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South Africa Tracking Adventure: The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project

Daily Schedule

You will be working side-by-side with a professional wildlife monitor, assisting with all aspects of monitoring activities. You will be part of a team, working on-site in the bush everyday. Monitoring activities will be comprised of an assortment of the following experiences:

Tracking endangered and priority wildlife from an open 4x4 vehicle, and locating them via radio or satellite telemetry equipment
Mapping sightings using GPS equipment
Photographing and creating identity kits of individual animals
Studying the animals and recording behavioral and feeding patterns for research purposes
Completing large scale game counts

You will rise with the sun and head out (seated on the back of the open 4x4 tracking vehicle) to locate the endangered animals that the wildlife monitor has earmarked for the morning using radio telemetry equipment that receives radio signals from their collars.

You will usually be back by late morning to prepare some lunch and have a little time to relax, read, take a nap, or watch the abundant bird and animal life delightfully enhancing the atmosphere around the camp. You’ll head out again on the vehicle between 2-3pm to follow up on those animals that were not located in the morning, such as elephant and rhino.

You should be back in camp shortly after sunset, to start preparing supper and to sit around a campfire, listening to the sounds of the bush and discussing the day’s events. Most nights you will be in bed early, and volunteers may have the opportunity to go out to track species like the hyena, which are active at night.

Please note: While the project does plan and follow basic schedules, the nature of the work being done dictates that the animals and their environment are the first priority, and therefore schedules may have to be altered due to unforeseen circumstances or incidents within this wild and dynamic environment. Itineraries and activities are therefore subject to change and are mostly based on the needs of the animals at any given time.

Additional periodic activities that occur include:

Radio collaring of animals
Relocation, re-introduction of endangered species
Notching (identity marking) of animals like rhino and elephant
Setting up camera traps at watering holes and game trails
Night tracking excursions
Bird capturing and ringing
Alien plant control

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South Africa Tracking Adventure: Book now! The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project Cost: $2,500 per person for a 2-week adventure Beneficiary: Wildlife Act The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project is an absolutely unique experience, as you get directly involved with some of the most exciting endangered and priority species conservation work in the epicenter of Africa. Working with a professional team, you will be monitoring endangered animals like the cheetah, African wild dog, black rhino, and priority species with a high ecological impact like the elephant, lion, white rhino, hyena, leopard, and buffalo. Wildlife ACT has initiated monitoring projects on various game reserves across Zululand, South Africa. The Zululand ecosystem is among the most diverse and productive wild lands in the world, yet amid its gallery of wildlife, conservation efforts face tremendous challenges. Some of these challenges include rapid encroachment and fragmentation of natural habitat; poaching; insufficient research and inadequate funding for monitoring and research; and the occurrence of many endangered species. Zululand creates a dramatic backdrop for our initiatives as it is a place of unspoiled beauty with cultures as diverse as its landscapes. The rolling hills are disturbed only by the zig-zagging of rivers, and the picture-perfect coastlines are framed by abundant forests. Zululand is a rare place where age-old cultures and traditions live hand-in-hand with modern culture and conservation efforts. Wildlife ACT monitoring projects collaborate with local conservation authorities and NGOs including Emzemvelo KZN Wildlife, iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, the WWF, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, and the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project .

South Africa Tracking Adventure: The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project

Impact

Your choice to participate and contribute will make a world of difference. Wildlife monitoring is essential for keeping track of animal movement patterns, habitat utilization, population demographics, and helping to reduce snaring and poaching incidents of endangered wildlife species. The valuable information which your team will gather has numerous management applications, including the planning of successful introduction and removal strategies of endangered and priority wildlife species.

The Wildlife ACT experience is unmatched in terms of the diversity of species and type of work we do
To do effective monitoring work, we keep our teams small. No more than five people are allowed per project at any given time. This way the team stays active and every member gets aggressively involved in conservation work.
The team members are highly qualified and focused on monitoring work
The work we do is important and contributes to genuine conservation programs
This is the only program that does work across a number of reserves which means you will, depending on how long you stay, have the opportunity to experience a variety of conservation work done on different reserves

South Africa Tracking Adventure: The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project

Location

The project is based in Zululand, South Africa; an area well known for its spectacular biodiversity and high concentration of unique species of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and plants.

