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Where does Daktari Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage work:
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Daktari Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage
Hoedspruit, South Africa
"Daktari" is the indigenous word for Doctor.
Daktari Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage is a project where underprivileged children are invited every week for 5 days, to learn, discover and become passionate about wildlife conservation. At Daktari, we believe that the key to protection of the environment lies in education, and that the children of today are the custodians of the future.
Daktari uses the wildlife orphanage as a medium to inspire and educate the local underprivileged children.These animals are hurt, orphaned or too tame to be rehabilitated back into the wild. We provide them with good facilities and care. They also serve as great educational medium for the children who assist in the daily care of cleaning and feeding these animals.
Each week we invite 8 underprivileged children from local schools to stay for 5 days at Daktari. The small number of children provides a unique possibility for them to benefit from a more individual learning experience.
Daktari has has developed an educational program about wildlife and environment, which also includes lessons in English, Maths, Biology and Geography. We also touch on life skills such as relationships, substance abuse, safe sex, violence and respecting your environment.
The volunteers make a donation to cover their food and accomodation and for helping the project to grow.
The project is situated on a 700 hectare wildlife reserve, very close to the Kruger Park. Our volunteers will have the opportunity to teach and enjoy the children's company during the week, and set off to explore the area on the weekends.
Friday sundowners are the perfect way to end the week on Leopard rock, with a cold drink in hand, looking over the restful South African bush.
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Current Projects
Daktari is an ongoing educational project, and we welcome volunteers throughout the year to participate. The participation can range from a week (GBP430) to 3 months (GBP3070).
We always have other building or maintence projects on the go, so if you don't think of yourself as a teacher (although, why not?), we can always use a hand to improve our facilities in and around the camp.
You can also participate as a Camp Manager/Volunteer Coordinator or as an Office Volunteer/Fundraising Manager. These positions are open to volunteers who are willing to take on a more professional aspect of the Daktari experience, and would like to stay 6 - 12 months. These positions are unpaid, but you do not have to contribute financially to the project either (accommodation & food is free).
Partner Needs
Our basic needs range from school supplies for the classroom, such as pens, pencils, paints, stickers etc. to building material for animal camps.
We run our project on solar power, so any donations for solar batteries, lamps, panels are an exceptional help. By running on solar, we promote environmental conservation as well reducing our own carbon footprint.
Financial Needs
We ask individuals to sponsor our animals here at Daktari through an adoption programme. By donating a certain sum per month, we are able to feed, pay for any vet care and accommodate each animal. The monthly request is between R100 (about 12 USD) to R300 (36 USD).
We ask for R50 000 (6, 200 USD) per month to cover our overall project costs. We fundraise via umbrella organisations, caring individuals, corporates and foundations.
We do look for donations for building or renovation projects throughout the year, as we are constantly looking to improve the general living conditions of the animals, children and volunteers. At the moment, we are looking for enough money to improve our solar power set-up.
We have yet to win the lottery, so until then, we will rely on variety of sponsors to keep our project running.
In Kind Needs
Any house hold items given as donations are useful. We are a live in organisation, so items such as duvets, sheets, glasses, cutlery, shower curtains, table clothes are all important expenses that we cannot permit ourselves to indulge in on a continual basis.
Mission Statement
- To inspire, motivate, develop and educate underprivileged children about the environment.
- Supplement basic education of the rural children.
- Provide safe, suitable accommodation and care for orphaned/injured wild animals. Our array of animals so far include Antelope, Bush babies, Meerkats, Mongoose, Genet, Serval, Leopard etc.
- Create awareness and importance of the environment
- Encourage the children to engage in eco-toursim related jobs to conserve the environment and alleviate rural poverty in the Limpopo area.
- Encourage people to support these goals