I have travelled with The Great Projects 4 times, volunteering with animals, and have recently returned from my second visit to the Carnivore Conservation Project in Namibia. TGP are super to deal with, even getting a dedicated contact for questions regarding the projects, through the booking process and even afterwards. All enquiries are promptly answered and telephone numbers are available even when abroad.I have just returned from my second trip to the Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary. The memory of the last one in 2016 stayed with me always, and eventually I had to go back to this most beautiful of countries. Little had changed, and animals still needed caring for and feeding. Each day, your duties changed - feeding animals, game counts, horse management, perimeter monitoring, waterhole cleaning etc. However, you can have a cold beer at the end of each day! The animal food prep area is now much larger though which is good news, and many donations for the animals arrive from hotels, shops etc, and nothing is wasted. The food prep team can take a couple of hours to chop, cut, slice, mix whatever needs doing for the many animals sheltered here. This includes bottle-feeding baby baboons, then walking them with the juveniles in the morning and afternoon. This always creates excitement! On trucks, we feed the lions, leopards, hyena, cheetah, caracals by hurling their meats over a fence - no hand-feeding there... If you're lucky, you'll have time to walk through the bush with three cheetah, or maybe watch their game of chasing a lure in their enclosure. This visit, I rode through the bush on horseback, and walked through a herd of giraffe, who just gave us a quizzical look, but allowed us passage as they were used to the horses we rode. What an experience! The horses are let out at the end of the day to browse through the bush and mingle with the giraffe as well as species of antelope and zebra, so the animals are all accustomed to one another. There is now a K9 project, to train dogs for the Anti-poaching Unit (APU), and a visit to this is so much fun. We are trained as well as the dogs, so I'm going to see what I can now do with my own independent-spirited little pooch. (I'm not holding my breath 🙂 ) To the people at the Namibian Conservation Project, I am now known as a 'Returner". It appears there are many of our species and I even met some! In fact, a returning couple had just been asked to step up as coordinators for a few weeks, as they were to be short-staffed for a little while. You don't know what you're going to encounter day-to-day, which makes getting up before 7am worthwhile.
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The Great Projects is an expert provider of safe and ethical volunteer holidays abroad for solo travellers, families, and groups. Founded in 2006, we offer a selection of unique and exclusive projects across Africa, Asia, Europe, Central America, and South America. Specialising in wildlife conservation, our projects are perfect for anyone looking to go behind the scenes and work with some of the planet's most endangered species.
As members of ATOL and ABTOT, we are fully committed to ensuring the safety of everyone who travels with us. Plus, with flights, tailor-made travel insurance, and a passionate, dedicated, and friendly team available 24/7, we make booking easy, offering peace of mind to all our volunteers throughout their journey. So what are you waiting for? Find your next adventure today, with The Great Projects.See more
