Internships in Cape Town - South Africa

All Intern Abroad HQ programs include a guided reflection course, which combines personal development with professional competency building. Interns receive weekly reflection modules to complete during their program, which foster the acquisition of essential soft skills for employability and a resilient career. Each reflective journaling task introduces a new topic, presents learning objectives, and provides specific prompts that inspire and guide the learning process.

Intern Abroad HQ does not award grades for the completion of our internship programs, but interns can be supported to independently arrange academic credit through their home educational provider. Upon completion of the internship duration and reflection course, interns receive a portfolio as documentation of their experience. This includes a certificate of internship completion, alongside a summary of the internship goals, skill development, highlights, and a compilation of the reflection work.

Internships in Cape Town begin every Monday and interns may choose to spend a minimum of 2 weeks, up to a maximum of 24 weeks. (Exceptions to start date availability may occur when start dates are closed due to public holiday disruptions or if the program has already reached capacity). Less internship positions are available during late December and early January, due to the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

Airport pick up and accommodation are included in the Program Fee. The accommodation is covered from the Saturday night before the Monday start date. Interns are asked to arrive on the Saturday before their Monday start date, to allow sufficient time over the weekend to rest and become oriented before beginning on the Monday. The last night of accommodation that is covered by the Program Fee is the Friday night of the final week, leaving interns to depart on the Saturday morning. Extra nights of accommodation can be pre-arranged upon request and paid for separately.

All participants fly into the Cape Town International Airport (CPT), in order to receive their airport pick up and be transported to the accommodation by a pre-arranged driver. Upon arrival to the accommodation, interns are met by a local team member, who will greet them and assist with settling in. Note that all participants are advised not to book flights until they have first registered to confirm their internship placement.

Orientation typically takes place on the Sunday before the Monday start date. It covers important details for the internship, including introductions, information about culture, customs, rules, expectations, safety, language lessons, cultural excursions, and more. Interns join their placement on the following day.

If you are planning to spend time in Cape Town prior to your internship and will not require an airport pick up, we can arrange an alternative pick up from another location within the central city.

Internship placements are spread throughout Cape Town’s main city center and surrounding suburbs. Accommodation is based in the Observatory district (known affectionately as “Obs”). The area is best known as a student neighbourhood (most of the students in the area attend the University of Cape Town) and there is great access to cafes, restaurants, and supermarkets that are within walking distance of the accommodation. Interns are accommodated in guest houses or at a hostel, all of which are close together, making it easy to connect with others and share social time. Living conditions are comfortable and interns can expect to share a room with another intern (of the same gender). Bathrooms are shared with a hot water shower and western toilets. WiFi is available and is also accessible at nearby cafes and restaurants. All accommodation provides cooking facilities.

Internships in Cape Town include a packed lunch and dinner, served Monday through Friday. During the weekends, interns have free time and typically source their own meals at affordable cafes and restaurants within the area. A typical packed lunch could include meals such as sandwiches and salads. Dinner can vary between typical western food and South African food, such as curries, stews, chakalaka (vegetable curry mix), salads, roasted vegetables, and braai (South African meat cooked BBQ-style over an open fire). Drinking water in Cape Town is fine to drink from the tap. Please be sure to let us know of any specific dietary requirements that you have in advance, so that we may ensure our local team is aware and can advise you accordingly.

On the weekend, interns have spare time to relax and explore. There’s something for everyone, with nightlife, café culture, music, festivals, food markets, wine tours, hiking, and some of the most beautiful landscapes in the continent! Here are some of our top picks for activities around Cape Town:

• Hiking around Table Mountain National Park, just ten minutes from central Cape Town, is a great option to keep fit and healthy and there are lots of trails to explore for any level of adventurer. Reach the top of Table mountain by foot, or take a return cable-car. Don’t forget to challenge yourself to summit Devil’s Peak and Lion’s Head!

• Shark cage diving is an exhilarating experience - if you’re feeling brave enough! Get eye-to-eye with a great white from the safety of a cage or observe from the comfort of the boat. Most dives cost around $130USD, but shop around and speak to others to ensure you get a fair price (based on the season).

• The Neighbourgoods Market, located at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock (close to the Observatory district) features over 100 specialty traders every Saturday, creating a weekly platform for local farmers, fine-food purveyors, organic merchants, bakers and distributors, grocers, mongers, butchers, artisan producers, celebrated local chefs, and micro enterprises. Don’t miss it!

• Kick back and relax over the weekend, with a slow-paced wine tour through some of Cape Town’s loveliest estates. Learn about the history of how wine was introduced to the area and sample a delicious selection.

• General tours to Robben Island usually depart every day. With a rich 500 year, multi-layered history, the island is visited every year by thousands of people, who learn about important aspects of South Africa’s history.

• The Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), is located in a converted grain silo, overlooking the Atlantic on the Victoria and Alfred waterfront. The institution has 100 galleries spread over nine floors and the exhibitions focus exclusively on 21st-century work from Africa and the diaspora.

• For history-buffs, take a wander through South Africa’s oldest building, the Castle of Good Hope. The magnificent building contains displays of historical and military paraphernalia, an art collection, a restaurant as well as a history of the castle itself.

Weather and climate: South Africa is generally temperate, however due to varied topography and oceanic influence, a great variety of climatic zones exist. This ranges from the extreme desert of the Namib (northwest South Africa), to the subtropical climate along the Mozambique border and the Indian Ocean (eastern South Africa). Winters in South Africa occur between June and August.

In Cape Town, the summers are warm, dry, and mostly clear; the winters are long, cool, wet, and partly cloudy. It is windy year round and common to see windsurfers enjoying the surf. Over the course of the year, the temperature in Cape Town typically varies from 48°F (9°C) to 76°F (24°C). The warm season in Cape Town usually ranges from December through March and the coldest months are June through September.