South Africa -Gene E

October 4 - October 18, 2010:
I booked this trip with I-To-I Travel who is a company that's been around for about 15 years and offers meaningful travel all over the world such as humanitarian and wildlife conservation trips. I wanted to personally sample their product as I believe there is a huge market out there for this type of travel. I-To-I recently saw the light and started working with Travel Agents! Currently they pay only 10% commission but would be willing to increase that if our sales with them increased. I would strongly recommend this company and felt they did a fabulous job of booking and monitoring this trip from beginning to end. As an agent, they made my job so much easier. They provided all of the information and details to the volunteers so everyone knew exactly what the process was, what they would be doing at the project and made sure everyone was prepared with the right clothes, incidental items, so there were no surprises.


I chose this particular project as I personally have a huge fascination with the big cats. It's certainly not the trip for everyone; it was exciting, amazing and more fun than I've had in a long time. I did things I never thought of doing and will probably never do again such as: petting, hugging, holding, bathing and kissing baby and teenage lion cubs as well as a Cheetah (that was a bonus), bottle feeding new born baby Lion cubs that were 6 days old (every 2 hours, I might add) helping the cubs to go potty, walking with baby and teen Lions on a 2 mile walk, cleaning out Lion, Cheetah and Tiger enclosures (the Tigers were rescued), transferring vegetables and feeding the Giraffes & Zebra, helping with kitchen duty and whatever needed to be done on the farm. A wonderful education about all of the animals on the farm is included. Let's just say I worked harder than I probably ever had for 2 weeks. I told the owner's I am coming back as a guest next time to enjoy the lodge, environment and animals and be waited on hand and foot!

Ukutula Lodge is very rustic and not for anyone looking for luxurious accommodations, nightlife, spa or anything like that. It's really for traveler's who want to enjoy nature in the purest sense and who are interested in wildlife conservation as the project would never exist without volunteers. There is no activity or nightlife at except a bar that stays open as needed. The town of Brit is only 20 minutes away so a trip to town for the day or evening can be arranged.

Accommodations:
The volunteers spent the first night at a Hostile in Pretoria for our orientation. I have never done that before and hope to never do it again. Most of the volunteers were young woman mostly from Europe it was not an issue for them.

Ukutula offers several types of accommodations. The volunteers either stay with the cubs in Rondovals that sleep 2 or in 2 bedroom units with kitchens that accommodate up to 6 people. The Rondovals are located within the cub enclosure so you are literally living with them. At night we heard the Cheetah's purring and the cubs growling while we slept. The units have no screens, have no a/c, no T.V. and you can't open the windows due to the cats, snakes and spiders. We stayed one night and were then moved to the 2 bedroom unit. Nothing fancy but it did have a kitchen and a/c and a TV that we never watched. There is also a pool for the volunteers near the bar area.

The guest accommodations are Chalets that will sleep 2-4 people and are pool side. They offer a/c, min-fridge and a pool shared by all of the guests. Special meals are prepared for the guests that looked very nice. All guests have a Ranger assigned to them to take care of all of their needs; tours, meals and whatever else they need.

The owner of Ukutula recently purchased the land next door that includes a 4 bedroom very rustic unit that will sleep up to 10 people and was previously used as a canned hunting lodge. Lots of animals heads on the walls. It offers 2 huge bathrooms that are shared, one with a whirlpool bath, spacious living room and dining room and gorgeous patio w/ brie for barbecuing. The landscaping is gorgeous and is set smack in the middle of the bush. It comes with it's own resident Donkey and a Ranger to attend to all of guests needs. This unit will be used for all kinds of groups including families, weddings and will also be used for a Survival Project in the future.

I can't wait to go back! What an unbelievable experience of a lifetime.