African Wildlife Experience

Highlights

• Be empowered to protect nature by creating a conservation lifestyle.
• Work with species such as lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, meerkats and buffalos.
• Learn new and many different ways of how to preserve and conserve our planet and its animals.
• Track and monitor free roaming cheetahs.
• Relocate and translocate wildlife species.
• Combine conservation volunteering with the contribution of community upliftment when helping in a local farm school or school projects.

Project information

You are empowered to protect nature when participating in this project.
You will gain leadership, teamwork and relationship skills and learn about self-management. You will also enjoy the benefits of communal living, meet people of different walks of life and also get the opportunity to make long-life friends. The main aim is for you to gain a conservation mind-set.

Skills you will acquire and develop:

• The proper use of telemetry tracking equipment
• The use of hand-held DPS devices
• How to identify wild life species
• How to set up and use camera “traps” to monitor certain species
• How to track animals using traditional methods like the identification and following of animal spoor
• How to collect and analyse data
• An understanding of conservation and issues of human animal conflict.

Your role

There are usually four to six tasks per day, based on a rotational system which ensures that everyone has the opportunity to experience all tasks.

Usually, your working day starts at 08:00 and ends at 17:00.
Tasks for the day can include the following:

• Food preparation
• Tracking and monitoring free roaming cheetahs
• Researching and observing wild meerkat families
• Performing game counts
• Electric fence and enclosure patrolling
• Setting up camera “traps” for research purposes
• Relocating/trans-locating wild-life
• Mitigating human/animal conflict
• Contributing to habitat conservation, including planting spekboom
• Community upliftment (Vrederust school project)
• Assisting and support at local farm school
• Farming work such as maintaining water supply, fixing fences, etc.
• Learning veld skills such as Tracking, Animal species, plant species
• Ultimately – learning to become a conservationist

It is important to note that this description serves as an example only. The daily tasks and challenges depend on the volunteer, the time of year and the work that needs to be done. The final job description can therefore vary substantially from the above.

Accommodation

Accommodation is provided in a large, newly built, tented camp with up to four people (same gender) sharing each tent. The rooms and tents are basic, but the single beds are comfortable with bedding provided (duvets and pillows). Showers and toilet facilities are en-suite and hot water is supplied by gas geysers.
Power sockets for electrical items are available in each tent and in the communal area.

You also have access to WiFi in the tented camp.

Lunches and dinners are prepared by a staff member, assisted by the volunteers, breakfast is a self-help meal but ingredients are provided. Vegetarian and vegan meals can be provided on request.