Volunteer Work in Swaziland

Volunteer Work in Swaziland

You will spend most of your expedition doing volunteer work in Swaziland. The small kingdom is proud of its deep-rooted traditions, lively cultural festivals, and its people, who are extremely friendly to guests. Life in Swaziland is overshadowed by high HIV and unemployment rates – both are at about 40 percent. Many children have already lost their parents to AIDS, before they are old enough to take life into their own hands.

As a volunteer, you will work to help these children, volunteering in children’s daycare centres and orphanages. Whether you teach English or maths, play, paint, sing, do sports, go on excursions in the nearby big game reserve, prepare meals, or offer health advice, your help is desperately needed and can encompass several various activities. Some projects also require manual work such as gardening vegetables, improving water supplies, painting, or laying bricks.

Typical Schedule - 6 Weeks:

Days 1 & 2: Swaziland

You will begin your travel in southern Africa in the Kingdom of Swaziland. After your arrival, you will be awaited at the airport and brought to your first accommodation. Before your travel in southern Africa begins, you will have an orientation including a detailed discussion.

Accommodation: Backpacker Lodge

Days 3-7:  South Africa: Kruger National Park

The next stop in your travel through southern Africa will be in the neighbouring country of South Africa. Here, you will spend 5 days in the Kruger National Park. With an area of almost 20,000 square kilometres, the park is home to an unbelievable variety of animals and plants and is one of the best places to see Africa’s largest animals in the wild, for example buffalo, elephants, leopards, and rhinoceroses.

Accommodation: Tents

Days 8-20: Swaziland: Volunteer Work

Back in Swaziland, interaction with people will come to the forefront of your activities. For two weeks, you will do volunteer work in Swaziland for five hours a day in one of many small care centres in the Ezulwini Valley (about 15 minutes by car from the capital city of Mbabne).

Here, you will care for the 3 to 13-year-old children, helping to teach them some English, offering simple maths instruction, providing meals for the children, playing, making crafts, and organising sport activities. During your stay, you will also visit a small village, where you will experience Swazi culture and traditional dances.

You may feel as if you have stepped backwards in time as you engage in volunteer work in Swaziland. The royal family of Swaziland lives in the Ezulwini Valley, yet at the same time you will find the most tourist attractions in the country here.

Accommodation: Backpacker Lodge

Days 21-27: Mozambique: Relaxing on the Beach

After your volunteer work in Swaziland is done, your travel in southern Africa shall continue in Mozambique. The coast of Mozambique on the Indian Ocean, lures visitors with its gorgeous beaches and a fascinating underwater coral reef world. It is a tropical paradise for vacationers and many marine life forms, including whale sharks, sea turtles, and manta rays.

During this week, you can relax, enjoying the broad sand beach and the seaside. A highlight of your visit to Mozambique is surely the snorkelling excursion, which will give you the chance to encounter some whale sharks. Don’t worry – whale sharks are harmless to humans, eating only plankton, tiny life-forms, and fish. During a sea-kayaking trip, you will stop by the palm-lined islands in the Bay of Inhambane. Aside from this, there are a multitude of other activities which you can take part in (for an extra fee), including horseback riding on the beach, quad biking, surfing, body boarding, and excursions in a catamaran boat.

Accommodation: Lodge directly on the beach

Day 28-43: Swaziland: Volunteer Work

Finally, you will do volunteer work in Swaziland during the last weeks of your programme. You will be working in the same care centre where you were placed at the beginning of your programme. At the end of your stay, our partners will take you to the airport.

Accommodation: Backpacker Lodge

The 4-week programme is similarly structured. After your stay in Mozambique, you will return to Swaziland before departing for home.