Africa

Get involved with successful projects that aim to give children and families the means to sustain themselves. You can help provide food, shelter, clean water, training and health care – and most valuable of all, emotional support.

Orphans in Kimilili get very little love and attention because there simply isn’t enough staff. This is where you come in. You’ll divide your time between teaching and caring for the children – both equally worthwhile tasks.

This distinctive programme offers the opportunity to help the cheetah by clearing the sickle bush, allowing them to exist and hunt in their natural habitat. You will also track and monitor both cheetahs and leopards as well as enjoy being in close proximity to these incredible creatures.

Set up and run sports and teaching sessions for children with virtually nothing. Introduce them to sports they don’t know, like rugby, netball and cricket, or help them improve at football. Use your initiative and you’ll be well rewarded.

Give some much-craved attention to girls from a township. Help them with their schoolwork, teach them vital computer skills or direct them in a play or dance show. They have few possessions but lots of enthusiasm.

Behind the glamour of Cape Town's centre, there are many underprivileged townships that are in great need of assistance in many different infrastructural areas. This is the perfect project for anyone who is looking to help improve the education of underprivileged children, in a way that will make a difference to their lives.

This unique project based in the Kruger National Park looks at the role of the game ranger in managing a game farm or wildlife reserve. It is ideal for those interested in wildlife, African conservation and people who want to learn something during their grown up gap year.

Get to know Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe in a way most tourists don’t. Monitor the elephant population, carry out snare checks, help look for signs of poaching, learn about research methods and take a bush survival course.

Put your passion for football to good use and coach disadvantaged children – enthusiasm is more important than expertise. Give them vital English lessons, and show them much-needed care and attention.

Our Mozambique community development project offers you the opportunity to contribute to important community support and sports programmes, working with children in rural African villages. There’ll be plenty of opportunity to explore Mozambique whilst you’re here.

This conservation project in the Namib desert is about getting out into the field and really making a difference at the forefront of elephant conservation. This is your chance to get involved in vital elephant conservation in Namibia.

Volunteering on this programme gives you an exciting and rare opportunity to work with and care for the animals of Africa on a daily basis. You will look after numerous species, ranging from baboons and meerkats to lions and cheetahs, helping to feed, care and clean them, while also maintaining the centre’s enclosures and grounds.

You will have a unique chance on this project to work closely with the beautiful black-faced Vervet monkeys, along with other African wildlife, caring for their welfare, and rehabilitating them before allowing them to be released back into their natural habitat.

Blighted by poverty and social immobility, the Tanzanian community of Dar es Salaam is in need of help and support. By volunteering at this project, you will help provide children, youths and adults with the educational and life skills needed to avoid falling into the poverty trap.

As a volunteer on the rewarding project, you will help to provide the many orphaned and disadvantaged children of the rural Arusha region in northern Tanzania, with a better start in life as well as hope for the future.

Uganda has one of the highest orphan populations in the world. Volunteers are desperately needed to help improve the lives of vulnerable and orphaned children whose lives have been affected by AIDS/HIV.

Uganda has one of the highest populations of orphans in the world. This volunteer project is based at a community training centre that has been established to teach vocational skills to orphaned, vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Offer much needed assistance to staff at a school located in rural southwest Uganda aimed to provide young people of the area with a higher level of learning, as well as offering orphaned and the most susceptible youth access to a free education.

For a nation recognised as one of drought and famine, the inspiring natural beauty of Ethiopia will surprise any visitor. Volunteers are needed in the northern city of Gondar to assist with education and community initiatives.

The HIV epidemic in Africa has cost many children either one or both of their parents, the children must rely on the efforts of the volunteers who give their time to these projects for care, education, support – any kind of reasonable up-bringing.

This programme deals with the rehabilitation and care of abused horses in the Wild Coast area of South Africa, and is a must for anyone who really loves horses. You will ride on trails through the dramatic scenery of the Wild Coast, passing through beach lagoons and lush green game reserves.

