thegreatprojects.com

Namibia and South Africa projects

Just returned from 2 projects in Africa booked through The Great Projects!Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary: Namibia is truly a hidden treasure in plain sight! The Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary is a wonderful organization with great people and an ambitious mission to help wildlife and preserve the various natural landscapes of Namibia. I was fortunate enough to see so many incredible animals including: lions, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, leopards, cheetahs, oryx, eland, springbok, and the list goes on. Equally as rewarding, I met dozens of amazing people during my six weeks with the organization - both other volunteers from around the world, and the staff members who are incredibly friendly and knowledgeable. I would like to mention Romeo, Sima, Dawid, and LeeAnn specifically for their continued help and hospitality. I would highly recommend spending at least 3-4 weeks at this program so that you can include one or more of the "extra" weeks away from the main sanctuary. I did the Neuras, Kanaan, and TimBila projects in addition to 3 weeks at the sanctuary, and it was a great way to feel at home and comfortable at the program while still getting to explore different regions of the country. Neuras and Kanaan offer incredible landscapes, and peaceful, quiet weeks in the sparsely-populated desert regions of the country. Sunrises and sunsets here are amongst the best I've ever seen in my life. Note that these areas are not as abundant in wildlife as some of the other areas (specifically large wildlife) given the aridness of the desert. TimBila is an absolute gem of a wildlife reserve. Here is where you will feel like you're sharing a home with elephants, lions, zebras, etc. TimBila is a must in my opinion. I will be forever grateful to this project for the incredible memories and the new friends I made. 5 stars Amakhala Conservation Project: This project was a fun experience - I got to see many incredible animals including: elephants, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, and zebras. Socially, the program was very nice. During my two weeks, we had 14-16 volunteers, and it was nice to meet people from different parts of the world. While the ages of the volunteers will obviously vary from week-to-week, the age demographic of this program tends to be quite young (16 - early 20s). Additionally, the two volunteer coordinators we were with daily were also 24. This may be something to keep in mind if you're an older volunteer. A few things that I think are helpful to note when researching projects. This project is at least 50-50 in terms of a split between wildlife volunteering and community volunteering. You can expect to be on the reserve 2, maybe 3, days of the week. Other days will be spent volunteering with the local children or having free time (weekends). Also, you do not stay on the reserve. The volunteer house is located ~30-45 minute drive from the reserve. This means that you do have access to stores and such daily, but it is unlikely that you will see wildlife unless it is a day which you are scheduled to be in the reserve. There are other programs where you stay in the reserve or adjacent to it therefore you have a higher likelihood of seeing wildlife more frequently. I would recommend this project mainly to younger volunteers who want a mix of community-based volunteering and wildlife viewing. There is not as much hands-on work with the animals as you would find at an animal sanctuary project (which makes sense as the animals on the reserve at Amakhala are wild animals so there shouldn't be much hands-on work with them). All in all a fun time. 4 stars

Date of experience: Jun 22, 2025