Yomps, Adventure Travel Experiences

Conservation & Game Reserve Management Volunteering
Full Itinerary

Volunteer on a South African game reserve for 4, 8 or 12 weeks; help to monitor animals such as lions, leopards, elephants and rhino, drive 4x4’s, learn about conservation in South Africa, obtain the skills required to maintain a game reserve, obtain a first aid certification; learn some of the Afrikaans language and contribute towards the future sustainability of a unique and beautiful area.

South Africa

Week 1 - Learn about conservation, learn how to identify a number of trees and animals, get a first aid qualification and train to do the many jobs required over the coming weeks

Your plane touches down in Phalaborwa (after an internal flight from Johannesburg), where you will be met by your new colleagues and taken to your new home; a large, homely house within a picturesque reserve, located about one hour away by car. The game reserve is over 22,000 hectors in size and located in South Africa’s prime safari country, so contains a remarkable diversity of flora and fauna. The house accommodates a maximum of ten volunteers within its two spacious rooms which have shared dormitory-style sleeping arrangements (with double rooms available for couples on request) and bathrooms. The house also has a lounge, dining room, office, kitchen, outside area complete with braai (barbeque) facilities, as well as the luxury of electricity and hot and cold water. Upon arriving here you will have time to unpack and relax after your journey, meet your new companions, have some dinner and enjoy a sundowner (the South African term for having a drink whilst you watch the sun set) listening to the sounds of the bush that is your home for the coming weeks!

The next morning your South African adventure begins bright and early, with a coffee and some cereal. The first week will be dedicated to training and each day you will cover a number of subjects, including conservation, wilderness ethics, erosion control, bush clearing and how to drive a 4x4, learn about firearms and shoot a rifle. You will also learn about the research monitoring activities you will be involved in over the coming weeks out on the reserve, including why the research is so important and how the data is utilised. When out on the reserve a member of staff will accompany you at all times, ensuring your safety is paramount and carrying a rifle (as this is a reserve with lions, leopards, elephants and rhinos after all!). During the week you will be taught the Emergency First Response first aid course, which will give you a qualification that will last two years once successfully completed. The evenings can be spent relaxing, eating dinner and sitting around beneath the South African stars talking, telling jokes and discussing what might be in store on your next thrilling day. The week of training will be very intense but highly exciting and extremely vital in ensuring the coming weeks you spend on the reserve will be successful, rewarding and safe.

South Africa

Week 2 Onwards - Spend hours in the African bush helping to manage the game reserve; monitoring and seeing amazing animals such as lions, leopards, elephants and rhinos

During the second week the days will be composed of approximately three sessions of about three hours, in which you will learn new skills and more knowledge about the African bush. By now you will also be trained enough to perform a variety of jobs, which include working on the Nyala breeding project, checking and repairing electric fences, eradicating ‘alien’ plants and walking through the bush with our staff looking for poachers’ snares. You will also get the chance to sleep out in the bush listening to the nocturnal sounds, taking it in turns to keep watch by the fire or sleep under the South African stars.

By researching and monitoring the reserve animals and the bush, you will be assisting a number of key projects. You will participate in game counts to identify how many animals there are in specific areas of the reserve and will survey vegetation to see how different parts of the bush cope with the number of animals feeding on it. There will be chances to go on night drives to see the reserve’s nocturnal animals; collecting data about the animals’ foraging and reproductive behaviour. (See below for more information about the projects currently running).

Each week you will have one and a half days off (providing there are no emergencies on the reserve) to relax, read, write in your journals, catch up on sleep or do some sunbathing. You can also play sports such as volley ball, cricket and touch-rugby, or if you’re feeling slightly less energetic you can play board games or watch a DVD from the movie nights’ library. Anyone old enough can hire a car to leave the reserve to see the sights of the surrounding area, which include a UNESCO dedicated biosphere reserve, beautiful archaeological sites dating back to the stone age and a variety of untouched spots of timeless natural beauty. If there is time our staff will also take you on various trips to visit some of the local ‘watering holes’ where you can let down your hair, have a few drinks and socialise. You will also get to go on more game drives on the reserve to look for some of the bigger, more dangerous game such as elephants, lions, leopards and rhino to get some amazing photos of these spectacular animals. Indeed this volunteering project will give you the opportunity to get some awe-inspiring photos as well as awesome memories to take home, some excellent experience to put on your CV, some fascinating knowledge of conservation in a game reserve, and some epic stories to tell for years to come!

