VOLUNTEERING IN South Africa

South Africa is a popular holiday destination for seasoned and first time travellers alike, but behind the scenes there is a great need for volunteers to work on animal rescue projects, marine conservation initiatives and wildlife conservation projects. Pod Volunteer is an award-winning non-profit organisation helping people to volunteer in South Africa for as little as 1 week or as long as 3 months.

You can get involved in animal volunteering projects in South Africa, such as horse rehabilitation. For elephant loving volunteers, we have an elephant care and research project on the famous Garden Route. If conservation is more your thing, then we work with projects focussing on protecting priority species such as cheetahs, rhinos, lions and leopards that South Africa is famed for. You may even like to combine diving and conservation, contributing to research at world class dive sites.

Volunteers are needed all year round in South Africa. In terms of climate, there are two main seasons in South Africa. During the cooler months of April through to October, night temperatures drop to around 10 degrees and daytimes rise to a temperate 20 degrees Celsius. It is warmer from November through to March and temperatures can hit up to around 30 degrees Celsius during the day, falling to about 15 at night. It can rain throughout the year.

At Pod Volunteer we love travel and and regularly visit our projects in South Africa. Here is our insider’s view of our experiences travelling and volunteering in South Africa…

Things we loved: The perfect combination of rich cultures, delicious cuisine and beautiful landscapes. The wildlife! Seeing Africa’s Big 5 is a unique experience. The braais – the Afrikaans word for a barbeque, you haven’t experienced the real South Africa until you’ve had a local braai.

Things we weren’t so sure about! Travelling around the country can be expensive and often involves internal flights. Not having enough time - South Africa is so diverse it would take months or even years to visit its cities, national parks and coastlines!

Below you’ll find a summary of our volunteering projects abroad in South Africa which you can click through to and find out about the volunteer role, location, accommodation and costs, see lots of pictures and read volunteer reviews!

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