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People looking to volunteer in South Africa in the next year should look at when they want to travel and pay particular attention to the upcoming football world cup. It's not going to make a big difference to your actual South African volunteer projects, but it's likely to have quite a big impact on flights to and from the continent.
The tournament starts on Friday 11th June 2010 (when South Africa as hosts open against Mexico) and the final is a month later, 11th July. As every continent has representatives in the world cup finals, flight prices from almost anywhere are likely to escalate for a while before, and during the competition.
If you're thinking of becoming a volunteer in South Africa during this time we certainly wouldn't want you to be put off, and there are a number of options.
If you're considering volunteering for a considerable time, let's say a month or two, it will be less of a challenge because you can plan to arrive before and leave after when flights are at a more normal level. Indeed if you were initially thinking about a short period of volunteering work, it might actually be more economical to stay longer because of savings you could make on the flight costs. You would need to look into this, of course, but it's an alternative worth considering.
The other main alternative is to choose your South African volunteering project now and book your flights as soon as possible. The earlier you are able to do this the better. Although world cup tickets are already on sale, many people don't book their flights at the same time so there is still some availability - although there's no knowing when this will change.
The final option is to fly into a neighbouring African country and get into South Africa by other means. From Windhoek in Namibia you can get a bus, which you can also do from Gaborone in Botswana. Whether you've been to Africa or not you'll probably realize that a bus ride on a lot of the roads will be less luxuries than flying in, but it's all part of the adventure! You could also fly to other parts of Africa, Kenya's Nairobi airport for example, then take an internal flight but of course many avid football fans will have the same information so you still want to make your decision as early as possible.
The organizations which arrange for you to volunteer in South Africa would like your valuable help for as long as you can give it. Whether you're working with African wildlife or helping teach local orphans it's an area where you can make a real long-term difference whatever time you have to give.
For the latest news and info for those who are thinking about volunteering in South Africa - or Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe for that matter - visit Your African Adventure.com.
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