DAKTARI Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage

First of all... JUST DO IT! You have nothing to lose. It will be one of the best adventures of your life with memories that will stick with you forever.

Secondly, don’t go for just one week. By staying longer, you will be able to improve your teaching skills and you will have time in the weekend to do awesome excursions.

Monday through Friday you will be teaching a group of eight kids, aged 12-16, about their own environment and important life skills. These lessons include helping the children with chores that need to be done to keep the animals at Daktari happy and healthy. Volunteers also have the opportunity to get involved with the local community by teaching at Eco-Club. A voluntary after school club at two schools in the neighbourhood.

In the weekends, you have time off to go to Hoedspruit or go on an excursion.

My biggest fear was not feeling at home and not being able to connect with other volunteers. I overcame these fears quickly. During my layover at Johannesburg airport, a man approached. Awkwardly, he asked me “Are you going to Daktari?”. Friendships are so easily made. With so many different people there’s never a dull moment.

We regularly have former students who attended our onsite Environmental Education program or our offsite Eco Club who come back to DAKTARI to visit us. I especially remember Wellington: he first came when he was 12 years old, and kept coming back during his holidays to help with animals. He had always been passionate about animals and wanted to work with them.
Over the years we eventually offered him a volunteer experience as animal manager. We trained him at the wildlife orphanage and arranged for him to attend several courses, one of which was a wildlife rehabilitation course, and another a tracker-training course. Thanks to the support of Kruger2Canyon Biosphere he was enrolled in their Environmental Monitors Program. While he was a full-time paid employee as the DAKTARI’s animal manager he became confident with computer work and was always trying to improve the camps of the animals, coming up with innovative ways to give them enrichment. After two full years of experience with us, he has been recruited by Hoedspruit Endangered Species as a curator. Willington is such an ambassador for DAKTARI!

Our programs are divided into three main areas: Onsite Environmental Education program, Wildlife Orphanage, and Outreach, which comprises of bi-weekly Eco Club, campaigning in primary schools, Village Tour and Homestay. Volunteers can experience all of the above if they want. The longer they stay, the more likely they are to be able to do all the activities, and even more! We also offer excursions in the Kruger National Park or the Blyde River Canyon so they can explore the wonders of South Africa. Staying for 3 to 5 weeks is recommended to have a complete experience of DAKTARI!

DAKTARI is unique as it offers a combination of teaching children with our Environmental Education program and taking care of animals through our Wildlife orphanage. The volunteers that come to DAKTARI can experience a wide range of activities, both onsite and offsite, as we also make them participate in our Outreach programs. The team is flexible and always making sure we can provide the best experience possible, adjusting schedule to try to meet everyone's needs whilst still achieving our goal that is to educate and inspire local children to value their environment and stimulate community development.

I believe that a company can only be successful if it has strong values and ethic and stand by them even in difficult times. The employees must also be aligned to these values and share the vision of the company, working as a team towards the same goal. Successful organisation are driven by passionate and competent leaders who are willing to take feedback to improve so they can keep delivering excellent results.