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Wildlife Conservation Expedition in South Africa

Participating with GVI not only allows you to work on programs assisting disadvantaged communities or endangered ecosystems but it also offers wonderful opportunities to travel in the local area in your down time or further afield either before or after your program. Below is some information on trips and travel options in South Africa.

Included Side Trips

The expedition in South Africa includes as standard a few fantastic local side trips as follows:

If at the Karongwe Base, volunteers will visit the renowned Khamai Reptile Park as part of the training. Later on during the phase, volunteers are also taken to a local curio market where a variety of quality carvings and other gifts are sold. Of course, there is also the beautiful Mariepskop Mountain satellite camp that takes volunteers to the top of the Drakensberg Mountains overlooking the spectacular Blyde River Canyon, and there may be a routine stop in Hoedspruit en route to Mariepskop.

For those at the Venetia Base, volunteers are taken to the neighbouring Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site for their heritage tour, as part of the training. Later on, volunteers may also get the chance to have a guided tour of the De Beers Venetia Diamond Mine - the richest in South Africa, and the opportunity to visit one or more local ancient rock art sites. Again, volunteers will visit the incredibly bio-diverse Lesheba Wilderness mountain satellite camp for a few days, in the Soutpansberg Mountains.

Optional Side Trips

In the area around Karongwe Game Reserve one can visit the Kruger National Park, with entry gates no more than an hour’s drive away. There’s also the ‘panoramic route’ which takes you on various scenic drives along the edge of the Drakensberg escarpment, the Blyde River Canyon and to the historic towns of Pilgrims Rest, Graskop (where Harry’s Pancakes will serve you the best pancake on the planet!) and Sabie, where one can also book onto a variety of adventure activities such as bungi jumping, quad biking, canyoning and hiking, or just chill out with a picnic lunch at one of the many nearby waterfalls.

The area around Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve is far less developed from a tourism point of view but the attractions are there: Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site is right next door with a variety of accommodation options from camping to luxury. Across the border in Botswana, there is the Tuli block of game reserves with a variety of game viewing activities. To the south there is the Soutpansberg Mountain Range which also has a variety of accommodation options and great hiking and wildlife based activities. The Kruger National Park is also accessible from Venetia, with the nearest entrance gate about three hours drive to the east.

Further Travelling Opportunities

South Africa has such a wealth of fantastic opportunities for further travel. Possibilities include the spectacular Drakensberg Mountains, the beauty of the Kalahari Desert, the historical Zululand, the vibrancy of Cape Town, the fantastic Southern Coast (Garden Route), the world-renowned National Parks of Kruger and Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, and many more.