“Hello ! We are Ophélie and Julie. We are 23 years old and come from Belgium. We stayed at DAKTARI for three weeks.
We wanted to volunteer abroad and were looking for a project that was meaningful to us. As future childhood psychologists, we wanted to work with children. Taking care of animals and the environment were other topics that interested us. DAKTARI was the perfect combination. Indeed, it combines different projects and ideals: protecting the environment, the animals, help educating the children, discover a new culture…
So every morning we start with a dog walk. There are four dogs at DAKTARI that we must take care of. All of the children and the volunteers have to participate. After a delicious breakfast (by the way, we enjoyed the peanut butter very much), we do the morning stabling, which means we clean the enclosures and feed the animals. The rest of the day is dedicated to the lessons. We get to talk about different topics, e.g. environment, tracks, animal knowledge, … Each night, there is a different activity to do with the children. For example, we watched the Lion King on Wednesdays. Every activity is also an occasion to learn something. We really enjoyed the stabling because, among other things, we got to see how to feed different animals, including the cheetah, which is very impressive. The meerkats were definitely our favourite the meerkats! They’re very cuddly and friendly. The bonfire was also a fun part! Concerning the lesson, our favourite one was “Making South Africa a better place”. This lesson is interesting because we go over all of the subjects that were discussed during the week. The children can therefore understand the link between they have learned.
During our stay we have been on different excursions. Ophélie, will always remember the walk in the Blyde River Canyon. The nature is extremely beautiful. I am endlessly amazed by the African sceneries because they are full of surprises. And Julie, enjoyed the Kruger Park, which is one of the biggest national reserves in the world. DAKTARI is very close to this park. Therefore it is an opportunity that one cannot miss. I got to see stunning animals that I have always dreamed to encounter.
The most important thing that we have learned is how to take care of the animals. If we had to choose our least favourite part it will be waiting for dinner time because the food was so delicious! Our most striking memory is the afternoon we spent at a village collecting rubbish. Many volunteers and children helped out to clean a school. It was amazing to see everyone coming together and working for the same cause. In the end, we also got to share games and dances with the children. If you think about volunteering, come. Do not hesitate! Three weeks is an interesting length in general. You have the time to get used to the place, do excursions, enjoy the way of living at DAKTARI and say goodbye. If this kind of trip is linked to your future job, you could still do a long term volunteering and get to practice. We can also realize the reality of the life in South Africa and effectively contribute to making it a better place to stay in. We like living the bush life, first because it is a rare opportunity. Secondly we can reconsider our place on this planet. We are all part of the circle of life. We really enjoyed changing our point of view.”