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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Monkey business is certainly allowed on this project which is set in a stunning area of South Africa close to the wilderness of the world-famous Kruger National Park. The Vervet Monkey Foundation is a huge rehabilitation centre and currently looks after around 500 monkeys, so there will be plenty of opportunities to meet the cute little things. Your time may be spent caring for injured or orphaned monkeys (in baby season Oct – March), working one on one with ex-pets, doing general maintenance work around the centre, enrichment of enclosures and contributing towards the building of new facilities. In your spare time you can even take advantage of the great location and enjoy the country’s animals in the wild.
Today you will be met at the airport and taken to our backpacker’s hostel in Pretoria. You’ll need to arrive in before 4.15pm so that you’re all ready for the orientation which kicks off at 5pm. The journey from the airport to Pretoria should take around 45 minutes. The orientation is a crucial part of settling in to life in South Africa and will take you through what it’s going to be like at your project, do’s and don’ts, how to stay safe and it’s your prime opportunity to ask any burning questions that you haven’t yet had answered. After the orientation you’ll have some time to relax and prepare before your first day at the project tomorrow.
If you aren’t able to arrange a flight to get you into Johannesburg before 4.15pm then we’d recommend you fly in a day early. We can arrange an early airport pick-up for you including one night’s accommodation, please give us a call for more information.
This is the time to get things started! Today you will be transferred to your project; you will meet your team and start your volunteering. This project is based in Tzaneen, which is roughly 420kms north of Johannesburg. To get there you’ll travel from Pretoria bus station by Translux bus, which leaves at 10.30am daily and arrives in Tzaneen at 3.40pm. A representative from the monkey sanctuary collects you from the Tzaneen bus stop –and then it is a journey of 25minutes approximately from Tzaneen to the project.
The project and accommodation are on site, so there are no transport costs once you arrive! The team will make sure you get settled in and know what you’re doing. You will be introduced to the staff at the project who will be your main contacts while you are working. Your first day will be all about settling in and getting to know how things work.
Be prepared for the fact that between November and February, you may be starting the day as early as 6am and finishing at 4pm in baby season including occasional overnight shifts with the babies – well worth it to see that sun rise. Outside of these months, you may start at 8am and finish at around 5pm. You have half a day off at weekends and one day off during the week. Talk to the team if you’d like to take some time to go to Kruger; you just need to make sure that your absence can be covered, that’s all.
You can expect to become involved in a variety of duties which can vary from starting with monitoring the health of monkeys in the morning to a baby shift and then possibly helping with construction or maintenance. Duties involve looking after the orphans, bowl washing, feeding, sickbay, enclosures, observations & recording data, working with and grooming ex-pet monkeys, blanket washing, construction, writing articles for newsletters or taking photos collecting fruit and vegetation for monkeys.
Now that you’ve learnt the ropes you will be acting as an extra pair of hands at the project, assisting wherever help is needed. You’ll be working alongside the regular staff so there’ll always be someone there to help you, but the more pro-active you are the more you’ll get out of your experience. If you think something needs doing, don’t be afraid to get in there and do it!
You are entitled to a half day of your own time on either day at the weekend which can be spent exploring all that the local area has to offer. Occasionally a member of staff will be able to take a group out on an afternoon (dependant on vehicles and drivers), or drop you at the nearby country lodge, pool & spa. Our suggestions include visiting Debengeni waterfalls, visiting the tea gardens and the baobab tree, relaxing at the local country lodge and spa, visiting Kruger National Park, visiting Graskop, Gods window, potholes, go on the gorge swing, quad biking, horse riding or other activities. You can then also choose a day off midweek to spend as you choose.
Mondays to Fridays will be spent at the project with your hald day during the weekend and day off free to fill with whatever you fancy! Don’t forget to keep asking the staff for more challenges if you feel like it – there’s more than enough work to go around.
Once you’re ready to explore further afield the team at the sanctuary can help organise touring trips with a local qualified tour guide. Whether it’s a riverboat safari, visiting the magnificent Kruger park, or just a day chilling by the pool in a 5* hotel. The guide will collect you directly from the volunteer village and return you safely.
Having said goodbye to all your new friends and packed your bag full of souvenirs you’ll travel back to the airport. The return transfer from Tzaneen to Johannesburg is not covered within your project fee, but our regular transfer company will be able to help you sort the journey back, the costs will be around US$20 and this is easily arranged in country.
The project provides a sanctuary for orphaned, abused or injured vervet monkeys and aims to rehabilitate them into natural enclosures. They also educate the local community on how to peacefully co-exist with vervets as well as explaining the importance of the vervet in the eco-system. The Vervet monkey is listed on CITES appendix 2 as threatened.
The sanctuary is in one of our most rural locations, Tzaneen, and gives you an opportunity to get involved in a project where the Vervet monkey is the epicentre of everyone’s attention. If you’re not into Vervet monkeys then this isn’t the project for you! Everything you do here is with the precious primates in mind, whether that is preparing food, washing, cleaning, cooking – you’re all working together for the same cause.
