Volunteer work in the wildlife reserve in South Africa

Before departure

A lot of people were very worried before I left, especially my own family, friends and colleagues. Because I went on the trip all by myself and you heard a lot of bad things about Corona and crime there. But I had a veeeeery different experience there.

In the areas where I was there was no vaccination obligation, but my tropical doctor recommended some vaccinations, so I was pricked a total of 12 times before departure in 2021. I tolerated all vaccinations well, without any side effects.

So in January 2022, nothing stood in the way of my family taking me to Frankfurt Airport. Saying goodbye was difficult for all of us, there were really a lot of tears. My flight to South Africa left at 22 p.m., with a stopover in Johannesburg and a connecting flight to Port Elizabeth.

Arrivals

Arrived in Port Elizabeth, the shuttle service from the local team picked me up right away. They recognized me by the red RGV t-shirt, which I received before arrival. Super organized! After about 2,5 hours drive we arrived at the reserve. The reserve was completely fenced, the entrance has two gates in a row and a fence with electricity. In my mind I said to myself, "Now it's getting serious". I got a great welcome, my room, a briefing and then we went straight to the game drive with the jeep. 

There was an intensive orientation program for two days, and it was easy to get used to it. Here, in the middle of nature with countless animals that we don't know from Germany. I liked the area immediately, I didn't find anything of the expected drought here. The landscape of the valley forms five different habitats and areas with access to two rivers, the wooded hills and the savannas. I found so incredibly much green and very unusual, strange to me, but also loud
animal sounds.

Lodging

To be honest, I didn't expect such a great house in the middle of the wilderness and I even had a nice double room all to myself. In the house itself there was room for eleven volunteers. We even had a campfire place and a cozy lounge. From day one I felt really comfortable with and with everything I experienced and saw. It was a little like home without my family. 

The other volunteers were significantly younger than me. During my entire time they had an average age of about 26 years. But it was incredibly great to meet people from all over the world. In my first two weeks there was nobody who could speak German. So I was forced to hear, speak and understand English. There were often funny moments, but I always had great roommates in our house who supported me and, in the end, understood me with my half English. That was good for me, so I could understand and speak English relatively quickly.

Work in the project

During my volunteer work in the wildlife reserve in South Africa, I was welcomed by our guide Jaco and six other volunteers. With various tools we cleared and cleaned paths or removed old fences. Old, rusty barbed wire was often still attached to thick wooden posts. We've also removed “alien plants” - these are unwanted plants on the reserve that don't belong there. They often need a lot of water, which is scarce in South Africa and there are no animals that eat these plants. They are therefore completely useless and unfortunately have become extremely scattered throughout the area. If the small plants are not removed, they will grow into real trees, which will only make things worse in the end. Each of us removed about 100-400 such plants, bushes and even trees from the area in such a working day. Crazy, there was never an end in sight. 

Of course, it was often over 30 degrees hot, but our guide Jaco always made a lot of effort to make sure we were fine. During the midday sun we often went swimming and spent our lunch break that way. We always had fun and laughed a lot. We also provided firewood. With it we could light the campfire and the grill every Friday or when camping out in the wildlife.

Every day was an adventure for me. I got so incredibly close to the wild animals, it was also very exciting. Sometimes we suddenly found ourselves with our open jeep in the middle of a herd of elephants. One or the other lion also came very close to us. We observed animals every day, sometimes even all day long at 35 degrees, that was really nice. Using telemetry technology, we've found nearly every wild animal carrying a GPS tracker. Each volunteer had their own documentation booklet.

It is completely different to experience the animals in the wild than in a zoo. We also had to experience that the oldest elephant named "Big Bull" actually broke into our camp one day. He saw the beautiful plants and just wanted to eat them. It is unbelievable how much power the almost four meter high elephants have.

We always went to a township once a week. We played with the children there in the soup kitchen, danced, painted, taught them different things and much more. There was a super mom in the soup kitchen named Gladys. She was always there for about 30-40 children. We either helped with the cooking and washing up, kept the children busy or replanted their garden with vegetables.

Living in South Africa

I have to be honest, I was very touched by this really different world there. I only met loving people there. I never got into a situation where I felt threatened or scared. On the contrary, saying goodbye always hurt me a lot. It's unbelievable how you can develop such a closeness to strangers after such a "short" time. During this time I often lost a tear. You have to process all the impressions there first.

In South Africa I also learned that there is no "time", only "time" and that everything runs according to the motto. All very spontaneous, without fixed times and plans. You often let nature, the weather and the animals make the decisions of the day. I thought that was absolutely beautiful.

food and catering

There was enough food in the camp. Every Sunday evening we did an inventory and then filled an inventory and wish list with all sorts of food. Helena always bought everything fresh on Mondays. Of course there were things that you didn't know, for example certain spices. There was always enough for everyone.

Every evening a volunteer team of two people got together and cooked something traditional from their own country. If there were the ingredients. There was a lot of fruit, vegetables and meat as well as pumpkin, potatoes, pasta, two different types of jam, toast, muesli and cornflakes of different kinds. As drinks there was rooibos or black tea, coffee, water, juice and milk. When we were in the soup kitchen once a week, we all went out to eat together in the evenings.

leisure

There is a small pool, a great terrace, various books, board and card games. Often we just sat comfortably at the campfire under the beautiful African starry sky, listened to music or sang. 

For free time at the weekend there are a lot of excursions that are offered. It is important to mention here that there are “shuttle costs” every time, which is not exactly small. You can't get out of the camp without this transfer option. There is something for everyone: water sports, shopping, hiking (some with outdoor overnight stays), horseback riding, wellness, whale and dolphin safaris, etc.

I already know today that I will be going to South Africa again in February 2023 for another four weeks. This experience has been a dream come true for me!

Field report by Tina, January/February 2022