Providing Outreach to Local Communities

As you may or may not know Airbnb has this new thing called Social Impact Experiences. Contrary to normal experiences on Airbnb, we don’t get charged a fee to be on the platform. Instead we get 100% of the payment to cover the cost of the experience and some running costs in our camp. Airbnb is using these Social Impact Experiences to give an extra push to NGOs that try to make a difference.

During your day here you’ll be helping our animal manager and assistant with everything they do. That could be cleaning enclosures, making enrichment or even feeding! One thing you do need to know is that this experience focuses on the animal side of DAKTARI. This means you won’t be teaching the children. But we can assure you that a day here will be a day you’ll never forget :)

We’re honoured to be a part of this platform in the first place, but we really hope that we can get more local volunteers this way. It’s a nice way of spreading the word and also giving a chance to local people to come by that would otherwise never really get the chance so see what DAKTARI really is. 

So if you’re ever in Hoedspruit and want to come by to help us for a day, be sure to check out our Social Impact Experience on Airbnb! We’d love to have you.

On the 9th of March we took part in a global art project named the Inside Out Project together with an ex-volunteer and her brother. This exhibition was called the Inside OAKS Project. 72 portraits were taken. Some of them featured our volunteers, staff and local people from the Oaks Village. The objective of this art exhibition was to teach children about the importance of the environment.

DAKTARI helped to hang all of the portraits on the big market place in the Oaks and afterwards children from the local schools entertained us with song and dance. Those who were hungry were able to enjoy some delicious boerewors. The end result looked stunning and was visible from very far away. Most of the people who attended this event were locals from the Oaks or from towns nearby, but we also had some Dutch tourists who made a little detour on their roadtrip to come admire the portraits!

With your help we can continue to set up new projects and find new ways to create awareness and stimulate community development.

Links:

• Inside Out Project