About i-to-i What i-to-i trips and TEFL are, how and why we do what we do!
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About i-to-i What i-to-i trips and TEFL are, how and why we do what we do!
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By working on this amazing reserve (which is also a 5 star venue with golf course and Spa!!!), you will be helping to care for wilidlife ranging from lions and cheetah to snakes, reptiles, meercats and horses! You will be amazed at the experience that awaits you!
The game reserve is located around 1.5 hours North of Pretoria on 1600 hectares of malaria free pristine land. The reserve originally had the idea of combining a nature reserve with a golf course and letting the animals roam freely without any fences or separation. This has now grown and a 5 star health spa, an equestrian centre, bird aviary, and a snake and reptile park to name a few have been added to the reserve providing an amazing experience to visitors. Volunteers will be helping to care for lions, cheetahs and a range of other animals on the reserve and will be working alongside the qualified game rangers gaining experience first hand from their amazing knowledge. The reserve places a very high value on the care of the animals and aims to provide the best care possible to all on the reserve. Your assistance is highly valued in helping out with the care of widlife and ensuring that enclosures are clean and well maintained and animals are fed and watered.
Anyone who has a passion for working with animals and for making sure that they are well cared for - coupled with a desire to spend two weeks in one of South Africa's most stunning reserves. The reserve believes that there is never too much time spent on ensuring the well being of all the animals and is looking for volunteers who are passionate in this field. You will need to be flexible and able to work within the varied requirements of the project and be prepared to get stuck in and get your hands dirty too!
You will be caring for the varied array of animals at the reserve making sure that they have sufficient water and food and that their enclosures are kept clean and well maintained. You will be working 5 days a week from 7am to 5pm with 45 minute break during the day, 30 minutes of which is for lunch. You will ordinarily have 2 consecutive mid-week days off to relax and enjoy the beauty of the reserve!
Below are some examples of what you could be getting up to!:
Lion and Bengal tiger cubs – caring and feeding for the cute cubs and making sure that their enclosures are clean and well maintained.
Cheetahs – feeding and caring for these graceful animals. The reserve also has a cheetah run on a Friday and Saturday evening where you will be able to see ‘Taran’, the star of the show, reaching 100km an hour in the 130m sprint – very impressive and amazing to watch!
Game – assisting the game rangers as required as there are over 600 animals on the reserve which are allowed to roam freely over the 1400 hectare reserve.
Snakes and reptiles – for those of you who like all things slippery, creepy and crawly you can assist at the Snake and reptile park.
Injured and abandoned game- there is a rehabilitation centre at the reserve that you may be able to help with - there have been many successes here including red hartebeest, porcupine, black backed jackal and many birds.
Horses – there is a new equestrian centre at the reserve and if horses are your primary focus then you can spend some of your time here looking after these beautiful animals. The reserve operates horseback safaris allowing the guests chance to get up close to the game.
Bird aviary, baby crocodiles and meercats – general maintenance and feeding and caring for all of them!
There are other areas that you may get involved in if possible as the centre does have a range of activities such as game drives, game walks, quad bike safaris, horseback safaris, archery, clay target shooting, volleyball so check with the rangers and see what's going on for your days off!
You will be staying in comfortable accommodation on site in houses consisting of 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and lounge. Bedrooms will be on a shared basis and bathrooms will have hot water, shower and toilet, with one bathroom per bedroom.
The accommodation is located on the reserve approximately 800m from the main lodge with transport to the lodge being from the game rangers, staff of the nature reserve or golf carts.
The reserve is situated 30 minutes drive from Bela Bela where there are plenty of restaurants and fast food places, shops and grocery stores. There are often members of staff going to the town so you should be able to get a lift!
You will be eating locally prepared food - lunch and dinner are provided.
You will need to bring your own toiletries and medicines and appropriate clothing for the work that you do not mind getting dirty. Ranger tops can be provided from the reserve at a 50% discount (approximately R75.), and 2 or 3 should be purchased as required. We recommend that you take sturdy 'walking style' books / shoes. Laundry is your responsibility but there is a free laundry service in the staff village.
Please book your flights to arrive into Johannesburg – O R Tambo airport (JNB). You must arrive by 4pm on your arrival date. You will be met at the airport and then taken to Pretoria Backpackers (a guest house) for an orientation at 5pm. After orientation you will have a lovely South African meal and spend the night at the guest house. After breakfast the following day you will be collected by the project and transferred to the game reserve which will take approximately 2 hours.
Please ensure that you arrive by 4pm on the arrival day where you will be met at the airport and taken to Pretoria Backpackers where you will have your orientation meeting at 5pm. You will then enjoy a traditional South African meal.
