Participatory Tourism
Voluntourism 101: How to Find a Reputable Wildlife Sanctuary in Africa By Adam Welz
A lion in the Okavango Delta, Botswana Photo by Jennifer Flowers
W
ant to make a positive impact on your next trip to Botswana or South Africa? Read on and learn how to vet voluntourism programs—and how to spot the fakes. Let’s face it: Africa has the best big wildlife, and you want to get close to it on your next vacation. How? Well, you could pony up for a luxury safari and be driven right up to a lion munching on a freshly-felled wildebeest, which is cool, but being led around by a guide in a tourist-packed vehicle can seem not just passive, but positively passé. Perhaps you’d prefer to provide hands-on help to animals, like your friend who recently bottle-fed orphaned baby rhinos at a secret sanctuary deep in the bush. You’re not alone in craving this type of
intimate interaction. Wildlife volunteer tourism ventures have mushroomed across Africa as increasing numbers of travelers seek out more meaningful engagement with the continent’s creatures. Hundreds of organizations now offer the public the chance to work directly with wild animals in exchange for a fee, but before you book your beast-benefiting voluntourism vacation, be warned: Few such outfits genuinely benefit wildlife. Many make no contribution to conservation and some are harmful scams. With that in mind, here’s the low-down on volunteering with a reputable African wildlife organization so you can make the most of your good intentions and precious vacation days. First, decide whether you want to volunteer at a sanctuary-type facility with captive animals or out in a natural area with free-roaming wildlife. These are quite different experiences: Captive animal programs usually allow more time in close proximity to wildlife. Wilderness-based programs require you to be comfortable in the great outdoors, dealing with heat, dust, and the occasional dangerous critter; if that’s your type of thing, check out our story here. If you want to work with animals in captivity, note that there are different types of facilities: Wildlife sanctuaries house animals that can’t be released. Although sanctuaries arguably
28 | ABA Publications | Africa TRAVEL | Sept 2021
