South Africa as a lone woman traveler

vines

Hi,

I spent 4 months volunteering and travelling in south africa in 2007 from may - september and it was so amazing that I thought I'd post to encourage more people to go!!!!
I worked on Amakhala Game Reserve for 2 months, monitoring wildlife and helping out at the orphanage and it was unforgettable. If anyone wants to do something similar, the best thing to do is to contact the game reserve directly, and the smaller the game reserve, the more you'll get to do.....just make sure you dont end up a slave on a hunting farm....where they breed and capture animals to provide trophy hunters with easy prey....disgusting! :mad:

Anyway, I travelled from Cape Town up the coast to Durban and from there went inland to Johannesburg, and with the exception of Jo'Burg, I stayed in backpacker hostels all the way. I never had any hassle at all, no-one robbed me or threatened me in anyway, and I had the time of my life! South Africans get a bad rep, but once you get through their tough exterior they are amazing! I traveled on the Baz Bus most of the way, and they for the last two weeks met up with a friend and we hired a car from P.E. to Durban.

If anyone has any questions they'd like to ask about S.A. or volunteering there, I have all the local website links and info to get yourself set up!

Four of a kind

Great stuff!

I'm heading to Tanzania in jan with my girlfriend and we are doing 3 months independent volunteer work in local orphanages there.
Would love to hear more about your volunteering experiences etc..

Also do you have any useful advice for first time volunteers like us?

Suaimhneach

My friend did half a week of volunteering and it changed her outlook on life for good. Definitley worth doing from what I can tell.

vines

Four of a kind wrote: »

Great stuff!

I'm heading to Tanzania in jan with my girlfriend and we are doing 3 months independent volunteer work in local orphanages there.
Would love to hear more about your volunteering experiences etc..

Also do you have any useful advice for first time volunteers like us?

There's so much I can say! The volunteering will change you forever (in a good way) and leaving the kids will be heartbreaking, so prepare yourself!
There are a few things I wish I had known about before I went volunteering so I'll tell you these:
Firstly - you will want to give the children more than just your time, you'll want to donate food, clothes, toys, educational material and so on, so bring some with you, or send them ahead of you, or bring lots of money and buy stuff in Tanzania! this will obviously depend on you having access to a clothes store, so check this out before you go.
Secondly - bring only clothes that you are happy to leave behind, because all of us volunteering in SA left all our clothes behind us for the locals, and travelled home in the clothes we wore. You might think you wont want to do this, but the poverty you see might change your mind on this, so dont bring your favourite clothes!
Thirdly - respect the poverty of the country. it's unfair to flaunt your relative wealth (even if you're at the bottom of the social ladder in Ireland, you're gonna be RICH by the locals standards!) I'm sure you're aware of this anyway, but I thought I'd mention it!
Fourthly - Buy from the locals, eat with the locals, respect the locals, follow their customs, dress as the locals do, and you will go home with friends for life! Also, by doing all this you will be supporting the local economy, which is almost as important as the volunteering itself!

Ok I can go on and on like this, but I promise you, once you volunteer, you cant go back! Seeing poverty and the orphans firsthand will tear your heart in two and it never really goes back together again whole. My heart has been given to the children, and I never want it back. They will make you rethink your whole perspective on life! Seriously, bring loads of clothes and shoes and get friends and family to give anything they dont want to you cos the smile on those kids faces when they try on their new clothes is unforgettable!

Any other questions, keep firing them at me! If I think of anything else I'll post it! I hope this helps.

Panda

South Africa is definitely on my list.
but it will be in my later years for 2 reasons,

1: I just got back from a 2 year trip last march

2: I met and worked a lot of south africans while on my travels and a lot of them recommended to go there when you are older,
That way you have lived a good life and it wont suck quite as much if you get killed for your watch.
:eek:

This was a general recommendation i recieved from south africans,
another south african i met knew some engineers working for the engineering multinational that i worked for in perth would be given around $100 us dollars bribe money.
Just in case they got stopped by fake road blocks when travelling to remote sites to do surveying work or whatever.