I always wanted to spend some time in Africa, especially with wild animals. While I was looking for different trips, it came to my mind why not do some volunteer work as well? This is how I found The Great Projects. It was very hard to decide from the many options, but eventually, I selected the Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary – and as it turned out it was an excellent choice! Since my workplace only allowed me to go for two weeks, I selected the shortest option, but I highly recommend staying longer, as two weeks was way too short!
DAY TO DAY
We arrived early at the sanctuary and had a short introduction from the booking office, and then we went to our tents. I personally expected worse conditions, so I was very satisfied with my accommodation – including the open-air bathroom. The volunteers are in different groups and the daily activities are rotating, so during one week everyone gets to do everything, and the next week it starts all over again. It is possible to travel to some other sites owned by the sanctuary, I didn’t have time for trying any of it, but from the stories of others, if you stay for more than two weeks it is definitely worth a visit to at least one of the other sites!
The days usually looked like the following: breakfast, morning orientation, morning activity till 13:00, lunch, from 15:00 afternoon activities. From 17:00 we had free time, dinner, chilling, chit-chats and sleeping. I arrived at the end of May, which is the beginning of the winter, which meant very cold nights - seriously cold nights! If someone travels this time of the year, I highly recommend taking a sleeping bag, very warm PJs and some extra shirts, leggings, socks, even gloves (!) for the night. The mornings are also chilly, but there is always warm water for coffee or tea and that saves the morning. The breakfast was always delicious, and they think about the vegetarians or the people with food intolerance as well.
After the morning orientation the weather warms up fast, so during the day, the temperature was really nice. Already the mornings started with many fun activities:
- HPS tracking of different wild animals in the reserve - if you are lucky enough you may see wild dogs, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, zebras, rhinos. Though you may need to walk deep into the bush, so hiking shoes and long pants are lifesavers here!
- Project work could mean a different kind of cleaning or fixing things around the reserve. I for example was cleaning the enclosure of Lucky (a three-legged cheetah), while she was casually walking around watching us picking up her poop and the leftover bones!
- Baboon walk probably speaks for itself, you are walking with the baboons, while they are climbing all over you, trying out some new hairstyles for you. It is really fun because they are really friendly and accept you as part of the troop.
After all this fun, everyone goes to the Lapa (not sure about the proper translation but this was the common place), where we had lunch, shared the morning experiences, and took a little rest before the afternoon fun:
- The cheetah run! This was one of my favourites. Since these cheetahs in the enclosures tend not to hunt, they might become a little lazy, and need some exercise. During the cheetah run, you set up a little toy with a motorised rope on it, and the cheetahs chase it - it is crazy how fast they are! But if it is too warm, you may not see them running, since – as mentioned – they can be a little lazy! Anyhow standing just a couple of feet away from them is incredible.
- Carnivore feeding is another crazy experience. You will feed the wild dogs, leopards, cheetahs, caracals, the brown hyena and if you are lucky enough the lions. It is not a vegetarian-friendly activity, so be prepared... These guys are eating whole chickens, antelopes and other meaty animals which you will need to throw over their fence, sometimes it is not always easy!
After these afternoon activities, we organized some fun for ourselves, there is a gym, volleyball, but sometimes we just played some card games or talked. These times were also very nice, as here you will meet people from literally all over the world.
RHINO RANGERS
There is one more amazing activity, which is, without doubt, my favourite: rhino rangers. This is a one-and-a-half-day program, you will spend in the wild with the rhino rangers. It really is in the wild, in the middle of the bushes of Namibia, and it is amazing. There is a night drive, where you may see amazing nocturnal animals and during night-time, you will sleep outside in a small tent, where lions, baboons and who knows what else will be guarding your dreams – if you can sleep! During the wintertime, in the bush, it is even colder so wrap up warm. The next day there is a little morning hiking to watch over animals. When I was doing this activity, we stood around 5 metres away from three rhinos, I am not saying I was not scared a little, but it was also breathtaking!!!
In general, I only can recommend booking this program, because for me it was truly life-changing and I cannot wait to go back for a longer duration!
TRAVELLING DURING COVID
And if you are worried about the current climate, I travelled in the middle of COVID-19, which was an interesting experience, but everything went smoothly. Since a negative PCR test was required for flying, I didn’t have many concerns. Also, the usually overcrowded airports were surprisingly empty. I had my flight to Windhoek from Frankfurt, the flight was long, and you needed to wear a facemask all the time, which after several hours was a little uncomfortable but understandable. Also, at the sanctuary, we had a short health check, and the new people were asked to stay a little separated from the others, as they wanted to keep the sanctuary a safe COVID-free bubble.
