Hey all

I'm currently a second year student studying a BSc Animal Science. I'm aiming at getting a placement in my 3rd year (Oct 2011) for 12 months (or just under), however after days of researching I have still not come across much! For 12 months unpaid labour, I'm hoping to receive food and lodging for free, and gain as much experience - in as many aspects as possible - in the wildlife industry. A placement in Africa, in countries Kenya, Tanzania, or Botswana would be phenomenal (but beggars cant be choosers! ). Any helpful information, suggestions or contacts that may be able to assist me in my search would be more than appreciated!

Many thanks
Courtney

Just be careful you don't get exploited by one of the big cat breeders who feed the canned hunting industry!
Anything in the Free State or North West Province is very questionable or very worthwhile to ask serious questions!

Maybe you can get in contact with honourable people like Paul Hart (Drakenstein Lion Park) or John Varty (Tiger canyon). You can contact me via email and I can give you some more names - if interested.

If you are in the US, try USAID, US Dept of Fish and Wildlife (I know they support the Botswana Rhino reserve) or the Peace Corps. usajobs.gov has lots of listings.

Call WWF, Nature Conservancy, The Wildlife Conservation Soc (the Bronx Zoo org) - any other nature orgs.

There are private game reserves all over Africa. They might want you help.

In the US, Disney has a safari park, and the Great Adventure in New Jersey has one too.

You might with them:
http://www.wildlifeact.com/

You might CHECK with them:
http://www.wildlifeact.com/

Ah thanks so much for all your help!

Spassvogel, what's your email address? Any names are always helpful! As for the Wildlife Act I had a look into their volunteer programme and as with many other organizations/placements they want a substantial amount of money from me..

Chris, I've tried a number of times to get in touch with WWF but unless I'm fully qualified, they dont seem to want to help me and I just get passed from one person to another. Is there anyone in particular from there that you know of that I could try to speak to? Or in any other big organizations?

Thanks again

Hi Courtney,

It may be worth your while posting in local forums of the countries you may be interested in working in, rather than in a general forum on Africa. You're likely to get a far more meaningful response from local experts who can point you in the right directions and sometimes put you in touch with excatly the right person.

Forums which may give you more help are TripAdvisor or Sanparks in South Africa, and organisations like EWT (Endangered Wildlife Trust), for example. The local folk are more likely to help than the "global" dudes.

There are literally hundreds of projects that may value your help, but you'd also need to be more specific of what you are looking for. Be warned that many organisations exploit well-meaning folk as yourself for some pretty unethical purposes (as Spassvogel has mentioned).

Good luck with your search.

kaetzchenatgooglemail.com

The problem with most (if not all) the volunteering programs is the same: one has to pay for being of help ;-)

If you are also interested in Kenya or TAZ I could help with local connections.

Just came brother safaris to my mind. It's a dr. brother who does vet safaris. I have no info on whether they are decent but it sounds like. Maybe they appreciate your help:

http://www.brotherssafaris.com/

You can contact me at any time.

Sorry - incorrect email.

Correct one is:

[email protected]

Sorry Courney, but they are not trying to help you. If you really want a position you need to try to help then, just like trying to get any job. It's not easy - jobs, even internships, are hard to get right now. Get on the phone, get to DC, get on the Internet and be willing to do whatever it takes.

Brothers Safaris are located at the Amakhala Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. They do veterinary trips and are highly regarded in the industry. I've dealt with them over the past few years and consider them very ethical. However, I'm not sure that they offer long term projects or internships (in fact, I'm sure they don't).

Almost all the "volunteer" programmes do charge some type of fee (sometimes to cover accomm and meals, and sometimes to exploit your good intentions - so beware). When you work through an agency or intermediary, you often end up paying a lot more (admin costs? - LOL). That's why it's important to contact the organisation directly.

Just one more though:

The volunteer travel agents obviously don't evaluate based on ethics etx BEFORE marketing a venue.

Better get the facts and questions ready in order to avoid any those traps!

ALERT (African Lion + Environment Trust - good name but bad people!) has a fresh intership running from Sep 2010.
They promise to "RE-Leawse" lions into the "Wilds".

You must know:
Those lions are ALL - withiut exception! - captive bread and most of them are hand raised/bottle fed in order to get them a human imprint as those lion cubs are abused for lion walks at ANTELOPE PARK in Vic Falls.

The lion cubs grow out of the walking stagen becomig too unpredicable and dangerous for such activities.

Nobody hjas ever see where those abused lions go to.

Second - lion which have got a human imprint can only be TRANSLOCATED but certainly not released as they become easy victims to trophy hunters and poachers as they don't are shy of humans.

You have to have a catalog of questions ready to ask before you commit time and money towards the wrong cause and people.

ANY venue which does lion breeding/feeding/interaction is highly unethical as those cubs mostly end up at the canned hunting industry!

Enough food for thoughts now ;-)

Good luck!



@ bushkid
Good to know you have got good experiences with Brothers!
So obviously they plan well ahead any daring and not just because there are paying clients.

Try fishing here - http://www.africanconservation.org/jobs.html

If you are really serious, put together a webpage resume and do a Google Ad. It got a couple friends what they were looking for in Africa. On the other hand, a few more got nothing except charges on their credit card.