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Kim Budge writes about her time with the Tsau! White Lion conservation project:

I had great time at the Tsau! A good balance between spiritual and practical experiences. A great place to reflect on the greater meanings of life and have lots of deep conversations. The lions are amazing and the people working there inspirational. I also had the opportunity to visit the three schools they have close ties with and meet some of the local Shangaan people, including Sarah the shangoma for the White Lions. I also went on excursions to Kruger, the Blyde River Canyon and Elephant riding as well as a night camping at Mariepskop. The bushveld is a truly magic place and it is what I most miss about not living in SA. Going to Tsau! has reinforced my desire to become more involved with nature conservation charity work.

Sian Sidaway .......

It was an amazing experience, that has changed what I want to do when I graduate from university. It was so rewarding giving my time and seeing the differences that were being made. The work that the staff are doing is amazing, and it shows that they enjoy the work that they do. I particularly enjoyed working with Fikiri and Kahindi. Both of them are self taught and not only took the time to talk to you about the turtles and let you get involved but they also took the time to talk about life in Kenya.

The staff were amazing and from day one I was involved with all of the tasks including; looking after the sick turtles in the rehabilitation centre, feeding them and applying medication, going out on rescues in Watamu as well as some further afield, educating children and adults that visited the rehabilitation centre, doing night patrols for nesting turtles and hatching nests, nest relocation, beach surveys and even doing a dissection of a turtle that unfortunately passed away.

I experienced things that are once in a lifetime everyday which was truly extraordinary and I hope to return again next year to see how all of the turtle are doing although a lot of them have been released back into the wild now already, which is amazing and feels great to have had a part in their recovery.

My favourite part was seeing the nests hatch and the young hatchlings running down the beach. We had to build runways to aid them into the sea, as well as returning 4 days after the hatch to do a nest excavation to calculate the nest success. It was amazing when there were still some hatchlings in the nest as they would have died without us helping them out.

I met some truly amazing people that I will keep in touch with. The other volunteers were all just as hard working and came from a variety of backgrounds so was a good experience to meet them too. The accommodation was by far the best volunteer accommodation I have ever seen as well and the two cooks were lovely. Each day they prepared lunch for all of us and the entire staff sat and ate together which meant me we picked up on a lot of Swahili and got to eat local foods.

An amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone looking for something life changing.

John Crowe, from Canada, volunteered with the Cheetah conservation project in Botswana during ???, and says the following about his experience:

My time in Botswana with the cheetah conservation was amazing probably even one of the best months of my life!  Everybody was so easy to get along with and the local people of Botswana were the nicest people Ive ever met.  The whole month was incredible, the very first weekend I was there we were able to catch and tag three male cheetahs.  I got to help out in the Ghanzi show, and do some amazing stuff that I would never have the chance to do here in Canada.  I thank you so much for the opportunity to go to Botswana and work with the CCB.  Ever since I could remember all i wanted to do was work with cheetahs in Africa and I finally got the chance, thanks again.

 Raymond Phillipe describes his experience working on the Statia Conservation Project:

Originally I was quite worried about catching flights and making my way to Statia but once I had arrived it was smooth sailing. The volunteers were very welcoming and most of the islanders were open to get to know you which meant it was quite easy to feel involved. As I wasn't working during the afternoons this gave a good opportunity to improve my swimming and learn how to snorkel. The reefs along the shoreline, near the office, were amazing to visit daily as you would always see different things.

I was upset that the sea turtles were not nesting during the time I was there, however seeing them in the water made up for this. I enjoyed helping out with the summer club and meeting the local children, even though some of them could be a hassle :-).
I felt this was a good investment and was a good choice as my first major trip away. Although a months stay was a good amount of time, I could have easily opted to stay longer had I not needed to be back in England. 

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