There are approximately 500 vervet monkeys in the 25 hectare sanctuary with over 10 large enclosures and many smaller introduction cages. The foundation has a sickbay on site to treat injured or sick monkeys, has 12 local volunteer staff in addition to the volunteers.
The project relies solely on volunteers for funding and to help the centre run. They would be unable to achieve many of their goals without your help. Examples are constructing new enclosures, looking after babies, bringing new skills amongst many others. The monkey sickbay was built solely by volunteers and our volunteer staff along with our baby care centre and many other enclosures.
Please note we require a TB test to be completed for you to participate in this project. You’ll be spending lots of time in close proximity to these rare creatures so we need to ensure that you don’t have any communicable diseases that you might pass on to them. A chest x-ray will need to be carried out in order to show the results. Please note that if you are not able to secure this before leaving for South Africa, you will be able to complete this on your first day in South Africa for around R300.00 which is approximately US$40. You’ll need to take the results with you to South Africa.
Your working hours on this project are roughly from 7am-4pm will be Monday – Friday with one day off midweek and a half day off at the weekend. There are different areas to participate in, including:
You will find all resources that you need at this project so there’s no need to bring anything along from home.
If you do have a specific interest in a field that you’d like to get involved in at the project please let us know.
I spent a wonderful 4 weeks at the Vervet Monkey Foundation (VMF) from 7th September 2009. For me it was the experience of a lifetime, set in stunning African countryside, the time flew by. If you have a passion for animals, don't mind some hard work and enjoy hands on experience with wildlife then this enjoyable and worthwhile opportunity should not be missed.
Volunteers are given responsibility right from the beginning. I was taught what each duty or task involved. I might spend an hour or so cutting up vegetables and fruit and then fed these snacks to the vervets. Many would take directly from my hands, through the wire cages, carefully picking out the fruit or vegetables they liked. It was a fantastic feeling.
I also got the opportunity to go into one of the large enclosures (supervised by a long-term volunteer) to put out food bowls and some of the lower ranked monkeys leapt on my shoulders. In addition there is time to "groom" monkeys, from outside their cage, but a few from with in - these moments are particularly magical. Vervet monkeys are so human like and fascinating to interact with.
It's lovely having the friendly cottage to chat and relax in, each evening. Meals provided are delicious and there is always masses to eat. Great too there is no electricity in "Volunteer Village" - like being in the middle of the African bush when you walk back at night.
Not only did I work with incredible, intelligent monkeys, but the VMF organised a fabulous 3 day safari in Kruger National Park. The tours are led by a local guide who has many years experience and was able to point out wildlife which we would never have seen if on our own.
The longer I was at VMF the more swept up I got into the amazing environment and the more I started to care and be concerned for the animals there. I really do recommend Vervet Monkey Foundation as a volunteering holiday and am so glad I went.
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
It's important that you get adequate travel insurance for your i-to-i experience and as many of you will be working this often means standard policies won’t work. The good news is that no matter where your coming from we have already found a policy to suit you.
The best time to get your insurance is when you book your project as this means you can get a fully tailored policy exclusive to i-to-i, just ask your consultant for further details at the time of booking.
EU Customers – find out more here >>
Australian customers - find out more here >>
All other customers - find out more here >>
As with insurance we advise you get these booked as early as possible to avoid high prices and to make sure you arrive on the right day. The i-to-i team is right up to date with the best deals no matter where you’re flying from; their insider knowledge could save you some time and money.
Early airport pick up is possible to arrange on the day before the listed start date if required. You will be met at Johannesburg International airport and transferred to Pretoria Backpackers for your overnight accommodation. This backpackers is where the
The cost of this Early Pick-up service is €145.00
You will live in basic but clean 2 person wooden cabins at the project location, sleeping on mattresses. The cabins do not have electricity, so please bring a torch/flashlight and plenty of batteries.
You should bring your own bedding although you will have a mattress, sheet, pillowcase and pillow provided. Toilets are eco style toilets with worms and enzymes that do the composting, and showers are bush showers but have limited running hot water. Due to the fact water is brought onto the site each day; you will only be able to take one shower a day.
The accommodation area has a shower, toilet, kitchen and a campfire for evening BBQ’s (braais!). Crockery and cutlery is provided. There is also a computer with internet at the volunteer cottage and a mini self service bar with soft & alcoholic drinks, crisps and chocolate for sale.
Breakfast and Lunch is self-service and food is provided at the project. Meals are basic including cereals, sandwiches and salads. Dinner is provided daily and prepared Mon – Fri. Meals will need to be prepared by the volunteers themselves over weekends an opportunity for anyone who likes cooking to get inventive. It is important to note that meals are vegetarian, but you will not go hungry! No meat or fish is to be brought onto the premises but there are local lodges to eat at on your days off if you wish.
Tzaneen has a subtropical climate with many scenic opportunities nearby such as waterfalls, Kruger National Park, Baobab tree, tea gardens, country lodge & spa.
Here is a list of suggested items to bring sent directly from the monkey project to make your stay even more comfortable:
On site! In an accommodation village fully equipped for your needs during your stay.
You're based on the project itself, you’ll never be late for work!
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.
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