Primate Rescue Project

	Come and enjoy working with all kinds of monkeys on this exciting project! The sanctuary is located in Pretoria and is home to over 80 monkeys varying from Marmosets to Barbary Macaques. Lend a hand in helping with the day to day running of the sanctuary as well as helping to expand the sanctuary to accommodate more monkeys! Get to know the monkeys on a personal level and you'll be guaranteed to have at least one favourite by the time you leave!
Minimum Duration:	1 week	Cost:	From R2900 per week
Where?	Gauteng, South Africa	Age:	17 and older

Overview

Day to day activities
Feeding, playing and looking after the monkeys. Assisting with hand raising baby monkeys when necessary.

What’s included
Accommodation, food (3 meals a day), washing machine to do your laundry.

What’s excluded
Flights, visas, insurance, transfers to the sanctuary, personal luxury items.

Accommodation
Fully equipped shared room (dorm type) in the sanctuary house.

Requirements
Love for monkeys, enthusiastic and energetic!

Working Hours
9:00am to 4:30pm (Some days will be earlier based on a rotational scheme for the morning feed.

Nearest town
Pretoria (+- 30 minutes from the sanctuary).

Guaranteed
Hands on contact with the monkeys and loads of fun!

About

In April 1996, the sanctuary received its first monkey called Cheeky. Cheeky was an eight month old Common Marmoset. The sanctuary quickly became inundated with requests to home problematic monkeys after national coverage on South African television. Due to the growing number of Common and Black-eared Marmosets, Tamarins and Squirrel Monkeys received by the sanctuary over the next 5 years, the sanctuary had to relocate to a larger property in September 2001. In December 2001, the sanctuary received its first international rescue case in the form of a badly abused Patas Monkey called Iris in Israel. The rescue was widely reported and Iris arrived at the sanctuary in February 2002. Since Iris' arrival the sanctuary has received numerous cases to help with international rescues.

Currently the sanctuary is caring for over 80 Marmosets, Tamarins, Squirrel Monkeys and Mona Monkeys, Capuchin monkeys and Barbary Macaques with constant requests to assist and rescue homeless primates both in South Africa and abroad. The constant increase in requests is one of the main reasons the sanctuary is looking to expand into the surrounding 20 hectares. The sanctuary accepts any kind of primate but currently the shortage of suitable accommodation means that larger primates have to be redirected to other suitable shelters. This is another reason why the sanctuary wants to expand into the surrounding areas. The sanctuary relies on funds raised from both volunteers and supporters in America and the Netherlands to purchase the surrounding 20 hectares. With more land available, the sanctuary will be able to expand the programme for volunteers (both local and international), gap year adults and students.

Needs
The project requires volunteers to help with the daily running and maintenance of the sanctuary and is planning on building a large Amazon Jungle Green House for the Amazon monkeys as well as building enclosures for Chimpanzees, both of which are costly and require funding.

Guidance & Supervision
You will be assisted and guided by the 5 long term volunteers for as long as you stay. These volunteers will guide you and assist you with any issues that arise as they know the monkeys pretty well. There is also a volunteer co-ordinator that works alongside you.

Tasks
•   Food preparation, feeding the primates, cleaning the enclosures
•   Medication and supplements of sick and elderly primates
•   Accompanying primates to the vet
•   Assisting with surgical procedures (if experienced)
•   General monitoring of unstable primates
•   Hand rearing (when necessary)
•   Record keeping
•   Enclosure building and maintenance
•   Introductions and monitoring of two unfamiliar primates
•   Separating fighting primates (including by hand - if experienced)
•   Relocating and monitoring of primates to new enclosures at the sanctuary
•   Enrichment – adding new branches and other enrichments items to the enclosures
•   Assist in rescue operations

Prerequisites
Obviously there are certain conditions applicable with regards to our volunteers to ensure the desired end result is reached.

It is therefore important that volunteers of the project understand the importance of the following:

To be passionate about working with animals.
To feel passionate about nature.
To respect and guarantee the vision and mission of the project.
To be able to show flexibility with regards to tasks and duties.
To be able to work in a team.
To be able to bear responsibility.
To be reliable and trustworthy

Accommodation

Your accommodation is in a shared, dorm type house which has shared bathroom/shower facilities. There is also a washing machine to do your laundry.

Meals are served 3 times a day during the following times.
7:00am – 8:30am (Breakfast)
11:30 – 1:00pm (Lunch)
6:00pm onwards (Dinner)

There is also a shop close to the sanctuary where you can buy snacks, cigarettes and alcohol.

Please note that there is no internet access at the sanctuary so ensure you have a mobile phone if you wish to communicate with family and friends back home.

Location
The sanctuary is situated in Pretoria, South Africa which is about 45 minutes from Johannesburg. We can arrange for you to be collected from the Johannesburg Airport or the Pretoria Bus station and taken to the sanctuary for an additional transfer fee. Please see the Fees and Dates section below for pricing on transfers. Also note that this only includes transport to and from the Johannesburg Airport or Pretoria Bus Station to the sanctuary and not to other locations such as a hotel or backpackers.
You can also use a taxi to get to and from the sanctuary at your own cost so please budget about R500 for taxi fares if you wish to use this option.

Fees and Dates

The prices below include accommodation and 3 daily meals.

The fee does not include your flight, personal expenses, visa, immunization and transport to the project from OR Tambo International Airport Johannesburg (price: ± R500 if you use a taxi)

Minimum duration is 1 week.

1-4 weeks R 3000 per week

Any extra weeks cost R 2800 per week.

Transfer fees cost R250 for pick up or return to OR Tambo International Airport Johannesburg or the Pretoria Bus Station.

An extra booking fee of R500 is required if you need Khaya to arrange transfers, accommodation and bus tickets as well as external travel arrangements. This fee lets Khaya handle your travel arrangements completely.

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Testimonials

Jon
“I have visited the Primate Rescue Project on three different occasions, making my time there six months in total so far. I couldn’t have picked a better place to volunteer at, or a better person to volunteer for. My time at the project has gained me many friends, human and monkey alike. I will definitely be guaranteeing a forth visit in the future, if not many more after that!”