The BBC’s Fast Track program – which follows new trends in holidaying and travel – were highlighting volunteering as an increasingly popular vacation choice and we’re delighted that they chose to show two of the projects that you could become involved with!

If you’d like to see the report, click here. If you’d like to learn more about how you can help, please get in touch.

Full details are available from this free leaflet download but you could, for example, go swimming with dolphins in Zanzibar.

How about a free sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi river above Victoria Falls? Perhaps a free Cape vineyards tour is more to your taste?

There are half a dozen fascinating free adventures depending on which project you volunteer for so download the leaflet, see which one appeals to you and get in touch.

Places are limited, so you’ll need to act quickly if you would like to join us.

Please note that these trips are in addition to your volunteer placement. We are unable to offer free volunteer placements themselves because the projects and people still need your help and support. These extra adventures are our way of thanking you for that help.

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Volunteering in South Africa, in Cape Town in particular, just got tougher… NOT!

Pictured on the right is our new volunteer accommodation and yes, that is a pool right outside the door.

Our South Africa volunteers will now be based here at Noordhoek. The building is spacious and comfortable and in addition to that superb pool has a lovely big garden (with barbeque), satellite TV and a games room with pool table, darts, table tennis, etc… for when you are unwinding at the end of the day.

Alternatively, if you fancy a stroll, there’s a shopping mall and cinema close by.

Not so tough being a volunteer in South Africa then We would love to welcome you here.

Following the success of David Youlden’s ITV series about our lions conservation and rehabilitation at Antelope Park (Wednesday nights, 7.00pm, ITV1), our wildlife volunteers in Africa are in the news again!

This time it’s 18 year old volunteer Ivan Troev writing about his experiences in an upcoming edition of the popular travel magazine RealTravel.

Our people on the ground in Africa are already calling 2010 a “roaring success” (sorry about the pun) and such positive exposure for such an important venture can only add to the benefits for the most important characters in this story – the African lions themselves!

Obviously we can’t give you a lot of the content of the magazine, but one of Ivan’s quotes was “I came to realize that, like us, lions are intelligent, sentient creatures, capable of feeling, caring and loving others… for me, actually seeing and interacting with these amazing creatures is more than simply a volunteering experience… a world without lions simply wouldn’t be worth living in…”

We couldn’t agree more!

Current lion conservation volunteering options are Antelope Park, Victoria Falls or Livingstone. As you can imagine, recent publicity has made these exciting volunteering opportunities very popular so we suggest you get in touch soon!

Volunteers for our project giving pre-school teaching and community assistance in Zanzibar are in for a treat with our new accommodation at The Grand Bungalows, Jambiani.

This is a very popular project (not surprising given the beauty and mystique of Zanzibar) and the old accommodation was full to bursting. The solution was a move just down the road to the new, more spacious bungalows you can see in the background of this shot.

If any enticement was needed, this is the back yard where our volunteers eat breakfast. Looks good, doesn’t it! The sea is literally on your doorstep.

Rooms are furnished with comfortable bunk beds and you will usually room with 2 or 3 others. There are en suite bathrooms but we have to admit that a particularity of Zanzibar is that there is no hot water for showers – there never is but it’s not a problem in these temperatures!

Mosquito nets and ceiling fans are provided for your comfort. although you may wish to sleep outside on beach recliners on really hot evenings. The night skies are something to see too!

Almost everything here is done for you. Our chef cooks for you, house keeping and laundry is done for you, bedding is provided, the only thing we suggest you bring is a towel.

Sounds more like a luxury holiday than African volunteering but never fear, we will be making you work for your keep! Not a bad place to get out of bed though, or to return to after a busy day, is it.

The Grand Bungalows is already almost full until the end of March and demand shows no signs of slowing down. If helping teach and assisting with important community projects appeals to you please check details here and get in touch soon.

African volunteer at creche

We thought it would be a good idea to share what she had to say and show you some of the progress volunteers like you have made and some of the projects that you could be helping with in 2010. Here’s Laura:

I recently visited our projects in St. Lucia, South Africa and was again struck by just how much our staff and volunteers are getting involved in the local communities. I was delighted to be able to go on 2 game drives in the nearby iSimangaliso Game Park (a world heritage site!) with our photography volunteers as well as getting some “hands on” time on the community projects, which was wonderful.