You will be picked up at Pretoria Backpackers by the team from the game reserve from after breakfast and transfer to the reserve. Transfer will take about 2 hours and will be by minibus. On arrival you will then be able to settle into your accommodation and your surroundings and meet the rest of the reserve team.
Be prepared for an early morning start as you will be starting your work at 7am! You will have a 30 minute lunch break and an additional 15 minutes during the day, finishing around 5pm - phew!
You will carry on with your work at the project and get to know more about the amazing animals, hopefully having the experience of a lifetime! You will have two consecutive days off through the week when you may be able to get involved in the various activities that the reserve can offer. Most of the activities will be offered free of charge to you by the reserve as long as you are able to join a group from their paying guests. The spa is available at a 40% discount and you can also use the 5 star facilities in the evenings such as the bar - but please remember to take some appropriate (ie smart / casual) clothing for this!
You will be transferred back to Pretoria Backpackers arriving in the late morning. From here the choice is yours, you can arrange to stay at the Backpackers for the night, catch a bus to Cape town, experience a Soweto tour or transfer to the airport for your onward flight.
Please note that depending on the number of weeks you book this trip is a total of 15 nights and 16 days / 22 nights and 23 days / 29 nights and 30 days.
It may seem like a strange concept to pay for your volunteer experience. You'd be right if you think you shouldn't and the truth is you actually don't! Your placement is free; it's the benefits around it that you pay for. It's important to note that i-to-i is a travel company and not a charity. We provide a professional travel service. We are responsible for finding and assessing worthwhile projects across the world, preparing you fora the volunteering experience and supporting you whilst you're there.
Here’s some more information about what your placement fee covers….
We work with hundreds of locally run partner projects around the world and are constantly sourcing new opportunities. We visit all projects to check that they are worthwhile and legitimate and we also conduct a thorough safety assessment before we'll send volunteers there. More
Almost everyone who works for i-to-i has traveled extensively or worked overseas. This means we're a goldmine of information; we're always available to offer support and guidance before, during and after your trip.
Once you book on to a project you'll receive a Welcome Pack that contains loads of general information about volunteering, about your chosen country and how to have fun and stay safe. We'll also give you advice on visas and inoculations.
If you are volunteering on a Teaching project then a 60-hour Online TEFL course is included in your placement fee. This is an internationally recognised and accredited certificate that will help you to make the most of your time overseas. More
It can be pretty daunting arriving in a different country for the first time - especially after a long flight! If you arrive on your project start date, there'll be a welcoming face at the airport to pick you up and take you to your accommodation.
Soon after you arrive you will attend a thorough orientation with our in-country team. This is to cover important safety and security information. You'll also get some tips about sight-seeing options for your time off and maybe even learn some of the local lingo!
Accommodation is included with all projects and meals are even included with some. We only use locally-owned and operated accommodation so that part of your placement fee is filtering back into the local economy. Most projects offer homestay, guesthouse or shared volunteer houses as standard accommodation, but some offer the chance to upgrade to a more comfortable living standard. More
Your in-country team will arrange a pick-up for you at the airport and will conduct your orientation upon arrival. All coordination teams are English speaking and are locals of your destination country. They won't be at your project every day, but will be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week if you need them. More
Aside from the local support from your in-country team you'll be given access to a 24/7 emergency phone line manned by our response team in case any problem should arise while you're overseas. We also hire crisis management professionals to be on hand in case of a situation that requires additional expert support. More
The safety and security of our volunteers is paramount. For this reason we provide ongoing crisis management and emergency response training to our local teams around the world. We also fly in our in-country coordinators to the UK regularly for thorough training to help them offer the best safety to the thousands of volunteers they support each year. More
We don't fund our projects directly from the project fee that you pay us. Instead we choose to support a number of projects every year through a grant scheme for tangible long-term initiatives. In the last 3 years we have distributed over US$250,000 to our most needy projects to help them in the great work they do.
We make no secrets of the fact that part of your placement fee is reinvested in to recruiting volunteers just like you! The volunteers recruited in one week will typically deliver over 2000 man-days of service. The difference this makes to projects overseas is immeasurable. Many of our overseas projects rely on assistance from international volunteers, so it's necessary for us to put together brochures and websites to find the people who can support them. This recruitment process is vital to ensure programs have a constant stream of reliable volunteers.
Volunteering through a company like i-to-i has a lot of intangible benefits to developing overseas communities and the individual projects that we work with. To find out more about our placements. click here
The following information details what will happen during the first few days of your arrival.
