Volunteer With Endangered Species

Zululand is considered by many as the heartbeat of Africa and the birthplace of wildlife conservation in Africa. The African bush is such a dynamic and ever-changing environment in which to work and our movements and activities are entirely regulated by the priority and endangered animals that we monitor.

A Typical Day as a Wildlife Conservation Volunteer:

• You’ll get up early in the morning and bundle onto the back of our open 4×4 vehicles and head out on a monitoring session along with your wildlife monitor and the other wildlife conservation volunteers.
• Your wildlife monitor will have specific animals he or she needs to monitor. Radio telemetry is used to locate the animals with tracking collars. You will be properly trained to use the telemetry equipment and after a few days you’ll be doing the telemetry tracking yourself.
• Once you’ve located the animal you will map the sighting using a handheld GPS device and update identity kits if necessary. You’ll also need to document behavioural notes used in our research. The species we monitor include endangered species such as the African Wild Dog (or Painted Dog), Cheetah, Black Rhino and Vulture. We also do incidental monitoring of focal species such as Elephant, White Rhino, Hyena and Leopard.
• We’re usually back by late morning when there will be time to relax, read, write in your journal, have a nap or watch the abundant bird and animal life which occurs around the camp.
• We head out again in the late afternoon and we’re normally back in camp shortly after sunset to start preparing supper. Most meals are enjoyed sitting around the campfire, listening to the sounds of the bush and discussing the day’s activities. After a long day, we’re usually in bed early, excited for the day ahead!
• At least once a week we have a day set aside to input the information we’ve gathered from the field into the camp computer and make an analysis of the data.
• Wildlife ACT’s conservation volunteers prepare their own meals, and are responsible for general cleaning and maintenance in the camp.

Please note:

Depending on how long you join the team for and the time of year, you may also be part of wildlife darting or trapping, the radio collaring of various animal species, the relocation and re-introduction of game, identity tagging of animals, setting and checking of camera traps, game counts, bird ringing and alien plant control. (Please note that these activities occur strictly when the need arises and cannot be guaranteed).

‘This is Zululand, Not Disneyland’

We have a saying here: ‘This is Zululand, Not Disneyland’. It’s not always easy and there are many challenges along the way, including long hours and tough work, but it’s one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences you’ll ever have.

Due to the nature of our work, we often have to track one animal for an entire day, covering large distances without success – but it’s important that we do it. This is not a safari operation and we don’t want to romanticize the work we do. Our projects enable you to experience what life is like as a real conservationist or wildlife researcher. This is real Africa and you’ll contribute to conservation as a real natural resource conservation volunteer.

Training and Skills:

All training will be via practical tuition in the field. The skills you will gain are:

• The proper use of telemetry tracking equipment;
• The use of hand-held GPS devices;
• How to produce animal identification kits;
• How to set up and use camera traps to monitor certain endangered species;
• How to track animals using traditional methods like the identification and following of animal spoor;
• How to collect animal behavior data and how this data is extrapolated and used to inform and enhance management objectives on these reserves, as well as other reserves across Africa; and
• A firm understanding of wildlife conservation issues facing endangered species across Africa.

Free Time: With regards to downtime and leisure activities while you are with us, the nature of the work being done means that the animals need to be located every single day. The wildlife monitor will therefore continue working continuously seven days a week, but volunteers may take the occasional Sunday for an admin day or rest day at the camp. Depending on the daily tasks and activities, volunteers normally have some downtime between morning and afternoon monitoring sessions.

Wildlife ACT conducts intensive endangered species monitoring work in Zululand, South Africa, and volunteers are an integral part of the exciting conservation work that we do. Wildlife monitoring is essential for keeping track of animal movement patterns, habitat utilization, population demographics, snaring and poaching incidents and breakouts. This valuable information, which Wildlife ACT and our wildlife conservation volunteers gather, has numerous management applications, including the planning of successful introduction and removal strategies of priority wildlife species.

This requires our wildlife monitors and conservation volunteers to go out into the reserve every day and find these animals using either VHF tracking equipment or conventional spoor tracking techniques. We also develop wildlife identikits of all the species we help monitor. Our projects have all been approved and contracted directly by the Management Authority of each reserve and national park, to perform critical and essential conservation work for those reserves.