Being able to help volunteers with building a home for one of our African families on the “10 families” project was both fun and rewarding. The 10 families project was set up earlier this year to assist some of the most needy in the local community.

Our Project Managers consult with the Induna (head chief) of the community and then meet with the family to discuss what areas they most need help with.

These are long term projects and our volunteers work with a few families over the course of 3 or 4 months.

The morning spent with the ladies at the HIV/AIDS support group was a special time. It is a great forum for them to speak about various health and family issues and offer advice and support to one another. If certain health questions arise which no one can advise on, our volunteers are able to go home and research the topic and then provide information to the ladies the following week.

The ladies also make crafts which are sold at the volunteer house, with all proceeds being given to the person who made the item. A local man, David, comes at the end of the session each week to run a yoga class with the ladies – great fun.

Unfortunately I could not get to one of the HIV/AIDS education sessions during my time in St. Lucia but these are conducted both in a local primary school as well as to an adult group, aiming to break down stigmas associated with the disease and educate the community on the prevention as well as – very importantly – how to live positively for those who have already contracted the virus.

I spent a morning on the home based care project, which is growing from strength to strength. Volunteers, along with a coordinator, go into the community visiting sick people in their homes, offering support and basic medication to treat their illnesses.

These people are often not even able to get to the clinics so the support offered them by our volunteers is hugely valuable. It is both an emotionally demanding and rewarding programme and now forms the core of our medical placement (details here).

The game drives were lovely despite an usually rainy week. My camera looked very small next those of our photography group, with their selection of large lenses, etc. but I managed to get some good pictures and found the information given from the guides to be very interesting and insightful. I think the group had seen a good selection of game although they were always on the lookout for the elusive leopard…

On Thursday evening they showed us a slide show of a few of their best pictures from the week – very
impressive.

My final morning of voluntary work in Africa was spent at the crèche which of course was great! Being able to play with the kids and watching the volunteers giving lessons and interacting with them was fantastic. One little boy who has some physical and mental disabilities really caught my heart. I’ve put in a photo here of him and myself. So for anyone who wanted to put a face to the name, you can have a look

It’s not going to make a big difference to your actual African volunteer projects but it’s likely to have quite a big impact on flights to and from the continent.

The tournament starts on Friday 11th June 2010 (when South Africa as hosts open against Mexico) and the final is a month later, 11th July. As every continent has representatives in the world cup finals, flight prices from almost anywhere are likely to escalate a while before, and during the competition.

If you’re thinking of becoming a volunteer in Africa during this time we certainly wouldn’t want you to be put off, and there are options.

If you’re considering coming for a considerable time it will be less of a challenge, particularly if you plan to arrive before and leave after. Indeed if you were initially thinking about a short period of volunteering work, it might actually be more economical to stay longer and make the savings on the flight costs. You would need to look into this, of course, and we can help you here if you like (just drop us a line here).

The other main alternative is to choose your African volunteering project now and book your flights as soon as possible. The earlier you are able to do this the better. Although world cup tickets are already on sale, many people don’t book their flights at the same time so there is still some availability – although there’s no knowing when this will change.

The final option is to fly into a neighbouring country and get into South Africa by other means. From Windhoek in Namibia you can get a bus, which you can also do from Gaborone in Botswana. You could also fly to other parts of Africa, Kenya’s Nairobi airport for example, then take an internal flight. Of course many avid football fans will have the same information so you still want to make your decision as early as possible!

We would like your valuable help in South Africa for as long as possible, so not surprisingly we would like you to make your volunteering stay a long one and avoid high flight prices that way – but however you want to do it, we will help in any way we can. Just get in touch.

Here are the South African volunteer projects for 2010:

Medical and Clinic Assistance, Cape Town, South Africa

Sports Coaching and Physical Education, Cape Town, South African

Teaching and Community Development, Cape Town, South Africa

Medical Assistance and HIV/AIDS Awareness, St Lucia, South Africa

African Wildlife Photography and Conservation, St Lucia, South Africa

Orphan Care and HIV/AIDS Awareness, St Lucia, South Africa

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Africa's strange water-filled Baobab tree

Just a short note to let you know that we are in the process of updating all our volunteering in Africa information and adding a few exciting new African destinations.

This should be completed in the next week or so but if you would like us to let you know precisely, please sign up for our free newsletter.

Looks like 2010 will be a great year to volunteer in Africa, we hope to have you with us!