Monkey Rescue

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 centre currently cares for over 100 primates, including marmosets, tamarins, capuchins, macaques, squirrel monkeys, mona monkeys, patas monkeys and grey mouse lemurs. There are also other rescued animals on site including fennec foxes, grey mouse lemurs, sugar gliders, tortoises, dogs and cats.

Volunteers at the centre are involved in caring for the animals directly as well as helping to maintain their enclosures. Each day will differ and volunteer tasks include:

• Food preparation
• Cleaning enclosures
• Building and maintaining enclosures
• Behavioural observation and monitoring
• Primate relocation
• Making monkey beds
• Providing enrichment
• Hand rearing (if it is needed during your stay)

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

Working days and hours

You will generally be working for 5 days and have 2 days off per week. 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, including a minimum number of other participants.

Volunteer reviews

Read about volunteer experiences and challenges in our South Africa Monkey Rescue volunteer reviews.

Why are volunteers needed?

The centre survives almost entirely on the support that volunteers provide. Whilst there are local staff onsite, they are often over-stretched with daily care tasks and volunteers provide the monkeys with extra care and attention. The primates are often unable to be released into the wild so this is essential for their well-being and quality of life.

Volunteers also help to look after the sanctuary, maintaining existing enclosures and building new ones so that the project can continue to provide a comfortable safe haven for primates and other animals.

“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

By volunteering at the Monkey Rescue project you will helping to improve quality of life for the primates by providing them with essential care and attention. The primates are often unable to be released into the wild so this is important for their well-being and quality of life.

Volunteers help to maintain the sanctuary, maintaining existing enclosures and building new ones so that the project can continue to provide a comfortable safe haven for primates. As a volunteer you will play a major role, as the sanctuary survives almost entirely on the support that volunteers provide.

Establishes in 1996, the sanctuary is the first of its kind in South Africa and currently cares for over 100 primates of varying species. These include marmosets, tamarins, mona monkeys, squirrel monkeys, macaques, and lemurs.

The world renowned sanctuary receives a constant stream of requests to assist in the international rescue of primates and is now in a position to care for primates coming from many places around the world. Many of the primates that arrive at the projects have behavioural problems and the project helps to rehabilitate and provide the additional care they require.

The sanctuary soon hopes to be able to expand in order to cope with the high demand and aims to eventually provide accommodation for apes.

South Africa

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

To find out more, see the Lonely Planet South Africa.

Local area and free time

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. There is a bar next door which volunteers often visit to use the pool table, darts board, swimming pool and sun loungers during their time off.

Accommodation

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 in the volunteer house. 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.

Before you go:

• Carefully selected and vetted volunteer project
• Support from our friendly and highly experienced Pod UK team
• Single point of contact - Ellie is your dedicated Pod Volunteer Specialist
• In-depth volunteering and planning your trip guides on your volunteering placement
• Travel information - visa, health and safety advice
• Access to specialist travel insurance at exclusive rates
• Recommended travel agency for flights and tours
• Access to special deals and resources
• Fundraising guide and support
• Financial protection for monies paid to Pod

On your placement:

• Animal care volunteering placement
• Accommodation - a simple shared room
• Arrangement of airport pickup
• Induction and training
• Onsite support from local team
• Support from Pod UK office by phone and email
• 24/7 emergency back up
• Incident Management and Emergency Response Plans

On your return:

• Contact from your Pod Volunteer Specialist
• Feedback scheme
• Volunteering certificate (on request)
• References (on request)
• Member of the Pod community

Not included: Flights, travel insurance, visa (if required), food, cost of transfers. Budgeting guidance is provided in our Volunteering Guide which we will email you when you apply.

Pod Volunteer is run as a non-profit organisation. Fee levels are set to match costs and any surplus monies are distributed to the projects we work with via the Pod Charity.