VOLUNTEER

a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task, a person who works for an organization without being financially compensated.

Love Lions Alive Sanctuary runs on the income we receive from people who come to the sanctuary as paying helpers

The participating person could well choose to travel around SA as a tourist and spend the same amount of money per day on accommodation and meals and entrance fees to tourist facilities. In this case, they choose to stay at one place and immerse themselves in a lifestyle that they do not experience in their normal lives. They choose to live our lives with us as we live it on a daily basis.

Our volunteers get to see the lions according to the lions’ schedules. By living with us at the sanctuary, our volunteers become part of the natural rhythm of life here. The daily flow of caring for the lions and the sanctuary is never predictable and not constant. The amount of time spent on tasks varies according to that day’s needs. Volunteers may be part of the team whilst we dig and plant poles one day and then be left to sit quietly observing lions the next; they could be cutting up a bull in the morning and sitting on a boulder on the mountainside writing in their journal all afternoon

The concept is one of mutual benefit

What you are paying for is the whole experience of being in nature with lions in all its gore and glory. At the same time, you have chosen to make a difference whilst on your holiday. You are working towards a bigger picture, being part of something, actualising your desire to be of assistance to the lions who need sanctuary

We take a maximum of 6 volunteers at a time  so that things remain intimate and everyone is truly valued.

However, if your own party numbers more than 6, we can accommodate you. We can arrange this when we don’t have other volunteers

PARTICIPATE

take part, engage, join, get involved, share, play a part, play a role, be a participant, partake; cooperate, help, assist, lend a hand; go in for, contribute to, be associated with, associate oneself with, have a hand in, have something to do with, be (a) party to; informalget in on the act, pitch in

We benefit by receiving your money and your personal input.

It is the business model we have chosen as opposed to being a zoo type viewing facility. We do not run a tour business and are not a ‘lion park’. In order for our lions to enjoy the dignified lifestyle we feel they deserve, the lions live in enclosures in which they can disappear from sight. They do not necessarily appear when we happen to come along with a guest at a set time of the day

Every lion is

an individual when

you

Get to know

them

What do you get out of it

- A life changing experience, just waking to the sound of lions roar can do that

- Fun in the sun, a tan while toning those muscles

- Make new friends and feline family, you will get to know each lion character as an individual

- A working knowledge of not only lions but all sorts of fauna, flora, stellar and geological wonders

- Memories, just ask any of our previous volunteers

- The knowledge that you are part of the operation, that you personally made a difference in the lives of our lions.

- Knowing that you are a participant

Being surrounded by the sanctuary and all that goes on here, volunteers quickly become part of general life at LLA. So although they are our guests, volunteers are more than that, they are family/staff/friends.

This is our home, we live in this camp day in and day out 356 days a year, volunteers fall into our routines and even our personal lives because they are living with and around us. All in all, it is an intimate experience with the lions and us. This being said, our volunteers do need to be fairly resilient and be able to spend time on their own as we all need some down time in our own private sections of the camp