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Orca Conservation Volunteer Program
Orca Conservation Volunteer Program
The ORCA Foundation, a conservation node of Ocean Blue Adventures, officially opened its doors in 2001 and was designed to create awareness about marine conservation issues facing Plettenberg Bay. Today, the foundation combines research, conservation and education into its comprehensive volunteer programme.
ORCA Foundation
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Location
  • South Africa
    • Knysna
Length
2 to 12 weeks
Project Types
Childcare Community Development Social Services Youth Conservation Marine Conservation Environmental Conservation Wildlife Conservation Education Teaching Disabled Care Tourism +2
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Program Details

Language
English
Timeframe
Year Round
Housing
Guesthouse Hostel

Pricing

Price Details
Visit our website for more details on program costs.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Meals Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Airport Transfers Domestic Airfare SIM cards Travel Insurance Visa
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Frequently asked questions

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About Program

ORCA Foundation combines conservation, education, research, community development, and tourism into its comprehensive volunteer program. It’s all hands-on! All activities depend on season, weather, and need, and as such may be subject to change throughout the year. As a result all placements are different, and you may or may not be involved with the above activities. Volunteers can also expect to contribute to Ocean Blue Adventures’ commercial operations. Bad weather days can delay conservation/research activities and may involve indoor activities and courses.

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Program Highlights

  • Marine Conservation
  • Research projects
  • Community upliftment
  • Education
  • Adventurous and fun

Video and Photos

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Volunteers making a difference
You will occasionally attend to dead whales, dolphins and seals ashore to assist biologists with scientific dissections and the collection of samples for research.
You will join Ocean Blue Adventures on their commercial whale and dolphin watching boat trips when there are available seats to record opportunistic sightings of marine animals such as whales, dolphins, seals, sharks and seabirds.
You will assist our cetacean biologist during dedicated boat-based surveys (4 per month) to collect sighting and photo-identification data.
You will assist our biologists during routine boat-based surveys (4 per month) to Robberg Peninsula to monitor the number of seals that haul out, and, from November-February the number of new-born pups.
You will assist our biologists during dedicated boat-based surveys to record the presence, individual identity and behaviour of these seals. Using photo-ID techniques you will identify individuals with unique flipper scars
You will regularly hike out on Robberg Peninsula to perform dedicated observation sessions from designated cliff-top monitoring sites.
Our biologists collect monthly scats samples to update the current diet of Cape fur seals that haul out on Robberg Peninsula. You will assist them with routine processing of samples and preliminary identification of prey remains for future analyses.
You will assist with intertidal baboon foraging research by participating in weekly hiking surveys at four different sites along the Garden Route coastline. During these hikes we aim to record the number and location of baboon scats, as well as collect them for subsequent diet analysis.
We regularly hike along Plettenberg Bay’s beaches to clean up marine debris. Unfortunately we live in a world where people still expose of their rubbish from vessels, in rivers or on beaches.
As part of a citizen science project we perform mini-SASS river health assessments at various sites along the Bitou River. In order to complete an evaluation the river needs to be sampled for micro-invertebrates.
One of the ORCA Foundation’s goals is to remove as many alien plant species as possible from the Plettenberg Bay area. These species are not compatible with our forests and are known to use a lot more water resources than our indigenous plants.
Once a week, volunteers visit young children at the local crèche to give a lesson on basic English words based on the theme of the week.
Once every two weeks volunteers may visit the Knysna Animal Welfare Services centre (KAWS) to assist with general maintenance of the facility and interact with cats and dogs.

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Community Questions

About ORCA Foundation

The Orca Foundation is part of a volunteer community dedicated to marine conservation in South Africa, and like many conservation projects depends on the willingness of others to contribute their time and dedication to furthering the volunteer and conservation ethics that go hand in hand for a better future.

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