Goodbye Sir Martin
It is with a broken heart that we have to let you all know that Martin passed away peacefully on Feburary 17th, 2020.
Martin had not been feeling well in the past few days, and as there was no sign of improvement, we started to be very worried and called the vet. Martin was transferred to the clinic for x-rays and blood tests yesterday afternoon. The results quickly showed that age had caught up with him and he was around 5 years older than previously thought. He had multiple tumours and extensive kidney and liver damage. Unfortunately, there was nothing that even our wonderful vet could have done to save him. Although we know that there was nothing else we could do, it was still heartbreaking to let him go. Not much is known about Martin’s early life, but he was confiscated by the SPCA due to the terrible conditions he was being kept in. He found a safe home at HESC in 2007, where he was part of their internationally renowned breeding program. In 2015, it was time for Martin to retire and he came to DAKTARI to live a happy peaceful life whilst inspiring the local children. After a bad start in life, Martin made such a huge impact on conservation and environmental education. Martin quickly became the favourite animal of many children who were amazed to see such a beautiful animal so close. He was an incredible ambassador for his species and all of us at DAKTARI are honoured to have had 4 wonderful years with him. Rest in peace, Sir Martin!
Other stories
Jason's Snakes: A Heartwarming Journey
Jason's Snakes: Inspiring Change and Conservation.
From Waste to Ecobricks
Sustainability and Community Engagement.
Celebrating Unity and Integration
The Tale of Three Remarkable Mongooses at DAKTARI.
Embracing Wildlife Conservation
Keketso - Embracing Wildlife Conservation.
Soli Deo Gloria children to DAKTARI
8 children were sponsored to come to spend a week at DAKTARI.
Learning how to track from Patson
Patson is a professional and respected tracker that is patrolling our reserve..
Kutullo dreamt of becoming a field guide
Kutullo´s dream of being a field guide became true after his internship with us.
Overcoming the fear of snakes in the HRC
The Eco-Club students losing their fear of snakes after a special excursion.
Welcoming a cheetah to DAKTARI
Last week, the HESC trusted DAKTARI with being the retirement place for Crunchie.
Starting our New Dog Buddy Lesson!
We created a lesson to teach the kids how to provide the basics to their dogs.
Bianca misses her bus to join Eco-Club
Bianca rather attend Eco-Club than arriving on time to the bus to go home.
I want to be a pilot
Sela wants to become a pilot so he can visit our international volunteers.
Newcomers to DAKTARI!
3 new meerkats arrived at DAKTARI.
improving the owl enclosure!
After several weeks of hard work, the new owl enclosure is finally ready.
Enrichment day for the meerkats!
Tiki and Gaspar went for a walk outside DAKTARI's camp.
An Unexpected Visitor during the day
Volunteers and Kids Embrace an Unexpected Wildlife Experience.
Trap picture!
We caught some pictures of the animals around us during the night.
Raphael's pivotal volunteer experience
Raphael’s Experience at Daktari Wildlife Orphanage: life changing in his life.
The Departure of Longtime DAKTARI Staff
A Heartfelt Farewell: The Emotional Departure of a Longtime DAKTARI Staff Member.
Getting ready for Duma and Knotch
Should we let nature do its job or give an animal the opportunity to live?
The 1st Eco-Club Ceremony of the Year
The first Eco-Club project finished with a beautiful ceremony!
We welcome Hayley, Luna’s new friend
Hayley, an African Pygmy Hedgehog arrived at DAKTARI.
Luna and Pedro in DAKTARI
We welcomed a new blind Southern African Hedgehog and a new Scrub Hare.
Boris, the new guest at DAKTARI!
An orphaned baby warthog arrived in our camp last month, with one injured leg.
A little help can go a long way
A few months ago, a young student named Cassius from the University of South Africa who was studying Animal Welfare contacted us by email as he ...
Nyalou gets his mobility back
Our wonderful Nyal had to get the visit from our wildlife veterinarian.
Our male dassie gave birth to two babies!
Our wonderful Dassie named "little boy" made us such a surprise by giving birth to 2 adorables babies.
Two cheetahs in our Wildlife Orphanage!
We are truly excited to welcome two beautiful cheetahs in our Wildlife Orphanage. Let's introduce them and share their story with you!
Updates in the Wildlife Orphanage
A lot has been going on in the past few weeks in our Wildlife Orphanage. We are glad to share the following animal updates with you!
Dassie Story!
This is the lovely story of Michele Merrifield and her dassies: The time we are going through due to the pandemic is very sad and lacks all forms of ...
500 food parcels deliverd = 42,000 meals!
DAKTARI keeps supporting the communities by distributing food parcels in the nearby villages. So far, we have distributed 500 parcels, or 42,000 ...
Food parcels distribution
We are all going through unprecedented and challenging times, and as it is a small NGO, DAKTARI is heavily impacted by this crisis. Schools and ...
Goodbye Sir Martin
It is with a broken heart that we have to let you all know that Martin passed away peacefully on Feburary 17th, 2020.
Releasing some of our animal friend!
A lot has been going on at DAKTARI and we are very excited to update you on our Wildlife Orphanage.
Happy ending story for this Bush Baby!
Community involvement is crucial to DAKTARI's work and shows the long-lasting impact that we make. Throughout the years we have been able to rescue ...
Once upon a time... Nyalou
As a wildlife orphanage, DAKTARI has the honour and privilege to raise abandoned animals and take care of them until they can be released, which is ...
Let Debra light up your day!
Upon completion of our weekly environmental education programme ,where our children from local communities learn about successful ways to protect ...
LAUNCH OF OUR NEW ECO CLUB !
We have launched our new ECO CLUB on September 3rd!
TAKING OUR WINNERS OF THE WEEK ON A GAME DRIVE!
