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AD WILDLIFE SANCTUARY FEEDBACK
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NAME: Zoe Trevett
AGE: 28
PLACEMENT: Wildlife Sanctuary
COUNTRY: South Africa |
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Hi Stephanie,
Got back safe and sound and had a wonderful trip. I am so pleased I did the
placement and wish I was still there!! Thank you so much for arranging
everything, it all seemed to go very smoothly.
Regards,
Zoe
Trevett |
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What experience do you feel you gained?
I
feel I have gained a better understanding of how animals function in the
wild and how nature affects the balance. I have learnt how to care for
animals but also when to and when not to fear them. I have learnt how to
adapt to situations and to fit in with systems but also how to make
suggestions of improvements where appropriate. |
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What was
the best thing about your placement? The best thing was definitely the
people that I met, both in terms of the volunteers and the hosts. Sandy and
Percy were so hospitable and make us feel so welcome and a part of the
family. The care and attention to the animals is excellent and they work so
hard to make sure the enclosures are the best they can be given with the
funds available. I was pleased with the amount of contact there was with the
animals, aside from the obvious ones which you couldn't interact with. There
was a good balance between work and play and a good variety of activities. |
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Zoe Trevett |
Would you
recommend this placement to anyone else? Definitely, I absolutely loved
my time there and was extremely sad to leave again. I would definitely go
back myself. |
What type
of person do you think this placement would suit? Someone who loves all
types of animals and is interested in their welfare. Someone who is perhaps
worried about being away from home, as the wildlife sanctuary is basically a home from
home. I feel as if I have an extended family now!
Volunteers do need to be
flexible as jobs do change and they may need to contribute with ideas and
have the enthusiasm to drive a project through. There are so many jobs that
need doing that it is sometimes hard to know which is the priority. And
lastly, someone who absolutely isn't afraid to get dirty (oh and who isn't
afraid of spiders, especially ones who sleep with you!). |
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Can you think of any improvements that could be made to the placement?
Sandy
and Percy have made it as comfortable as possible for both the volunteers
and the animals. Aside from needing more money and more volunteers, there
isn't much more they can do. There are so many ideas they have for
improvements and they are only just learning together with the volunteers,
how to move forward and how to co-ordinate everyone. Sandy and Percy are not
used to having help and therefore find it hard to delegate work, so
volunteers must be enthusiastic and be prepared to take a job over. |
Zoe with a Lynx at the Wildlife Sanctuary |
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Was their anything that you weren’t told before you went away that you think
future volunteers should know?
They are still
waiting for permits and enclosures to be built for the lion cubs so there
are no lion cubs, nor are there cheetahs. Also, Sandy and Percy will advise you on which animals are safe to be with
and which aren't but you will not be monitored and you are left to use your
own common sense around the park, as they cannot be with you 24/7. |
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I don't have
any complaints or issues with the placement as it more than exceeded my
expectations. My only complaint might be that Sandy and Percy didn't work us
hard enough and were concerned that we were enjoying ourselves enough! I
would have felt more satisfied if I had been able to realise more of the
jobs on the list, and this would have been possible if we hard worked
harder! Also, I would have liked to have learnt more about the animals but
found there wasn't enough time in the day to do so, but suspect that was
more of a fault on my part! |
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A TYPICAL DAY AT THE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY by Zoe Trevett
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| Start work at 7am,
where you can usually decide if you want breakfast then or if you want to
wait for a break later on. You have full use of the kitchen. The morning
feed is the priority of the day, so the next 3 hours are very busy
(depending on how many volunteers are present). The birds are crucial, as
food left over from the previous day can make them ill if not changed over
early in the morning. Early morning cleaning and checking of the bird cages
will often leave you with some casualties, which need to be cleared away
asap. Cages are also checked for holes in the netting and you need to be
aware of any birds that have become ill overnight. Food preparation is
kept separate from the cleaning of cages, so groups will be split. One team
will clean cages in preparation for feeding, and the other group will
prepare food. Feeding of the food will be done by whoever finishes first!
After the feed, the
kitchen must be cleaned as well as the restaurant area. By 9am, floors must
be swept and toilets cleaned, ready for any visitors to the park. Once food
and cleaning is done, the rest of the day is pretty much allocated for other
duties, such as building work, either of cages or accommodation, fences need
to be checked on the game park, or basically anything else that needs
ticking off the "to do" list!Percy will often
drop off a team into the game park and they will either walk the fence back
home, checking for holes or they may sit out on the game park and check the
animals and do a count of stock. The game park is very safe to wander around
but you must be in a team.
Back at the
restaurant, someone will usually be asked to stay behind and man the
restaurant, letting in visitors or taking food orders, answering phones etc.
This is usually a good time to check food supplies for both the animals and
humans, as they will need to be given warning as to when stocks are low.
Trips to town for supplies can be accompanied if possible.Lunch breaks are
usually between 1-2pm, depending on what you are doing that day. Tea breaks
as and when you need them. There is an afternoon feed at 3pm, which may only
require 2 volunteers and is only for the birds, as they need fresh food to
see them through the night. A quick check in the cages is necessary to make
sure everyone is looking healthy. This is also the time when meat is
supplied for tomorrows feed and must be collected from other workers on the
farm and packed away.