Offer vital support to young children in Tanzania – AIDS victims, and those who have been neglected or abused. Teach them the skills and show them the affection they’ll need to lead happier lives as adults.

Immerse yourself in Kenyan life and become part of a three-year plan to improve life in a rural village. Live and work with the community, helping with tasks such as construction, teaching, landscaping and painting.

Teach English and computer skills in the morning and organise sports sessions in the afternoons. The lessons will greatly improve the children’s prospects, while sport will keep them fit and give them a chance to enjoy themselves.

If you are interested in African reptiles and hands on conservation, then you should consider joining this unique voluntary project. Working directly with reptile experts, your days will be varied and full of adventure.

Help to take the fight against poverty and AIDS to the very heart of the Wild Coast community in South Africa; make a huge difference to the long-term prospects of the village and its people.

Sample Ghana’s fascinating and largely undeveloped culture. Take part in projects that provide medical care and tackle the AIDS epidemic, improve education and leisure activities in orphanages and schools and build new facilities for the community.

This family run farm dedicates its time to establishing the most suitable and secure home possible for neglected or orphaned wild animals in the African Savannah. Volunteers are trained to care for the injured or orphaned animals.

The project is situated at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains to the west of the renowned Kruger National Park. The emphasis is in offering the students a unique bush experience on horseback, walking and driving, where attention is paid not only to the animals, but also to all aspects of local ecology. Volunteers complete an informal course to learn all about conservation in Africa.

Match your skills to one of several worthwhile projects. Get involved in teaching, orphan care, HIV projects and health care, construction, community development, ecotourism and more. Whatever you do will be much appreciated.

Embark on a four week Lake Malawi adventure to work to prevent the continuing decrease of the hippopotamus in the area. The hippos populate the southern shores of the lake, and volunteers will be involved in monitoring them

This medical volunteer programme in Malawi provides a great opportunity to really make a difference in one of the poorest countries in the world. Help is needed in a wide range of duties at the main community hospital and within the community accompanying the mobile medical team.

Make a vital contribution to a beautiful but impoverished country. Give the teachers a much-need hand with English and maths, and help set up sports training sessions and competitions. A little time will make a lasting difference.

Schools in Malawi are seriously under funded with little resources and a lack of trained teachers to educate classes of sometimes up to 200 children. Volunteer help is desperately needed.

Work on one of several projects and help a country ravished by AIDS. Get involved in teaching English to children and adults, building facilities, assisting in an orphanage, improving health education or raising awareness of HIV.

The project is in need of volunteers with a love of books and children! This teaching initiative takes children away from the over-crowded classroom environment for one-on-one tuition sessions. See the pupils reading and writing improve, providing them with a vital life skill.

On this volunteer programme, you have the opportunity to work with African children and contribute to the under-privileged communities in a positive way. Join this programme and really make a difference by sharing your skills through sports or computer literacy training.

Give disadvantaged children in Accra the chance to develop their netball skills, and, in some cases, introduce them to the sport. Coach at different levels and unleash masses of young potential.

Help develop rugby in Ghana, a sport that is in its early stages of growth. Help to raise its profile as a genuine national sport by coaching at grass roots level. If you have experience and coaching qualifications, it is even possible for you to help coach the National sides.

A fantastic opportunity to work on a pioneering lion breeding and rehabilitation programme supported by some of the world’s leading ecologists. Walk and work alongside lion cubs and take part in research activities, facilitating the lions’ safe release back into the wild.

The South African town of St. Lucia and the surrounding area has a population deeply affected by HIV/AIDS. This project is about making a difference to the communities living in the area through the tools of education, caring for those suffering and for the many children made orphans by the virus.

Join our Swaziland Community Sports Project and help to coach sports and support community projects, whilst experiencing the enriching and unique culture of this mysterious and enigmatic African kingdom.

This project in Swaziland not only gives you great hands on experience in care and social development, but you can help make sure that the children get a future that is dramatically better than their first years of life.