We aim to provide you with a safe and soft landing into your destination by picking you up from the airport, giving you an orientation that helps to settle you into the country as quickly as possible. It’s also the best time to ask any questions you have about your time in South Africa.
You will arrive on the Arrival Date (days will vary) and will be met at the airport on (we recommend you arrive between 8.00 and 16.00 in order to attend your orientation). You will be taken from the airport to the Pretoria Backpackers where you will have an orientation meeting at 5pm introducing you to life in South Africa and at the project. After the meeting you will have a traditional South African meal. The following morning you will be transfered to your project which will take about 2 hours from guesthouse.
A journey into South Africa’s history is to haul through periods of racial tension, oppression and hope. Its multicultural mix originates from the earliest settlers, the San (also known as Bushmen) and Khoi-Khoi tribes, followed by Bantu-speaking groups, and through to the swarm of European traders. The Dutch were among the first European settlers and arrived in the 17th century, establishing their presence through their own dialect, Afrikaan, and religion in the form of the Dutch Reformed Church. By the end of the 18th century, the British began to push their presence forward into the country’s towns. It was a period of flared tensions with Zulu chief Shaka renouncing war on neighbouring tribes. Meanwhile, the Boers (Dutch Afrikaner farmers) and the British became locked in conflict; the Anglo-Boer War lasted from 1899 to 1902, ending with the British taking control of the Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State (OFS) and consequently ruling the country.
By 1910, the Union of South Africa was created and gave political power to whites, while blacks set up political parties in protest, the African National Congress (ANC) the best known. It ushered in the beginnings of apartheid, which became widely ingrained after the Afrikaner National Party came to power in 1948. Violence against protests from blacks was enforced and the black population were evicted to so-called Homelands. In the 1960s, leaders of the ANC were imprisoned, notably Nelson Mandela, and the country became isolated having left the Commonwealth and declaring its republic status. After a long period of racial divide and conflict, in 1989 FW de Klerk came to power with the aim to rid the country of apartheid and instil democracy. The following year, Mandela was released from prison and in 1994 became president after the ANC won the country’s first non-racial general elections; the country also returned to the Commonwealth. The country’s democratic stance has steered it toward a more harmonious future, though economic inequalities between whites and blacks exist, but as the most developed economy on the continent it is in a good position to reconcile with its past.
Naturally, South Africa’s seasons are the reverse of the northern hemisphere with summer heat burning from November to March and cooler winter temperatures from June to August. Temperature wise, spring (September to October) and autumn (April to May) provide a happy medium. Certain must-do activities are restricted to specific times of year: safari is best from June to September and the whale watching season is June to December. The busiest time, hence the most expensive, is during the summer months, while the major school holidays are during December and Easter.
Given the distances involved, flying is the most convenient way to travel between the main destinations, while land transportation can efficiently pick up the rest of the mileage for exploration in and around. There are an assortment of domestic carriers to choose from that fly the main routes, with most running from Johannesburg or Cape Town; these include South African Airways, Nationwide Airlines, Kulula and 1Time. Booking early is advisable to secure discounted rates.
There country also boasts a comprehensive bus network that covers the main cities; the road trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town is around 20 hours (compared to a 2 hour in a plane). The main bus companies are Translux, Greyhound and Intercape. Baz Bus is aimed at the backpacker crowd and provides a hop-on, hop-off service and also travels to remote areas. It’s a good way to discover the picturesque patch of coastline that is the Garden Route, which it services en route from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth.
Train travel can work out longer than by bus, with the trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town edging toward almost 30 hours. If you’re after a little luxury, try the Blue Train or the Rovos Rail for a taste of stylish travel.
Car rental is an attractive option thanks to the good road conditions, great scenery and the flexibility driving allows. The big car rental companies like Avis and Budget have outlets and it’s essential to be fully insured and have a valid driver’s licence. It’s also a convenient way to get around cities as public transport can be unsafe.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s website provides up-to-date political news, travel advice and information on visas
The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA)
Bus company Baz Bus
Domestic airline 1Time
Bus company Greyhound
Bus company Intercape
Domestic airline Kulula
Nationwide Airlines
South African Airways
Bus company Translux
We work in partnership with hundreds of established projects that are run by local communities. The information on our website comes directly from the projects and we work with them to ensure this information is as accurate as possible. However, due to the very nature of the projects themselves the exact details of what happens on a daily basis can change with little or no notice. If you have travelled with us and have any updates to this information, please let us know.
* We can be held responsible for any starry-eyed and amazing journeys of enlightenment, discovery and thorough enjoyment...