General Information

GENERAL INFORMATION

Volunteers to Love Lions Alive become our family and friends. We are a small organisation and we like to keep it that way. We value each person who comes to help us out as a vital member of the team.


If you love nature, like to get some sun on your skin and breath in fresh mountain air, you just may be the right kind of person for us. If you would enjoy sitting quietly alongside of a lion enclosure noting the behaviour of the lions but would equally get stuck into digging a hole or carrying stones to build a wall, you might fit in here. If you think you would enjoy the sunset over an African valley from atop a giant boulder with the glow of golden light reflected off the mountain behind you while listening to lions roar, you might end up sitting exactly there as a member of the LLA Volunteer Team.

WELCOME ANY TIME

You are welcome ot come at anytime of the year for any duration of time up to 2 months. Longer stays can be arranged once we know each other.


TRAVEL 

You will need to get yourself to South Africa, Johannesburg, O.R. Tambo International airport. Flights and necessary visas, insurance and travel associated expenses are not included in the package.

We will help you to arrange transport from the airport to the sanctuary in either Limpopo or Free State. 

This trip takes approximately 3.5 hours. We will discuss this with you during the booking process.


WEATHER & CLOTHES

Free State:

Since we are situated at the foot of a mountain and at the top of an escarpment, we have very quick weather changes. You will need to be prepared for cold weather to move in at any time. You literally can be in shorts and t-shirt getting too much sun one moment and be surrounded by mist and light rain the next. It is also cold at night, even in summer you will need a good quality jacket and boots.


Limpopo:

Is hotter and so shorts, T shirts and sun cream are worn most of the time. But nights can be cool and in winter proper jackets are needed at night.


Both sanctuaries:

You should have clothes in which you are prepared to get dirty, closed shoes for when you work near lions, a hat, sunscreen and importantly a torch (light).

The ground is muddy and gum boots/wellies or other dirty boots are needed.

There is a list in the information package we will send you when you book.


WIFI & PHONE

Free State: There is cell phone reception at the farm. There is WIFI, but it is not uncapped so it is highly recommended that you pre-load any movies etc that you will want to  watch whilst here.


Limpopo: There is no cell phone reception. There is WIFI at the house.


MALARIA

These are high lying areas so there is no Malaria.


FOOD

Food is provided. Volunteers need to share cooking tasks with the rest of the group. Drinks are for your own account. When you feel like it, there are a number of take-away/fast food outlets at the petrol port 2 km away, which would be for your own account.


PRICE

ZAR1350  (at the current exchange rate that is  €90.95 or US$ 112) per person per night.

This covers all your expenses at the project other than any extra food/drinks/personal items/excursions which you choose to purchase.

R470 (daily) of this fee goes towards the running, building and upkeep of the sanctuary and the lions. This is how we keep LLA in existance.

So as to respect the lions' privacy, we are not a tourist park. We prefer to have  a handful of dedicated lion lovers as volunteers than to open our gates to a multitude of paying visitors, this does however mean that we rely on volunteers as our means to generating funds to run the sanctuary.

Read Andi's  blog in which she talks about  the business model of having volunteers at LLA

https://andirivelions.blogspot.co.za/2017/10/heartbroken.html


We will send you more information and an application form if you are interested in booking