Lots of animals, fun volunteering activities and plenty to do in your free time, visit Amakhala!
I chose the Amakhala Big 5 programme in South Africa because it had such a large number of animals as well as some really fun ways to volunteer. The preparation for my trip was really easily made. With the lists of suggested clothing, the comprehensive handbook for before you left and quick replies from the mighty roar team-which was very helpful if you have a habit of leaving things a bit last minute like I do!
"I would highly recommend to anyone that has an interest in wildlife, head to Amakhala!"
When my friend and I arrived in Capetown, we got our bags (or tried to-my friend’s bag was left in Amsterdam! Thankfully returned a few days later) and headed to a hotel for the night before our transfer flight to PE.
During my time volunteering we did activities like bush packing telephone poles with acacia trees- I found the reason for this really interesting which was to stop the elephants and rhinos from rubbing against them. We also filled potholes on the reserve, dig drainage lines, help the children in sidbury school with their homework activities and made some food for the children in the local community.
In our free time we got to play a lot of sports like volleyball, squash and we did a sports day as well which was very fun, we had opportunities to go to the local pub, play card games and go on days trips to PE.
For my first week there were 8 volunteers who I was able to get to know really well because of the smaller numbers even though there was an age gap between some of us it didn’t feel noticeable which was great. The second week there were 13 people which definitely felt a lot busier but it was nice getting to know some new people and hope to keep in contact with quite a few!
The accommodation was really nice, I was very pleasantly surprised as to how comfy the beds were! I was lucky enough to be able to share a room with my friend which was nice and there was lots of room for our stuff.
I don’t think I could pick a favourite memory but I loved getting to know everyone else at the camp and on my last day we were given the opportunity to roll on the ground towards the giraffes and get really close which was incredible!
I would highly recommend to anyone that has an interest in wildlife, head to Amakhala in South Africa – it was amazing!
