Volunteer Review

I really loved my time at UmPhafa, it was definitely physically challenging but the list of positives far outweigh this!

At times I didn't feel like I was overly valued as I felt that other volunteers were better at things than me, and so I felt like they were favourited. But at the end of my placement, I was informed as to how helpful and appreciated I had been, so maybe I was just too hard on myself.

My supervisor was really lovely and very easy to get along with. Everything was explained well, and we were quickly trusted to do a few tasks unsupervised which felt great!

It really varied week to week, sometimes even day to day on what needed doing around the reserve. Some days we only worked for a couple of hours really, but then others we would work all day, so it balanced out in the end. I didn't ever feel like there was nothing going on or nothing for me to do.

During the placement, we were left unsupervised for a few tasks, or left with the game guards so we were then responsible for whatever job we had been left with, whether it was data entry, behavioural studies, rhino tracking, building a watchtower - the list could go on! I didn't feel like I had much responsibility at the time but it sank in afterwards. This could have been changed so I realised how helpful I was being along the way.

Learning about all the different animals on the reserve and how they interact with each other and the reserve as an environment was just amazing, and has become knowledge that I hope to never forget. I really think that this knowledge will help me with my degree and with general understanding of animal behaviour in the future. Learning about the different plants around the reserve and their many uses was extremely interesting and I think will help me in my degree.

Very relaxed and laid back, yet professional. The right level of respect was held by everybody for everybody else and there were no conflicts between anybody. A lovely atmosphere to work in!

There seemed to be some days when I got the impression that nothing had been planned for us volunteers and so everything just kind of 'went with the flow'. A couple of times it was okay, but after it happened on numerous occasions, some days just felt like a waste as we hadn't really done much.

I didn't feel at the time that I was being 'invested' in by the company, but then it sank in as I was leaving and was told how helpful I had been.

As much as I enjoyed my time at the placement, I would not consider applying for a full time job with the company - mainly because I know there aren't any available!

Every weekend everybody got together for a braai which was really lovely, and a great way to all relax together. The rest of the free time available to us was spent sat in the lounge altogether, which again was really nice and by the end of my time there, I felt like my relationship with some volunteers had really blossomed.

Buying alcohol and meat for our weekly braai's was very cheap! Loved it!

There was a local clubhouse that we went to on a couple of occasions for dinner and some drinks which was lovely, but not very lively. But I was expecting little else - I knew what I was getting myself in for.

We could go on a day out at the weekend but only if we had somebody free to drive us there, which wasn't the case very often. Again, I wasn't expecting much else.