Help us exercise rescue dogs in the African bush, Hoedspruit, South Africa

Details

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  Description

  PLEASE NOTE: You must read until the end to make sure you meet the criteria.
  
  
  Ons verstaan Nederlands!
  Parliamo Italiano!
  On parle francais!
  
  Our project is situated on a 1000-hectare nature reserve in South Africa. While here you will be surrounded by free-roaming game including hippos, leopards, giraffes, and zebra. Outside the fenced areas we occasionally have lions and elephants.
  
  You will also share the space with our rescue dogs and we do rehabilitation and assess for workability. Many of our dogs come to us with aggression issues so please be aware that they are not your run-of-the-mill pets. You do need to be comfortable around dogs.
  
  We are in the Lowveld area of South Africa which is warm all year round (especially hot in the summers) and you'll have tented accommodation. We are entirely off-grid, solar-powered, so we ask guests to be respectful and conserve energy where possible. While we love children, our dogs are working dogs and are not child friendly - we cannot accept anyone under the age of 16.
  
  1. Garden work: we have around 500 trees to plant and two greenhouses that supply food.
  2. Exercising of dogs.
  
  The following are very important:
  
  We do one run to town a week on a Friday, if you arrive on another day you will have to pay R400 for a transfer.
  
  If you don't like animals, this is not an appropriate workaway for you - we do not tolerate people hitting our dogs or hurting wild animals. Unfortunately, we have to write this due to past experiences.
  
  You must have a reference.
  
  Theft will be reported to the police and if you are unable to follow instructions we will have to ask you to leave (again due to past experience).
  
  Respect our property, and do not vandalize or graffiti our home.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You will help with building, gardening (watering etc), our greenhouse, planting and dog walking/dog swimming. There will be an opportunity to learn general skills but please note the main benefit is enjoying the time in the African bush and communing with nature.

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  Help

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  This January to March we need people to help us exercising our dogs - both dog walking and swimming with the dogs. If you can help with making furniture and gardening we would be very grateful.
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  You'll help on some of our current projects which includes creating a tree garden, assisting with our organic farming or with our conservation dog training centre which trains scent detection dogs for conservation and research projects. From time to time we will need help with marketing materials we create (film and media).

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Afrikaans: Intermediate
  Italian: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  We have qualified English teachers on site.
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  Accommodation

  You will be accommodated in shared safari tents on wooden decks amongst the trees, overlooking the Olifants River. From time to time you will see lions, hippo, and crocodiles along the river bank. There is an ablution block with showers with hot and cold water and flushing toilets. The communal kitchen has fridges, freezers, and gas cooking facilities. In addition, there is free unlimited high-speed wifi (10MB up and 20MB down speed) but please be aware this is the African bush so speeds vary. You will sleep in a single bed and may share your tent with another workaway person.

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  What else ...

  During your time off you are free to explore our game reserve. There isn't any transport to and from the reserve, but we do go to town once a fortnight where you can visit local shops and restaurants. Guests can easily rent a car and go to the Kruger National Park which is 85km away. On occasion we may go to conservation outreach programmes or community projects nearby - for these workaways must cover their own costs.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Yes! We love digital nomads! We have free, unlimited wifi which covers an area of approximately 1.5 hectares. Wifi speed is 10MB up and 20MB down.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have free parking onsite - it is not covered but is large enough to accommodate large vans. Please note the reserve charges R150 a week for vehicles that you'll need to pay them when you enter.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Max 15 hours a week - food not provided

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