SOUTH AFRICA / Kaya Responsible Travel
Volunteer in South Africa and experience the unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of a working game reserve. This diverse landscape of the reserve allows for a range of African game including rhino, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest, Eastern Cape kudu, African lions and elephants, to reside on the land. Due to the coastal setting of the reserve and the sub-sequential high rainfall on the Wild Coast, the reserve has a larger carrying capacity of game in comparison to reserves in lower rain fall areas. The reserve is therefore bursting with wildlife and in need of various programs to monitor and assess the game and conservation.
Volunteers will spend time on game drives and bush walks identifying species and monitoring the present game and other wildlife in the reserve. With over 10,000 hectares of land set over three conservation sites, volunteers are guaranteed that they will never get bored! You will get stuck in with general reserve maintenance tasks including fence patrols, field management and game capture, release and relocation.
The hands-on nature of this part of the project is a real high point: from learning about elephants in the elephant sanctuary and working within an animal rehabilitation centre which cares for a huge host of animal and birds, right the way through to identifying the hundreds of bird species in the reserve, wildlife lovers are given the opportunity to develop real skills and a knowledge of the South African eco-system.
Volunteers will also spend time helping to reverse damage done by the non-indigenous plants by controlling the alien vegetation and cultivating the indigenous, in the indigenous plant nursery. These plants are then used in rehabilitating areas of land that are damaged by soil erosion and previous poor land utilization practices. Alongside this work there will be informative lectures on environmental issues and the sharing of wildlife management skills from project staff. You may also be involved in visiting a rural school where we host 3 environmental interactions a month as well as integrating into the local community teaching them about traditional medicines with many chances for cultural interaction.
The tour of ecology doesn’t end in the reserve; surrounded by white sandy beaches and rocky shores, time will be spent learning about coastal systems and marine ecology as well as supporting the local systems with beach cleanups.
For more information on this opportunity, please contact a member of the Kaya Team on:
T.(0044) 161 870 6212
E. info@kayavolunteer.com
W. www.kayavolunteer.com
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