Living With Lions, South Africa

Overview

Now is the ideal time for you to try something new and exciting. Our Living with Lions volunteer programme is home to over 80 lions including the rare white lion, which is already extinct in the wild. The Living with Lions volunteer programme is varied, interesting and stimulating.

You will also have hands on experience with many other carnivores such as cheetahs, hyena's, black-backed jackals and a wide variety of antelopes.

The only requirements for the Living with Lions volunteer programme are that you have a love of wildlife and are not afraid to get your hands dirty. The Living with Lions staff are a laid back lot who are fun to be around.

 

What's included?

• Pre-departure Briefing in London
• Pre-departure information and advice
• In-country assistance and support
• 24-hour emergency contacts
• In-country induction or training
• Donation to the project
• A Safari
• Walking with Elephants experience
• Visit a local Crocodile Sanctuary
• Wifi
• Two T-Shirts
• Transportation: airport pick-up, airport drop-off
• Accommodation: volunteer or on-project residence
• Food: Breakfast and Lunch provided by staff

What's NOT included?

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visas
• Sightseeing activities
• Monthly stipend

 

Location

The Living with Lions programme is situated in Gauteng Province. The park offers terrific up close views and other exciting interactions with a large variety of predators and large herbivores indigenous to Africa.

Project life and Photos

Your day will start at 8am to the sounds of African birds and stunning scenery. You will be divided into two groups.

Group One, will be placed in the cub nursery, to prepare bottles to feed the lions and hyena cubs. Prepare the food for the meerkats. Also you will be required to cut up meat for the older cubs.

Every morning and afternoon you will need to help the cubs outside to cub world.

Group Two, will be placed in cub world, interacting with the animals, making giraffe feeding bags to be sold to the visitors, refilling water pans and maintaining the areas of the lions, jackal and hyenas.

Volunteers spend 3 days in the nursery and then the groups switch, so everyone gets to experience time in the nursery.

Depending on how busy the staff are you might also get a special tour with the lion handler who will show you how closely he works with the big cats. Also, you will have the big cat and cheetah interaction with two of the guides. You will get to see juvenile lions and adult cheetahs up close.

The Living with Lions volunteer programme is home to over 80 lions including the rare white lions and many other carnivores such as cheetah, wild dog, brown hyena, striped hyena, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, side-striped jackal, very friendly giraffes and a wide variety of antelope which roam freely in the antelope area.

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Flights, transportation and visas

• Flights are not included
• Transfers are conducted to and from Johannesburg’s International Airport: O.R. Tambo (code: JNB)
• You will be collected from the airport
• A tourist visa is required for Commonwealth, US and European citizens. In this case, you are able to get a tourist visa upon entry.

 

CIBT Visa advice... For expert visa advice we advise our volunteer, work placement, and internship participants to get in touch with CIBT - a company that we work in partnership with. Our UK, Canadian, and US travellers can use CIBT for visa advice and to get their visa applications processed - with visas returned within a week. UK travellers can contact CIBT for visa advice. Canadian participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 888-665-9956 US participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 800-577-2428 Canadian citizens should state account number: 57497 US citizens should state account number: 57496

Dates and duration

• This programme is open throughout the year
• The duration of your stay can be between 2 and 6 weeks.
• Please arrive on the Monday morning for collection from the airport
• The departure day should be on a Sunday.

Safety and insurance

• All of Twin Work & Volunteer's placements are in partnership with recognised and established local organisations, run by or employing local people. These organisations, depending on the nature of what they do, might be small-scale NGOs, family projects, schools or orphanages, or local initiatives with environmental or social goals.
• We often use local businesses to provide logistical and support services to volunteers such as transfers, pick-ups, accommodation and so on. In this way, we support the local economy through helping independent local businesses to thrive. We take our partnerships very seriously and work extremely closely with all our partners.
• We provide 24-hour emergency support from the UK and our partners provides support locally.
• We have an agreement with the crisis management service Tranquillico, should the very worst situations arise.
• If any wider safety concerns arise in the destination, such as civil disturbances or natural disasters, we seek advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and implement their recommendations where appropriate.

 

Insurance options... Comprehensive insurance is available for all programmes. You have no obligation to take up insurance with any of these companies, but insurance of a suitable sort is mandatory on all our programmes. For UK participants: Here are the full details of our partnership with Endsleigh. For American and Canadian participants: We offer insurance options with International Volunteer Card (IVC).

Eligibility

• Minimum age is 18 yrs.
• A genuine compassion for animal welfare
• Have a good sense of humour
• Be respectful of foreign cultures and be willing to adapt
• International volunteers are welcome

Accommodation and Food

• The accommodation is on the premises. The facilities are safari tents over looking the herbivore savannah area.
• You will be staying in shared comfortable bed and tents with electricity, 4 per tent.
• Beds with linen are provided.
• Bathroom facilities include clean hot water showers, basins and mirrors.
• Fully functional kitchen with a laundry mat/washing machine.
• Electric points are available in tents for light and chargers.
• Occasional tourists are in the immediate environment.
• Internet available.

Daily breakfast and lunch are offered on the lion park grounds.
Vegetarians can be catered for. For any other food requirements, please enquire with us.

Evening meals are not included except for on the two occasions when you are taken to a South African restaurant to try local cuisine and you will also have a traditional South African braai where you get to try the famous Boerewors.

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