The World Cup may have brought the Rainbow Nation into the lime-light, but it appears that volunteers on gap year projects have known about the benefits of South Africa for ages. In July, the Year Out Group named South Africa as the most popular destination for structured gap year projects – a prize the country has now won for the last three years running.

This year, Kenya also returned to the top three – up 12 places from last year’s position, which is great news for the continent and of course for us at Worldwide Experience who run structured placements in both Kenya and South Africa.

Richard Olivier, chief executive of the Year Out Group, believes that South Africa is so successful because “it offers such a wide variety of worthwhile projects, ranging from conservation work in game parks, volunteering in health centres and orphanages including HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, and a variety of teaching programmes”.

At Worldwide Experience, we’re lucky enough to offer all these projects in South Africa. We benefit from the fact that our popular conservation gap year projects also combine work in community projects, and that our teaching projects also contain a hint of conservation work, so students can really make the most from their South African experience.

Kamilla Pahlefors has just returned from the Moholoholo Rehab Centre and she’s written us this fantastic blog post about her time out in Africa: I spent 2 weeks at the Moholoholo Rehab Centre in May-June in 2010 and I had the most fantastic time there! Of course the most exciting part of the gap year projects is spending time with the animals and feeling that you contribute to the important work carried out at Moholoholo. But before going there I wondered a lot about the practical details, and I’m very pleased with how all of that worked out! I felt …

The hardest part of any gap year project is choosing which one to go on in the first place, or so people keep telling me, and they must be right! I mean how exactly do you choose from rehabilitating animals at the Moholoholo Game Reserve, or working with the Born Free foundation to protect the majestic lions of Shamwari? I’ve been Shamwari’s resident blogger for ages, but even I’d have trouble choosing; after all they’re both absolutely incredible experiences. To make things a little easier I have devised a quick quiz using some of the skills needed for our four …

Voorspoedige Nuwe Jaar! That’s Afrikaans for Happy New Year and I hope that for all of you 2010 is a good one. The week before New Years is for me a time to get contemplative and look back on the past year remembering both the good times and the bad times. Whilst sitting on my favourite Baobab branch stuffed full of Christmas rice and peas, I started looking back on the past year trying to find my favourite memory of 2009 to share with all of you. 2009 saw me starting this blog and catching up with old friends like …

On my way back from my wildlife conservation holiday in Hoedspruit, I stopped in to visit my good friend Ditch at at the Moholoholo research centre. Last week, I told you all of how Ditch was rejected by her pride, not once but twice, and how the rangers had resigned themselves to the fact that she had been away from them for too long to ever properly be accepted back. So it was once again that Ditch was returned by pick-up truck to Moholoholo. At the time the animal rehabilitation centre also had another prideless lion living on the grounds, …