Your duties are
finished at 4pm, and you can then do as you wish. Usually you will want a
good hot shower and scrub up for dinner! Dinner is usually prepared by Sandy
and served around 6pm. After dinner, we usually sit with the family in the
restaurant area and either watch TV, or talk about the days activities, or
even play games. Sandy and Percy are more than happy for the company as they
are very young at heart!We tended to go to
bed around 8-9pm, simply because we were feeling pretty tired after the
day’s activities and also because of an early start! |
Some of the Meer Cats
A Marmoset |
NAME: Klara Holewa
AGE: 26
PLACEMENT: African Dawn
COUNTRY: South Africa |
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What
experience do you feel you gained? I feel that I gained experience all
around. Working in the resturant, feeding the animals
and doing odd jobs around the farm. I feel that I have extra
experience where I never have had before. I will have more confidence in
doing all different things from new to old. |
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What was
the best thing about your placement? The best thing about the placement
would be that it didn’t feel like work it felt like doing chores in a family
business. Sandy and Percy welcomed all of us volunteers as family and I did
not feel homesick as I had a family to take care and love me. |
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Would you
recommend this placement to anyone else? I would definitely recommend
this to anyone and everyone! |
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What type
of person do you think this placement would suit? This would suit an
outgoing hard working person who loves to do any sort of work from cleaning
to rough and rugged work and who does not mind getting dirty! |
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Can you
think of any improvements that could be made to the placement? No,
African Dawn was perfect.
Can you describe a typical day? We started at 7:00 so we would wake
up and have breakfast and then we would prepare the food for the animals and
give the animals their food. We roughly finished the morning feed by 9 -
9:30. Then we might have a quick tea break and after that we would do
whatever needed doing from cleaning the kitchen and watching the restaurant
to walking the game farm looking for holes or whatever building that might
need doing. We always tried to do anything even if we had a hard time doing
it. Sandy and Percy are very patient and always included us in everything.
We would have lunch from 1:00-2:00 and then continue on whatever was needed.
At 3:00 we would start the afternoon feed then after that was done we would
normally clean up the kitchen make sure all things were done for the day and
usually we would retire back to the cabin at 4 - 4;30.
Supper time
was great as we had a family meal almost everyday and we always socialized
at the end of everyday. It was like one very large happy family it made the
experience even better!
This was the
best thing that I have ever done in my whole life. I have met and worked
with the greatest people. I now have friends and family all over the globe!
The animals were fantastic you couldn't help but bond with them all they had
great personalities!
Working at
African Dawn was more like being welcomed into a family. I will miss them
all very much that it was hard to come home and get back into the swing of
things here in Canada and am still having a hard time without my new
family. |
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NAME: Meghan
Alexander
AGE: 18
PLACEMENT: Wildlife sanctuary
COUNTRY: South Africa |
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What experience do you
feel you gained?
I had an unforgettable experience that I'm sure I will treasure forever! The
placement enabled me to experience a different way of life with a number of
people from all over the world. |
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What was the best thing
about your placement?
The best thing was the
people; Sandy and Percy were fantastic and made excellent surrogate parents!
We had a laugh every day and all became so close! It was a really family
orientated environment, set in a beautiful landscape! It was really
fantastic to step outside and see rolling hills and the occasional zebra, in
the distance. |
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Would you recommend this
placement to anyone else?
I'd recommend the placement to anyone who likes the countryside and doesn't
mind roughing it, just a little bit. It's not just a project for animal
lovers and will suit anyone who likes being outdoors. It's also perfect for
first time travellers and people who struggle being away from home, because
Sandy and Percy will look after you! |
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What type of person do
you think this placement would suit?
Someone who has a good sense of humour and is also able to tolerate a number
of different people. |
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Can you think of any
improvements that could be made to the placement?
The only improvement I'd recommend is that any future volunteers should push
to get as much physical work done as possible, because Percy likes to be a
gentleman and will take too much upon himself - please help him to relax!
Also it would be great to finally get the cheetahs in! |
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their anything that you weren't told before you went away that you think
future volunteers should know? Seriously take a couple of warm fleeces
because it can get very cold at night time! |
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A
typical day? We
were up at 6.30ish to start the morning feed around 7am. The duties were
split between us so that everyone got to do a different job each day; either
preparing the food inside for the animals and birds or working outside e.g.
raking the bird cages. We'd have breaky at 9.30-10ish, then would start our
task for the day. Whilst I was there we finished painting the raccoon cage,
planted trees in the bush buck enclosure, helped do the springbok enclosure
- digging holes for poles and trees and putting up the shade cloth around
the sides, we also started the emergency cages. At 3ish we did the afternoon
feed, which didn't take long, so we'd finish the working day at 4ish. We ate
dinner at about 6.30 and hung out at the house, playing rummikub and uno;
but of course this time is your own so you can do whatever you want. |
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Just wanted to say that
I had a fantastic time and fell in love with the place, the animals and
especially the people! It's difficult to write a feedback form because
everyone will gain something different from the whole thing; what you gain
will depend on how much you put into it! Just appreciate it all the time
because it was over all too quickly!
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