Monkey RescueSouth Africa

The Monkey Rescue project we work with in South Africa cares for non-indigenous primates that have been rescued after having been orphaned, mistreated or kept as pets. The centre aims to provide a safe and nurturing home and rehabilitate primates that are unable to return to the wild.

The team currently care for over 100 animals, including marmosets, tamarins, capuchins, macaques, squirrel monkeys, mona monkeys, and grey mouse lemurs. Over the years, the sanctuary has also rescued a small variety of other animals that now also live on site including fennec foxes, bush babies, sugar gliders, tortoises, dogs, cats and an owl.

Many of the monkeys rescued by the team arrive at the project from difficult or upsetting backgrounds and the centre aims to provide as stable, happy and enriching environment for the animals as possible. By implementing a routine of regularly topping up food and water, keeping enclosures clean and well maintained, and providing engaging enrichments, the team help the monkeys feel safe and secure. Volunteers play a vital role in supporting this, learning about the differences in behaviour of the animals along the way.

Volunteer’s activities typically include: 

• Regularly distributing food and water
• Cleaning enclosures, including sweeping outside areas, scrubbing monkey ‘bedrooms’ and changing bedding
• Building and maintaining enclosures
• Cutting hay for bedding and making monkey beds
• Creating and providing enrichment
• Behavioural observation and monitoring
• Cleaning food and water bowls
• Primate relocation

There is also ‘monkey time’ once a week which allows you to spend time with some of the primates in their enclosures.

Whilst you are at the project, depending on her availability, the founder of the project Sue also provides weekly talks on monkey behaviours and basic handling. This gives you an amazing opportunity to learn from an expert in the field of how to identify behaviour differences between monkeys raised in different environments such as those raised by other monkeys vs those raised by humans.

“Volunteers are the main support for our work, without volunteer’s onsite support we wouldn’t be able to keep developing to be able to rescue more and more primates year on year. The work volunteers do directly enhance the lives of the primates on site and helps to create a better environment and forever home for these animals.”
Lucy, Volunteer Coordinator

Typical Day 

You will generally be working for 5 days per week. During your first few days you will receive an induction, including being shown around the sanctuary, introduced to the animals and learning some of their stories. 

You will start out shadowing a long term volunteer on a group of monkeys (typically starting with smaller primates such as marmosets) until you are confident caring for the group independently. You will then also be able to grow your skills to help care for a wider variety of primates. Volunteers staying for longer will experience working with more monkey groups.

The usual volunteer timetable will be: 

• Early mornings: 4/5am-6/7am (depending on sunrise) – distributing food and water before dawn, ready for when the monkeys wake up. During winter months this includes putting out hot water bottles for the smaller primates. Volunteers typically have this early morning shift once or twice a week but may opt out if they prefer
• Mornings: 9am-12 midday – checking on food and water, topping up where necessary and monitoring monkeys for any unusual behaviour or health issues, usually followed by cleaning an enclosure (this may include cutting hay for bedding) 
• Lunchtime: 12 midday-2pm – Break for lunch and free time
• Afternoons: 2-4pm – Topping up the monkey’s food and water where needed, creating enrichments, building or helping with maintenance of enclosures and the sanctuary 
• 4-4:30pm – Providing the monkeys with treats and putting out food and water for the nocturnal animals 
• Sun-down – collecting in the monkey’s food and water bowls after sun-down, once they have gone to sleep

Daily duties are worked out on a rota basis, to give volunteers free time to travel around the local and surrounding areas.

Other volunteers

There are usually 4-15 volunteers with a maximum of 20, but this varies considerably throughout the year.

Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Award

This placement has been approved by the DofE as meeting the requirements for the Residential section of the Gold Award.

Local Support

You will be supported by the local team who are located at the project site where the volunteer accomodation is based. The project was founded by Sue over 30 years ago and her passion for the animals is infectious! She is well respected for her studies on the behavioural patterns of captive and orphaned primates, and suggestions on how to best rehabilitate them.

