ORCA Whale Volunteer Programmes in South Africa

General Info

People of all ages and with different backgrounds come from all over the world to help us further our work in sustaining marine and coastal resources. Our projects are both sea and land based, and daily activities include whale and dolphin watching, fish tagging, photo identification for animal movement studies, hiking/marine debris clean ups, planting indigenous trees/removing alien species, marine education with preschool children, and teaching youngsters about conservation by running educational programs with sea excursions. Besides our research work, we are also involved with various other conservation activities. Such activities include maintenance of the Ocean Blue aquarium, which holds a collection of fish and represents the ecosystem of the surrounding bay. We collect food for the fish, clean the aquarium, facilitate water changes, and collect specimens for the aquarium, while at the same time learning about the rivers, estuaries, the sea, and the delicate balance between all of them. Your time with us can be as short as two weeks or can last as long as twelve weeks. If your stay exceeds more then four weeks, we offer a marine guiding course which consists of a self-study manual, 2 hours of lectures, 10 hours of practical training, a 3 hour written exam, and a 2 hour practical evaluation consisting of a full boat trip. Passing mark is 70% with a 100% pass rate to date!