Vet Volunteering in South Africa

MacKenna Butler Start Date: Aug 29, 2017 - End Date: May 28, 2018
  • Cintsa, Amatola Coastal, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  • Hogsback, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  • Kei Mouth, Eastern Cape, South Africa

My Travel Story

by: MacKenna Butler Start Date: Aug 29, 2017 - End Date: May 28, 2018
This is for a pre-veterinary volunteer program in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Volunteers get a really diverse experience working with small animals (i.e., dogs, cats), large animals (i.e., cattle, goats), exotics (i.e., snakes, lizards), and wildlife (i.e., giraffes, impala). I went last summer for two weeks and I am looking to go for at least five weeks this upcoming summer. We travel throughout the Eastern Cape to work in impoverished communities that cannot afford proper veterinary care. The money goes toward the cost of the program [which covers my food, accommodations, program-related transportation, airport transportation,c entry fees and permits, and volunteer t-shirt as well as medicine for the many animals, donation to the new local clinic (Wild Coast Vet), first aid supplies, and game capture supplies] and airfare. I love this program and country with my whole heart and there is only one wildlife vet in the entire province, so they really need help! Volunteers get a hands-on experience unlike anything that they can do in the US, such as darting animals, like blesbok, with anti-parasitic vaccines, giving cows various types of injections, participating in game captures (used to switch animals between different game reserves to switch up the gene pool and therefore promote conservation), etc. This program is based in Cintsa, Eastern Cape, South Africa, about an hour drive outside of East London.
  • Cintsa, Amatola Coastal, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  • Hogsback, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  • Kei Mouth, Eastern Cape, South Africa

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