A day at Care for Wild starts early, with hands-on animal care, bottle-feeding calves, cleaning bomas, and preparing feeds, followed by rehabilitation and monitoring work through the day. Volunteers work alongside experienced wildlife professionals, not as spectators but as part of the sanctuary’s daily operations, for stints that typically run several weeks.
Mornings: care comes first
The day begins with the needs of the rhinos currently in care. Calves still on bottles need feeding on a strict schedule, some require close to 16 litres of milk a day during their first 18 to 20 months. Volunteers help prepare and administer feeds, clean and maintain boma enclosures, and support the daily husbandry that keeps recovering rhinos healthy and calm.
This isn’t observation from a distance. Volunteers work under the direct supervision of trained wildlife professionals, learning practical rehabilitation skills as they go, most people arrive with no prior experience in wildlife care, and that’s expected.
Through the day: rehabilitation, monitoring, and maintenance
Beyond feeding, the daily workload shifts depending on what the sanctuary needs that week. That can include enrichment activities for calves in rehabilitation, monitoring and behavioural observation, facility upkeep, and supporting the broader anti-poaching and protection operations that run continuously across the reserve.
Because Care for Wild’s gates are closed to general public visits, volunteering is one of the only ways to get an inside view of how a working rhino rehabilitation facility actually operates, from the medical side through to release preparation.
What you won’t be doing
It’s worth being upfront: volunteers don’t get unrestricted access to every rhino, and interaction is deliberately limited as animals grow, to avoid rhinos becoming too tame or dependent on human contact before release. Volunteers also won’t be involved in actual releases into the wild, those are highly controlled operations run by the core team. What volunteers do get is a genuine, close-up role in the recovery process that leads up to that point.
Security comes first — even for volunteers
Because poaching is an active, ongoing threat, Care for Wild asks volunteers not to post photos or videos of the sanctuary on social media, avoid photographing guards’ faces or landmarks, and switch off location services on all devices while on-site. It’s a strict policy, but it’s a direct extension of the same protection work volunteers are there to support.
What it costs, and why
Care for Wild’s volunteer programme is self-funded by participants, with a reduced rate for South African volunteers to keep the programme accessible locally. That fee isn’t just covering your stay, international volunteer contributions have directly funded infrastructure at the sanctuary, including solar energy systems that power daily operations. In effect, volunteering supports the sanctuary twice: through labour, and through the funding that keeps it running.
FAQs
Do I need experience to volunteer with rhinos at Care for Wild? No. Most volunteers arrive with no prior wildlife experience. What’s required is a reasonable level of physical fitness and a willingness to do hands-on, sometimes physically demanding work.
How long is a typical volunteer placement? Placements typically run for several weeks, allowing volunteers to build real skills and continuity in the care routines they’re supporting.
Can I take photos while volunteering? Yes, for personal use, but Care for Wild asks that nothing be posted publicly, and that no images include guards’ faces, location markers, or geotagged data — a security measure to protect the rhinos and staff.
Will I get to interact directly with the rhinos? Some, particularly with younger calves during hands-on care routines. Interaction is deliberately reduced as rhinos grow, to prepare them for a return to the wild without dependency on humans.
Volunteering at Care for Wild means real, hands-on work behind the scenes of the world’s largest orphaned rhino sanctuary. [Apply to Volunteer]