Africa has over 400 known endangered animal species. Tracking and monitoring of endangered species is a critical step in the conservation of these animals, but many game reserves do not have the capacity to run effective wildlife monitoring programmes. Wildlife ACT provides this free tracking and monitoring service to game reserves in Zululand both by initiating, implementing and managing monitoring projects on reserves that don’t have monitoring programmes in place, or by taking over existing monitoring projects on reserves that can no longer fund or manage them. This is what your participation supports.

We collect all arriving participants from RICHARDS BAY, which is the closest Airport. You will have to book your INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT to arrive at JOHANNESBURG, and then book a short internal connecting flight, from Johannesburg to RICHARDS BAY.

For arrival, participants can choose to either fly in to Richards Bay on the SUNDAY, and to then overnight at a B&B close to the Airport, OR to arrive on either of the following flights arriving in Richards Bay on the MONDAY: at 09:15 AM, or at 12:50 PM, if they prefer not to overnight on Sunday.

Flights arriving later than 12:50 on the Monday are TOO LATE for us to collect you!

ARRIVAL Flight:

The transport service will collect participants from the Richards Bay Airport at 12:50 PM on the MONDAY. Please ensure therefore that you book one of the following flights, arriving in Richards Bay at:

• 14:30 PM; 16:15 PM or 18:10 PM on the SUNDAY,
• OR, at 07:25 AM; 09:15 AM; or at 12:50 PM on the MONDAY. (**NO FLIGHTS ARRIVING LATER THAN 12:50 PM WILL BE SUITABLE, ON THE MONDAY.)

Important Note: Please be aware that if you arrive on a morning flight, you will have a few hours to wait until the transport service arrives to collect all arriving volunteers from Richards Bay Airport at 12:50. We suggest you wait in the small coffee shop within the Richards Bay Airport. You will be comfortable and safe there, and they do sell beverages and light meals/snacks so you can sit and read or work on your laptop.

DEPARTURE Flight:

The transport service will drop off participants at the Richards Bay Airport at 11:30 AM on the MONDAY. Please ensure therefore that you book one of the following flights, departing from Richards Bay at:

• 13:10 PM; 15:00 PM; 16:35 PM; or 18:40 PM on the MONDAY of your departure.

Important Note: Please do not book flights departing from Richards Bay earlier than 13:10 PM, as we will simply not be able to get you to the airport in time, from the reserves.

OVERNIGHT OPTIONS NEAR THE AIRPORT:

All 5 accommodation venues listed in the attached document will COLLECT our participants from the Richards Bay Airport, on the Sunday. (This airport collection is included in the listed accommodation price).

These 5 venues have also ALL agreed to transport our participants BACK to the Richards Bay Airport on the Monday  – FREE OF CHARGE – thereby making collection quicker from our side. Please make sure to request this service as a Wildlife ACT volunteer, in your booking enquiry with them.

COLLECTION FROM THE AIRPORT:

We will then collect all the participants together, at the RICHARDS BAY AIRPORT, at 12:50 PM, on the Monday. Those participants who choose to arrive on the earlier flight on the Monday, will simply wait at the Airport for the 12:50 collection. (There is a small coffee shop within the Airport, where participants can safely wait.)

If participants book any other accommodation in Richards Bay, they will need to arrange and pay for their own taxi’s to get back to the Airport on Monday.

Participants will need to be at the Airport NO LATER THAN 12:30 PM if they plan to make their own way to the Airport.

Transfer Service:

When you arrive at Richards Bay Airport you will be collected by an organised responsible transfer company. The driver will have a copy of the transport schedule including, all your photographs. They will find you in the (VERY) small Airport: either in the small arrival area or in the little coffee shop within the airport if you arrive early.

All arriving conservation volunteers will be transported by the transfer company to a central meeting point where you will be met by your respective Wildlife ACT monitors, who will then take you into the reserve on the back of a monitoring vehicle. On the Monday of your departure you will be transported back to Richards Bay Airport to catch your departing flight home.