Join Our Wildlife Volunteer Projects

The trip of a lifetime! I had the most amazing time with a great group of people. I learned so much about the reserve and conservation, and got to immerse myself a bit in South Africa and South African culture as well. There are too many highlights to mention! Seeing a baby Elephant and Cheetah cubs, helping feed a Cheetah and Wild Dogs, finding a pair of male Cheetah after searching for them for ages, having a braai with everyone! Our monitors were super entertaining and engaging and really knowledgeable about the animals and the landscape!

Excellent experience. I will definitely recommend this program to people around me and will try to return again. Wildlife ACT definitely makes an impact. I love the fact that Wildlife ACT contributes with providing data to make informed decisions and gather support when needed. The passion of our two monitors showed incredible effort, love, and time allocated to the conservation program, as well as kindness to volunteers. They are two of the best assets you have :)

My experience with Wildlife ACT was fantastic! I will be returning very soon… already booked! I’d thoroughly recommend this experience to anyone with an interest in wildlife conservation. The patience, dedication and knowledge of the team, is incredible, and I look forward to being back with them. It was an opportunity to experience the animals in an up-close, but safe and respectful manner, and a chance to work with such a dedicated team. We worked well as a group and our monitor was easy to get on with, very professional, as well as a good laugh – a real asset to the team! We had a fantastic time and saw a lot of exciting things.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Southern Berg project. I went there with a passion for Vultures from what I had learned at university. Having the opportunity to participate in a practical, hands-on experience of monitoring, management, and observation of these incredible species, was inspiring and insightful. Having the chance to put what I have learned theoretically in lectures, into practice for a species I hold close to my heart, was a completely different experience. Learning new skills and approaches to conservation, will take with me further in future employment and endeavors. Wildlife ACT's team is warm, welcoming, and supportive, and I cannot thank them enough. It was fantastic to meet like-minded people with a shared passion for these fantastic vultures.

My overall experience during my four weeks with wildlife ACT were truly unforgettable. I never thought I would do such meaningful work and meet the amazing people that I did. I will be back as soon as I can! Our monitor taught me so much - way more than I expected to learn even. He knows every bird, plant, reptile, everything. He could identify birds by their calls and it was so cool to learn so much. He was also a very kind and a fun monitor to have!

I really had the time of my life during my stay. I learned a lot from both the monitors and the other volunteers. It was a very good experience that I can recommend to many people. The fieldwork was always very good! We got to do a lot and also saw a lot. It was very nice that our monitors often stopped to explain certain things we saw. This was very informative and a great added value! We were also lucky to be allowed to be part of the collaring of a Cheetah. This was by far the highlight! But monitoring the Wild Dogs was also one of the many highlights.

It was an amazing experience! It was my second time volunteering with Wildlife ACT and it was just as incredible as I remembered. We learnt so much about the wildlife and met passionate people and beautiful animals. A highlight was definitely finding the Wild Dogs! It felt like time stopped in those moments! Our monitor always had a good story to tell about the animals, and we enjoyed them very much!

My experience was FANTASTIC! Booking and communication was amazing - prompt and clear. It was easy to slip into the routine required and I thought the field work was amazing. I enjoyed the inclusive and friendly atmosphere and the passion of the Wildlife ACT staff. I love what you are doing and really believe you do make a difference.

That was the best part of my life in South Africa. I want to give a big thanks to our monitors. They shared all kinds of knowledge about the animals and the policies around protecting them. Even though my English is not very good, they still chatted with me like friends, made us laugh, and took us to do all sorts of things. I never thought I would see a Brown Hyena! At the end we even successfully helped complete work with a Cheetah. How perfect it ended! I will definitely come back again. See you soon guys!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. A great experience once again topping my previous visit in 2018. The field work was excellent. The chance to be up close with Rhino and Cheetah, far surpassed my expectations. Very informative and we learned something new at each sighting. Making new friends and getting a chance to be involved at the top level with a collaring and animal relocation, were true highlights. Our monitor was marvellous. He has an excellent attitude and a clear love for the work he does. He can read the crowd very well and his emotional intelligence is up there with the best. He has a fantastic rapport with the staff and volunteers and is willing to help in any way he can. A true asset to Wildlife ACT.

My overall experience with wildlife ACT has been amazing. My group grew so close in the short two weeks and we all had so much fun together. The conservation work we did was so rewarding and an incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience. The pre-arrival/booking process, accommodation and field work, all way exceeded my expectations. Highlight of my stay were definitely making life-long friends and connections within my group, as well as being a part of an Elephant herd relocation. Our monitor was an awesome leader!! I will miss him and his knowledge!

It was truly amazing and the best experience I’ve ever had. I enjoyed every minute of being there. I think experiences like these are really unique and I will do my best to spread the word about your projects and I hope to bring more volunteers from Slovenia :) Seeing a cheetah and her three cubs eating an impala, a leopard with cubs, meeting amazing people and seeing all the effort and love that the Wildlife ACT monitors put in their work – were all highlights.

I loved volunteering with Wildlife ACT. Not only are you able to spend time doing meaningful work, you are also able to meet people from all over the world who are also passionate about wildlife and conservation. The group we had was fabulous, I think it made the experience of being in the bush even better.

