Amakhala Hands On Volunteers

General Info

Amakhala Game Reserve offers luxury accommodation in Safari Lodges, Country Houses and restored Settler Farmhouses located between the Greater Addo and Frontier Country area in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Only 45 minutes drive east of Port Elizabeth, Amakhala Game Reserve and Accommodation in the Eastern Cape is easily accessible for any visitor to South Africa,and it is surely a not-to-be-missed stop on South Africa's famous "Garden Route".

AMAKHALA GAME RESERVE HANDS ON VOLUNTEERS

Amakhala Game Reserve also offers a programme suitable for persons of all ages looking for that something different as part of a gap year or following a life change. This is your chance to contribute to conservation, to make a difference and to return to nature.

PROGRAMME CONTENT

The programme could include:

* Game drives [animal identification and tracking]
* Lectures on conservation, reserve management and maintenance.
* General reserve maintenance.
* Game capture
* Birding orientation and classification
* Canoeing, boating
* Xhosa culture
* Sustainable Food production
* Social Development(at Aids Orphanage and our conservation centre]
* Assisting Veterinary work
* Game management [culling, re-introducing, counts, bomas]
* Land management [burning, grazing patterns, roads, water, and fencing]
* Veterinary work with our resident vet [darting and post-mortems]
* Guided walks
* Medicinal use of plants
* Vegetation biomes



* Bush camping and Night Drives
* Five Star lodge experience
* Vehicle repairs
* Target shooting
* Anti-poaching control
* Craft Centre Development
* Beach clean-ups
* Born Free Foundation visists
* Giraffe identification and Habitat monitoring
* Predator Monitoring
* Waterhole Surveys
* Fishing in the Bushmans' River
* Geology and paleontology
* Stargazing and basic astronomy
* Entomology collection
* Alien vegetation management

A TYPICAL WORKING DAY:

Volunteers are busy from Monday to Friday, the average working day being 8 hours.
Weekends are free for volunteers to either relax at their house or to go sightseeing.
Exciting and interesting things frequently happen on a game reserve and these dynamics will as far as possible be included in the programme.
Volunteers are allocated a qualified game ranger as facilitator and Land Rover game viewer for their sole use for the duration of the programme. The programme is therefore flexible but an average day might include the following:

* Breakfast at 7:00am
* Leave Volunteer house for duties on the reserve 7.30 am
* Tracking of Lions with telemetry and monitor activities.
* Move through to the game reserve identifying antelope and to area allocated for vegetation survey.
* Lunch on the reserve around 1.00 til 2.00pm
* Canoe on the river until 3.00pm to survey bird behaviour
* 4.00pm Fence patrol on way back to volunteer house

GENERAL INFORMATION

* Volunteers have the opportunity to stay between 2 weeks and 2 months.
* Accommodation is in the renovated Old Railway Station in Paterson.
* The house offers comfortable living with DSTV, Internet and outdoor braai area.
* Laundry service is offered at the house, with rooms are serviced daily.
* A sociable pub is located next door, providing a popular place for local game rangers and volunteers.