The reserves at which you have the opportunity to work are as follows:

(Please note that your likelihood of visiting more than one Reserve increases according to the length of your stay – volunteers staying for only 2 weeks will only spend time on one Reserve.)

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve

Set in the heart of Zululand, and established in 1895, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) is one of the oldest game reserves in Africa. Part of the land was the exclusive hunting preserve of the Zulu king Shaka, who protected the area by proclaiming 'conservation' laws through his ownership of the land. Hluhluwe-Imfolozi is also famous as the place where the Southern white rhino was saved from certain extinction. Today, Africa's "Magnificent Seven" (lion, buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard, African wild dog and cheetah) stalk the flourishing savannah, and the reserve covers a massive 96,000 hectares, making it the second-biggest reserve in South Africa, containing an immense diversity of fauna and flora. The Wildlife ACT team focuses its efforts on the monitoring of cheetah, leopard, African wild dog and rhino, making extensive use of innovative monitoring techniques including the use of remote camera traps.

Thanda Private Game Reserve

Thanda Private Game Reserve is situated in an area exceptionally rich in fauna and flora, boasting not only the “Magnificent Seven,” but also over 380 bird species. The team you will be joining initiated their monitoring efforts to help assess the progress of recently reintroduced species with a focus on the African wild dog, cheetah and black rhino, as well monitoring the resident leopard and hyena population’s demographics and understanding how they impact the endangered species.

Mkhuze Game Reserve

A place of great beauty and high contrasts, Mkhuze is renowned for its astonishing diversity of natural habitats, from the eastern slopes of the Lebombo Mountains along its eastern boundary, to broad stretches of acacia savannah, swamps, a variety of woodlands and riverine forests, as well as a rare type of sand forest. The reserve constitutes the northwestern spur of the recently declared World Heritage Site -- the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. The reserve offers an abundance of wildlife including the “Big Five.” Endangered species such as black rhino, cheetah, African wild dog, vulture, and suni, form the team’s main focus.

Tembe Elephant Park

Situated in Northern Zululand and adjoining the Mozambique border, Tembe is home to over 200 African elephants and a rich diversity of wildlife -- black and white rhino, buffalo, hippo, leopard, lion, African wild dog, leopard and various antelope species. Tembe is also famous for having the world’s biggest elephants. They are massive! The main focus on Tembe is the monitoring of lions, elephant and wild dogs

South Africa Tracking Adventure: The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project Day

How To Get There:

The simplest way to arrive at your volunteering location is to fly to Johannesburg and then obtain a connecting domestic flight to Richards Bay where a representative will greet you and bring you to and from the reserve.

A second option is to travel by car from Durban Station to Richards Bay. Once again a representative will be arranged to pick you up in Richards Bay.

Cost Includes:

Accommodation, food, training, transport between reserves, and transport to and from Richards Bay.

Cost Excludes:

International flights, domestic transportation to Richards Bay, and personal items

South Africa Tracking Adventure: The Endangered Wildlife Conservation Project

Accommodation

You will be based inside a reserve itself, and share accommodation along with up to three other people in a rustic house or wood cabin.

The accommodation is basic but comfortable. Most people will share a twin room. There are separate shared toilets and a living/eating area. There is electricity, running warm water, and flushing toilets. A bed, mattress, and bedding is provided. We ask that you please bring your own towels. There is an outside seating area where you can sit by the fire under the stars. Because you will be living on the reserve with no fencing around the camp, you can expect visits from antelope, monkeys and baboons during the day, and hyenas, elephant and bushbabies at night.

At every camp there is a communal kitchen where everybody joins in to prepare their meals. Everything you need is provided including ingredients, an oven, stovetop, microwave, solar cooker, and a fire. If you have different tastes or diets than other visitors, you are also free to prepare your own meals separately.