Excellent. To see so many Cheetahs and come away with the experiences we had, are really unique moments which very few people will ever see. Knowing our money goes towards sustaining a great cause, makes the whole experience even more satisfying. Bronwen is awesome during the booking process, incredibly informative and attentive to the questions we asked, as was the case last time! Accommodation was a lot better than we expected, even having seen photos beforehand. The rooms are very warm at night, cool during the day, and very comfortable. The field work was arguably even more fantastic this time around due to being very lucky and witnessing the collaring of a Cheetah. It was a real privilege. We have 0 complaints about anything done in the field. I also saw Black Rhino for the first ever time, courtesy of our monitor’s eagle-like eyesight. So many once-in-a-lifetime moments crammed into 2 weeks!

My experience was excellent! I especially appreciated the opportunity to see a Vulture tagging as well as a Wild Dog collaring and relocation first-hand. Seeing the Wild Dog pack most days was wonderful. Bronwen is helpful and responsive during booking process. Accommodation is clean and reasonably comfortable. Volunteers can understand the budget constraints and prefer that their funds be spent on conservation efforts.

My time here was absolutely amazing and beyond exceeded the expectations that I had coming in. I learned far more than I ever thought I would about the process and methods that are used in wildlife conservation. I also have so much newfound knowledge about South Africa and its species, as well as different behavioral signs and traits. I had so many valuable moments that I will take with me through further experiences and journeys. Great food, comfy rooms, and lovely camp to spend time on. Being able to feel the breathing of a Lion that we darted and see them in all their beauty and majestic form, was an experience that will forever impact me and push me to continue supporting wildlife conservation.

AMAZING! From the meetings, to the monitors, the landscapes, the camps, the animals - it's an unforgettable experience. The accommodation and field work, both way exceeded my expectations. At iMfolozi, we had the great luck to relocate a Cheetah and collar a Wild Dog during our 2 week stay. I really enjoyed the time spent with our monitor. He is super kind, patient, and he taught us a lot.

It was an incredible 2 weeks, which far exceeded expectations. Booking and making arrangements, was easy and efficient. The monitors on the reserve were brilliant - very knowledgeable, patient and fun to be with. I asked for Wild Dogs, and I certainly got Wild Dogs, and I couldn't have been happier. The accommodation was basic but adequate, and I didn't expect any more from it. It was clean and the position of it up on the hill could not have been better. I loved it there! I learnt a lot during the field work and it was great fun and such an experience. Wildlife ACT is involved in many aspects of conservation and it was good to meet other researchers that were staying at camp and learn from them.

The whole experience was super cool and chilled. Both the accommodation and field work, way exceeded my expectations. The Manyoni House I stayed in had everything we needed. There are so many highlights from the experience to be honest. It's so cool in general to see those animals in the wild. The best thing for me was when we found a lioness with a really small baby in her mouth. Our monitor was always full of energy and motivation and I also really liked to see how excited he got when we arrived at sightings or found an animal.

I had four unforgettable weeks in Zululand, first in Tembe, and then in Manyoni. I met a lot of great people and had a lot of nice encounters with various animal species like Lions, Cheetahs, Spotted Hyenas, Wild Dogs and Vultures. I also really liked the active involvement in wildlife conservation. There were so many highlights, but helping to feed the Wild Dogs was an especially special experience. And then we saw one day a vulture-dinner, with about 100 White-Backed Vultures, four Lappet-faced Vultures and two Hooded Vultures. This was my very special highlight! A special big thank you to the reserve management, who showed and shared a lot with us.

It was an outstanding experience and I would do it over and over again. I enjoyed every minute of it. It was by far the most rewarding volunteer project in terms of wildlife conservation I have ever been on. Great job to everyone at Wildlife ACT! There are so many. Each day was a highlight. Monitoring the wild dogs was my priority and I got to do that. We could even collar one of the dogs. Both the pre-arrival/booking process and field work way exceeded my expectations. Our monitor was very knowledgeable and experienced. I could learn so much from her. She‘s a legend.

My experience exceeded expectations in terms of involvement and activity. We were fortunate to receive the Painted Dogs while here. Attending to them and the daily field work, was terrific. Bronwen was incredibly helpful and professional throughout my booking, which began years ago, just before Covid. As you should know, the days are long and start early, and I appreciated having the option to pass on outings now and again to rest. Our involvement at Manyoni with the Painted Dog preparation and the field work for Lion call-ups was so rich, and the monitors there were so delightful, helpful and engaging. They communicated very well the plan for each day the night before and set expectations.

It's an experience you have to live at least once in your life. Wildlife ACT allows us to experience incredible moments in the bush, especially with Lions and Cheetahs (for my part). The sharing of experience and knowledge between monitors and volunteers is also very rewarding! The field work way exceeded my expectations. One of the most memorable moments for me during this experience is when we were able to participate in the placing of a collar on one of the Lions on the reserve... It was a very intense and impressive moment! Thank you Wildlife ACT and to all the monitors for this magical experience on all points!!

It was such an amazing experience. I learned so many things and had such a great time with the group. Seeing so many animals was such a dream come true. I felt very welcomed and safe. The Manyoni house is a very comfortable place. You have enough space to be all together. Seeing Hyenas so close to us the one morning (and also so many lions) was one of my highlights.

Amazing!!!! The monitors were knowledgeable and willing to share, answer questions and be entertained by the volunteers. Accommodations were much better than I had expected. The group of volunteers I was with were all excited to be there and wanted to participate and learn. I’m amazed at the work we got to do, got to watch, and got to learn about. I enjoyed the challenges we were given each day as well. I believe if you come to this project, you should be ready to accept whatever there is available, as it is made clear that this is not a safari camp but more rustic. We had great experiences and would not change a thing.