Ongoing Projects -

The following projects will be either running all year or may only be seasonal.

• Erosion control and habitat rehabilitation: volunteers will assist ongoing habitat monitoring and rehabilitation initiatives in the reserve, which include controlling erosion, constructing gabions and brush-packing. Volunteers will also assist in identifying other problem areas and formulate planning strategies for their rehabilitation
• Assisting with the maintenance of boundary fences and fence patrols: an integral part of any reserve is the fencing system boundary, as it not only keeps the precious resources in but also any undesirables out
• Removing internal fencing / pens / droppers / poles/ wire / rubbish from old mines etc: to get the reserve into pristine condition all old traces of human habituation need to be removed
• Building any required bomas or other structures
• Participating in anti-poaching and snare patrols
• Game capture and transportation where applicable
• Erection and maintenance of roads, dams, boreholes etc
• Mechanical maintenance of equipment and vehicles
• Alien vegetation control: volunteers will learn to identify and mechanically or chemically clear alien and invasive vegetation on the reserve
• Water provision and management
• Bush encroachment and its control

Research and Monitoring -

Volunteers will have the opportunity to work with the researcher on the reserve and assist them with all of the research and monitoring that takes place.

There are both short term projects and long term (or on-going) projects that take place on the reserve. Below are some examples of the type of projects that volunteers could expect to be involved in:

• Sex / age ratio analysis: animal species will be monitored to establish the optimal ratio to increase productivity. In conjunction with annual game counts, a more accurate idea of species population sizes, composition and sex / age ratios will be determined
• Large animal demography: volunteers collect data in the field and assist in the upkeep of reserve records and the maintenance of identification kits
• Vegetation surveys – mapping homogeneous units, monitoring the herbaceous and woody components etc. Many of these activities are seasonal (such as veld condition assessments (VCA's)) and the volunteers on the reserve over this period would assist during these times
• Elephant - vegetation impact study
• Ecological baseline surveys: students will contribute to the collection of data needed to compile a resource inventory
• Predator - prey dynamics (which include prey selection, frequency of kills etc.): will be monitored as the predation influences the herbivore component directly, which in turn affects the vegetation of the reserve. Being a stocked reserve there are financial implications related to predation
• Jackal focus: a focus to ascertain if the jackal population on the reserve is as it should be
• Nocturnal mammal focus: the monitoring of these species occurs during nocturnal drives, whereby volunteers participate to acquire data on the ranging, foraging and reproductive behaviour of nocturnal species
• Assisting with game counts when needed

Extra Activities Available -

Volunteers & staff have one and a half days off a week to explore the surrounding areas. The reserve is ideally situated and there are some awesome places & activities you can do in the area, such as:

• Kruger national park day trips
• Blyde river canyon
• Horse safaris
• Visits to wildlife rehabilitation centre
• White water rafting (season dependant)
• Reptile park
• Cultural tours
• Angling
• Abseiling
• Ballooning
• Plus much more

Arrival / Departure Information -

Volunteers must make their way to Phalaborwa to arrive on a Monday (you will need to take a coach or flight from Johannesburg) where you will be met by a project staff member. You will receive more information when making your booking.

Prices -

Please note that when completing the online booking form, you should select the applicable start date and specifiy your desired trip duration in the 'Other Details and Information' section.

	Pound sterling (£)	US Dollar ($)	Euros (€)
4 weeks	1250	2,499	1,579
8 weeks	2500	4,999	3,135
12 weeks	3750	7,499	4,699

Example of a days itinerary -

• 0530 – Wake up with tea, coffee and rusks
• 0600 – AM Drive / walk (2 ½ hrs). Research drive where data for both ongoing projects and once off projects will be collected
• 0830 – Breakfast
• 0900 – Duties
• 1000 – Erosion control and habitat rehabilitation (3 hrs). Volunteers will go out into the field and work on a designated site
• 1300 – Lunch
• 1400 – Boundary fence and anti-poaching patrol (3 hrs). Volunteers will go out into the field and conduct boundary fence maintenance and patrols to find and repair faults combined with an anti poaching patrol
• 1700 – Leisure time (2 hrs)
• 1900 – Duties
• 2000 – Dinner

- Malaria Awareness

Travelling to long-haul destinations can be a wonderful and exciting experience. Before you go, make sure you take the right travel advice about visiting Malaria risk countries. At Yomps we are committed to stopping traveller deaths from malaria which is why we support the campaign being run by Malariahotspots.com. Click here to download our free guide about Malaria Awareness (opens in a new window).