africa. Currently this very busy centre looks after over 650 monkeys. The centre is a full member of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance. Working directly with a world-renowned primatologist, you will primarily be looking after indigenous vervet monkeys. Monkeys taken into the centre sadly cannot be released into the wild due to various restrictions with release permits in many states in South Africa.The centre works hard to introduce the new monkeys into troops so that they can live as they would in the wild. Because of their long term residence the enclosures at the centre are very large and require a lot of maintenance.

Why the project needs volunteers:
Although vervets in South Africa are not endangered they do face a rough time. Negative feeling towards the animals is high and they are perceived by many as vermin. Because of this view many orphan vervets handed into the authorities are killed, traps are set and guard dogs are often allowed to attack monkeys that stray into their gardens.

Taking care of monkeys requires a lot of hard time consuming work and baby monkeys are as demanding, if not more so, as human babies. The land and enclosures require constant maintenance and management and volunteers are needed to help the staff keep on top of this work.

Your role as a volunteer:
In the past volunteers have been involved in:

• sterilising and washing basins, buckets, baby bottles and cages
• preparing food (this needs to be done for 500 monkeys daily!) and helping to feed the monkeys
• helping to care for sick, injured, young and recently introduced monkeys
• helping to build new facilities and maintenance of the land and current facilities.

Where the project is based:
The project is based near Tzaneen about 6 hours from Johannesburg. Tzaneen is a large town which has most facilities including internet access. The project is in a rural location and you will need to rely on lifts to get into town. The accommodation is tented camps and facilities are basic.

You are near to the Kruger National Park and other game reserves so it's a great location if you want to go on a safari. You will need to take malaria tablets if you go on a safari to Kruger.

Please book your flight to arrive into Johannesburg (airport code JNB) before 11am on the advertised arrival date to ensure your airport pickup. Please note you will spend your first night in the orientation hostel in Pretoria and move on to your project the following day.

Schedule your return flight to depart after 5pm on the advertised end date.

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"Each unique skill a volunteer brings enables the monkeys to have the best start in life and to give them a future they would otherwise not have seen. A special bond between humans and monkeys leads volunteers to return year after year."
Project Leader:
Monkey Sanctuary near the Kruger Park, South Africa