Every week, the volunteers choose a winner of the week, based on his/her engagement, willingness to learn, and participation during lessons. The ...
NEWS FROM EX-VOLUNTEER
Catherine was only 18 years old and had just finished high school when she came to volunteer at DAKTARI for 3 weeks in summer. She had always dreamt ...
DOING SOME MAINTENANCE AROUND THE CAMP
July was a busy month here at DAKTARI. With a big group of volunteers we couldn't possibly let everyone teach the whole day. But luckily there was ...
Thelma can see again!
Last week our volunteers noticed that Thelma, one of the children that stayed with us for the week, couldn't see well. Volunteer Maria "Madu" jumped ...
You can now find us on Airbnb!
We're super excited to announce that you can now join us for a day of fun through Airbnb's Social Impact Experiences. Airbnb came up with these ...
Marjo, making an impact - Volunteer in August 2018
Marjo came to volunteer with us in August 2018. We asked her to leave a review to get an insight in her feelings about volunteering with us. This is ...
Our kitchen is finished!
Back in November, we set up a campaign to collect funds for a new kitchen. A few months later, we are excited to announce that it is finally ready!
Animals are the best teachers
January has been a busy month again for our wildlife orphanage! We welcomed 5 new babies, four squirrels and one klipspringer.
A happy ending for this little bush baby
Here at DAKTARI, we are always saving baby animals… some we find and some are brought to us. A few of the most common animals include; squirrels, ...
She came to volunteer with her son
I decided to come to DAKTARI Bush School with my son, Alexandre,11 years old, to share and experiment with something very different from our ...
Volunteer with friends - Zoé and Aurea, June 2018
"Hello everyone, we are Zoe and Aurea, two 19-year-old french girls who decided to come to South Africa to live the DAKTARI adventure.
A new Team Member at DAKTARI Bush School
We are happy to welcome Sacha, our new Office Assistant! Sacha is 24 years old and is coming from Switzerland where he finished his business ...
Some DAKTARI animals released
Gasper was the first to arrive at DAKTARI in 2010 follow by Tikki (2011) and Madonna (2014). The family then grew with Madonna’s three babies in ...
Tippi's experience at DAKTARI
In my perspective, Daktari’s project represents the future for the next generations of Africa. Before I had even heard about Daktari -along with ...
Great South African Corporate support!
We recently received generous donations from South African corporates.
Welcome Beth!
DAKTARI recently welcomed Beth, our new animal assistant! Beth is joining us from the UK where she previously studied zoology. She is staying with us ...
Karin Volunteer with her family - May 2018
My name is Karin and I’m from the Netherlands. I’m at Daktari with my husband Gerwin and my two sons Nils (14) and Bjorn (10). When we’re planning ...
A week of Job raining in the village
Every time a year, when the children are writing exams, DAKTARI manage a Job Hunting Program week. Usually, DAKTARI welcomes 8 students in the camp ...
The Wildlife Orphanage: a key element of education
DAKTARI Bush School & Wildlife Orphanage provides supplementary environmental and life skills education to Grade 8 learners in the nearby ...
Caroline Trujillo- Volunteer with Children and Animals
I came to Daktari on April 1st 2018. I was looking online for places to volunteer abroad and out of around 20 organizations Daktari was the one that ...
My School, My Village, My Planet
My School, My Village, My Planet is one of South Africa's biggest community-based fundraising programs and you can help us just by becoming a ...
Volunteer Position Available!
Application for Volunteer Office Assistant is now open!
LAETITIA VAN DER TANG - VOLUNTEER MARCH 2018
I arrived 3 of March 2018 for one month. My biggest interest to come to Daktari was the kids because I would like to work in social services. I ...
Welcome to Tango and Chimoya!
We are very happy to welcome two new babies at DAKTARI this mouth!
Day Trip to Tshukudu Bush Camp
Last weekend, we took the eight children for a day trip to Tshukudu Bush Camp for a game drive!
New Support!
We recently received some generous donations!
DAKTARI Impacting Children
After 12 years of working in the area, the impact DAKTARI is having on the community is becoming increasingly visible.
Akani's Letter
A child from last weeks teaching program wrote us a beautiful letter.
New Year Update
We are very excited to start the new year and are eagerly anticipating the arrival of our new volunteers and students next week.
Education Workshop at Local High School
DAKTARI visits Lepono High School to conduct a workshop on the value of education.
Mongoose Release
DAKTARI releases six banded mongooses into the wild.
4 Students, 3 Volunteers and 1 Goal: to find a job
DAKTARI runs follow up workshops in the local villages to support the job hunting efforts of the young adults that have attended our Job Hunting ...
A Letter From the Children
A few weeks ago we received a beautiful letter from three children describing their experience at DAKTARI. It is always amazing receiving messages ...
Eco Club Goes on a Field Trip
DAKTARI's eco club goes on a field trip to a nearby rehabilitation center.
Molly the Baby Bush Pig
DAKTARI recently acquired a new member of the family - a playful baby bush pig called Molly!
Mandela Day - Community Clean up!
This Mandela Day, DAKTARI Bush School and Wildlife Orphanage teamed up with the Oaks Village to participate in a village clean-up!
Warthog and Rothweiler relationship
Animals of all different shapes, sizes and species have struck up friendships - dogs and goats, rats and cats, ostriches and elephants. But have you ...
Dassies, dassies everywhere!
DAKTARI welcomed seven new dassies to the camp at the beginning of February!
An amazing 2016
A brief summary of DAKTARI's work in 2016.
Two budding entrepreneurs at the farmer's market
Two of our Eco-Club members, Tebatso and Kagiso, make clay animals in their spare time to sell. They are very good at it and had the opportunity to ...