Schools in Swaziland are in desperate need of your support, where you will get out as much as you put in. Challenging teaching projects make fun, rewarding and totally worthwhile experiences. Most importantly they give a lot of disadvantaged children a much better chance of a better future.

Put your medical skills to use in area with many sick children. Help out at a clinic, or, if you’re not medically qualified, get involved with education, building or community projects.

Get involved in several projects, based around two schools. Run craft and sports sessions, work with orphans, pass on vital skills and generally help lift the area out of poverty. A varied and rewarding programme.

Provide much needed voluntary assistance to African communities, in exchange for a culturally enriching experience. This programme is located close to Victoria Falls, with many opportunities for travel to Zimbabwe, Zambezi National Park and many other African highlights.

Work as a classroom-teaching assistant, or as a sports coach in Zambia. The aim for both of these projects is to take children from the streets, improve their educational and social skills to give them more opportunities for the future.

Gain invaluable experience through coaching cricket to children in schools, clubs and townships, under the guidance of the highest level instructors - plus get paid for the privilege! Have the rare opportunity to play local league cricket for a South African side, and practice two evenings a week with your new team mates.

Spend your time encountering and photographing a large variety of animals and birds, the project also involves you spending time amongst the local communities, communicating to them the areas conservational needs.

Put your DIY experience to good use – or learn as you go. Help build and repair homes and other facilities, get involved with painting projects and generally give underprivileged children a safer, more secure environment.

If you have an adventurous streak and love the outdoor lifestyle then this could be the perfect programme for you. You will have the most amazing once in a lifetime experience, as you get up close and personal with these notorious creatures!

If you are looking to learn more about the diversity of Africa's animals and eco-systems during a career break, this programme will provide you with a special experience. The project takes you to the forefront of numerous species re-introductions and conservation work.

The Ultimate South African adventure! Tour South Africa’s world famous Kruger NP, work on projects with underprivileged communities in Swaziland and flop on an Indian Ocean beach and relax in Mozambique.

Walk with lions and work with rhinos on a programme that gives you an unforgettable taste of Africa. You’ll get an incredible insight into their lives, and you’ll take part in vital conservation work to save them from extinction. Learning bush survival skills, paddling down the mighty Zambezi River and seeing the even mightier Victoria Falls make for some wonderful memories, not to mention glorious photos! This is a rewarding programme that benefits an amazing country.

Live and work on a safari ranch, helping with efforts to protect black rhino, elephants, buffalo and more. Assist with anti-poaching measures, look after rhino, help with training elephants and get a feel for the real Africa.

Spend two weeks in the remote Namibian bush in a unique, remote medical clinic. You can also spend some time getting to know and caring for Namibia’s native wildlife in a rehabilitation centre based on the plains where a great number of creatures also roam free.

Do you have a passion for art and wildlife? If so, join the Wildlife Conservation Art Course. Our wildlife art course offers a unique African bush experience with a focus on observing wildlife in their natural surroundings, capturing images on paper, developing and improving skills and developing the creative instinct.

Improve your cricket and get paid to coach others. Work on your fitness and skills at the academy, with help from past and present cricket stars, and earn some cash by running sessions for school children.

The Whale Shark is the world’s largest living fish, and the idea of seeing them up close is either scary or exhilarating, depending on whom you talk to. Volunteers on this project will be able to learn about and observe the behaviours of the whale sharks off the coast of Mozambique, during many scuba diving sessions.

Zimbabwe is a well-established country for voluntary work in conservation, especially for working with wildlife in Africa. At this project, volunteers actively participate in lion conservation practices, working closely with the lions and wildlife re-introduction programmes.

Spend a year in South Africa and become a fully qualified field guide. Learn about field research, game capture, patrolling and more, through practical tuition and on-the-job training. You’ll then be eligible to work all over Africa.

On this popular round the world trip, we combine travelling with a number of rewarding volunteer placements in 4 continents. Starting in South Africa you will experience the diverse cultures and landscapes of South Africa - India – Thailand – Australia – New Zealand – USA.