Voluntourism Popular in South Africa

More travellers on South Africa holidays are taking the opportunity to combine sightseeing with contributing to local community as voluntourism gains popularity. There are numerous organisations who connect travellers with volunteer opportunities. Most locally based projects accept volunteers for between two week and three months commitments. Volunteers generally prefer to donate their time, energy, skills and experiences rather than money however they do cover their own programme-related costs such as airport transfers, accommodation, meals and transport.

Volunteering in South Africa are generally community- or conservation-based. Community oriented projects include participating in HIV/Aids youth prevention programmes, building new houses, teaching English as a second language, farming in organic community gardens and helping out with youth development initiatives. Projects which focus on conservation include rehabilitating penguins affected by oil spills, raising lion cubs at a wildlife sanctuary and researching great white sharks and dolphins.

Voluntourism gives visitors on South Africa holidays a different perspective from the regular tourist. Volunteers experience many personal benefits including self-growth, a greater understanding of other cultures, the development of new skills and making lifelong friends. For some volunteers the experience has had a life changing impact leading to long term volunteering or kick starting a career in international development. The legacy of voluntourism reaches far beyond that of the project and volunteer to include local communities, businesses and the tourism industry as travellers often combine their volunteer experiences with the opportunity to take South Africa holidays.

2 by 2 Holidays are specialists in South Africa holidays and other regional destinations including Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Mauritius.
 

Related Articles