Elephant & Big 5 Wildlife Conservation

Volunteer in Zimbabwe’s most unspoilt national park. 

Join a team of professional rangers, learn to track and monitor big game including elephant, rhino, lion and wild dog, and work with dedicated anti-poaching rangers as you patrol remote areas of the park on foot and by vehicle.

Hwange National Park is home to one of the largest concentrations of elephant in Africa and you will spend much of your time on elephant conservation activities including waterhole maintenance, herd counts, movement tracking and repairing habitat destruction. In addition to supporting the Trust's permanent researcher with his day to day patrols, maintenance and repairs, you will witness incredible animal sitings, have amazing photographic opportunities and leave with unbelievable memories of the real Africa.

Highlights

• Leave civilisation behind, clear your mind and enjoy vast, pristine wilderness away from the stresses of modern life 
• Venture far off the usual tourist route and experience superb wildlife viewing and unparalleled animal and bird sitings 
• Assist in tracking, observing and monitoring a wide variety of animal species including lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, elephants, wild dog, black and white rhino and buffalo 
• Have incredible opportunities to witness wildlife in their natural environment 
• Get a unique look at the nocturnal behaviour of animals

What exactly will I be doing?

Contribute to the long term conservation of two important National Parks and provide much-needed manpower: 

• Establish big game populations, movements and trends to assist policy-making 
• Monitor elephant populations, movements and support the massive numbers of these animals in the park
• Assist in ongoing research projects including collaring buffalo and lion to monitor movements and understand territories 
• Assist with black rhino monitoring 
• Waterpoint maintenance and monitoring 
• Assist in large animal and bird population surveys
• Population monitoring of depleted and rare antelope species including sable, roan, gemsbok and brown hyena 
• Research assistance in collared elephant movements 
• Undertake anti-poaching patrols 
• Road transect data surveys, data capture and analysis

Start Dates

There are one or two intakes every month from April - November.

Costs / Benefits

The cost includes transfers from Victoria Falls to the project, all meals, accommodation, soft drinks and activities whilst on the project plus a donation to the Trust which supports the project's work.

Requirements

No specific qualifications are required but volunteers must have a good grasp of spoken English and an interest in wildlife conservation. A good level of general fitness is also required as there is some walking and foot-based tracking involved in the project.
Volunteers must also be prepared to camp under canvas during their stay.