The volunteer house is based within the centre so you are just a few steps away from the monkeys. Your accommodation is a very basic shared dorm-style room with bunk beds and shared bathrooms in the volunteer house. A private room may be available on request.

There are shared living areas both inside and outside that volunteers use for socialising and relaxing in their free time. There is good phone signal onsite, but no access to WIFI.

Meals

Meals are not included in this placement and volunteers will prepare their own meals at the accommodation. Here are typical examples of the meals which you can buy at local supermarkets, restaurants and cafes:

• Breakfast – fruit, cereal, toast, eggs
• Lunch – sandwiches, salad, pasta, noodles
• Dinner – pizza, salads, pasta, burgers, stews

There are vegetarians and vegans options available. 

The tap water is safe to drink.

The sanctuary is located outside of Pretoria, one of South Africa’s 3 capital cities. The city is known by locals as “Jacaranda City” for its thousands of jacaranda trees lining the streets with beautiful purple blossom. The city is home to a number of universities and museums, galleries and botanical gardens making it a fantastic place to explore during your time off.

The sanctuary is based in a rural area just outside of the city and is in a perfect position to visit local game reserves, a water park, malls, a cultural village and an elephant sanctuary. Longer trips can also be taken to visit Kruger National Park. These activities are best booked locally once you are at the project.

You will have two days off per week to explore the local area or travel further afield.

Travelling in South Africa before or after your placement

South Africa is situated at the southern tip of Africa and ranges from desert to sub-tropical. With dramatic landscapes, amazing wildlife and a rich and diverse culture and interesting history, South Africa has something for everyone. Popular activities in South Africa include:

• Spotting the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) on safari
• Travelling the Garden Route
• Visiting Cape Town and sampling some of the local wines

For more information on South Africa and some of the things we loved when we visited there please see our South Africa country page. This also features all our other South Africa volunteering projects as you might like to consider combining this project with one of the others we offer to make a trip of a lifetime!

Climate

The project is located just outside Pretoria, where the climate is considered warm and subtropical. The seasons vary from hot summers, to temperate winters. Rainy summers typically start in October and end around March, with temperatures averaging between 17-28 degrees Celsius. The dry season is during the winter months from April to September, when the daytime averages temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius and night time temperatures get down to around 5 degrees.

Drea - 2019

“Loved everything about my time with the Monkey Rescue. I didn’t expect to fall in love with so many people and animals so fast.

I was scared because I hate being up early. Turns out that when you have something you love, waking up early isn't hard. You actually start doing it without an alarm clock. Every day was different. The most rewarding thing was when you earned the trust of an animal. The best feeling.

Do it… you will love it.”

Grace - 2019

"It was hard work but very rewarding and it was fun to interact with the monkeys, helping provide a better life for rescued monkeys who had been mistreated. The most challenging thing was travelling alone, but everyone was so welcoming when I arrived.

Most mornings we would fill the food bowls and then clean enclosures. Afternoons we gave treats and then completed any other tasks. We would top up food bowls at the end of the day and then feed the nocturnals."

Edith - 2018

“I regret I've waited so long to join a volunteering program. This was one of the best experiences I've had in my whole life. 

The work can be hard, but it's so worth it. You learn so much about the individual monkeys and their story. It's so heart-warming when they finally start trusting you and play with you. 

The people working at the project are so passionate and so, so nice. We felt like home after a few days. And you still have enough time to relax or visit National Parks etc. Highly recommended, I will definitely come back!"

Carrie - 2018

“When I arrived at the project, I was allowed to get stuck in straight away with feeding time and the long term volunteers were full of information and made me feel so welcome and included. 

It was amazing to hear about some of the wonderful things the centre were doing to house and look after so many monkeys. The connection that the regular staff had with the monkeys was also a joy to witness! I even found after a couple of days that I was starting to learn a few names and recognise some individuals.

I will definitely be looking at trying another volunteer program in the future as this has been such an out of this world experience.”

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