Volunteers Needed: African Savanna Project in Swaziland

  Swaziland

Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months and 7-12 months
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: See website for dates

Description: Study threatened animal species and help preserve plant life when you volunteer with our African Savanna Project in Swaziland. As a volunteer, you will be working on the Lubombo Conservancy in northeast Swaziland. You will be directly involved with efforts to assess the health of this important ecosystem and create action plans to preserve wildlife and plants in the area.

Your volunteer work will include observing birds, bats and other animals for indicators of the region's overall health, monitoring nighttime predators and analyzing the effect of large game on plant life. This research will help paint a more complete picture of trends of one of southern Africa's most diverse ecosystems and help create new approaches to conserving it. During your time as a volunteer on the African Savanna Project, you will be living side-by-side with the animals that roam through the camp, including elephants, rhinos and giraffes. You will live a true African safari experience, while helping with research to ensure the reserve's long-term survival.

Highlights:
As a volunteer you will:
* Walk, drive and cycle through big game areas to locate active nests, roosts and dens
* Weigh, measure, tag and ring young birds and bats to monitor their condition
* Use GPS equipment to track and gather data on threatened species
* Radio-track selected threatened species to determine home range and spatial patterns
* Help develop and implement conservation action plans for threatened species

Qualifications:
* Must be at least 17 years old
* Must be physically fit

Cost in US$: See website

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Volunteer Adventures makes it easy to live your dream of volunteering. Anyone can volunteer, as long as you have the desire to help others and an open mind.

This Program is open to World Wide Participants.

Volunteer Adventures's Mission Statement: The mission of Volunteer Adventures is to create and promote volunteer opportunities that improve the lives of others and the environment in which we live. We seek to achieve this goal by connecting worthy local projects with volunteers around the world. Many local organizations are doing great work in their communities, but don't have the resources required to recruit international volunteers. Volunteer Adventures serves as the link between these organizations and the volunteers needed to make these projects a success. All volunteer programs depend on the skilled coordination of a variety of elements: enthusiastic volunteers, meaningful work, organized projects, and supportive staff. It is our goal at Volunteer Adventures to orchestrate this process for you. We use our global experience and resources to provide volunteer experiences that bring pride and satisfaction to everyone involved.