Predator Conservation Project <strong>Province</strong>: Limpopo<br />

Predator Conservation Project

Town: Alldays

Province: Limpopo

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Rate per week: R 3580

Rate Extra Weeks: R3000 per week when staying for more than a month

Duration: 2-12 weeks

Dates: This project can be joined at any time

Introduction: We conduct a predator conservation and monitoring project which focuses on cheetah, leopard and hyena. We regularly monitor the predators and often the tracking of cheetah is done on foot. Volunteers will also assist us in reserve management duties including game capture and relocation, buffalo habituation and monitoring and wildlife care.

Location: The reserve is located near a small town called Alldays in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. We are approximately 50 km from the Botswana border.

Getting to Project: Volunteers will spend their first night in Johannesburg near the airport, the lodge will transfer you to the bus stop to catch the bus, the project will collect you from the bus. This can be arranged by us at the volunteers cost, about R300 one way.

Project: We are conserving large predators in their natural habitats instead of removing or relocating them. We try to find solutions to predator/farmer conflicts by addressing the problems of both parties and by removing the financial burden off the farmer and onto the project through eco-tourism. We manage the reserve and predators. The project has proved successful for the last 7 years!

Animals: The reserve is home to cheetah, leopard, hyena aardwolf, bateared fox, jackal serval, caracal (lynx), buffalo, giraffe, eland, roan, kudu, waterbuck, sable, tsesebe, red hartebeest, gemsbok, zebra, wildebeest, impala as well as many other smaller species.

Accommodation: Accommodation is in Tented Bush Camp. Each tent has 2 beds and its own open air bathroom with a toilet, shower and basin. Accommodation is sharing with 1 other volunteer.

Upgrade to Single: Not Available
Upgrade Dbl/Twin: Included

Program: Volunteers will assist is tracking different predators on a daily basis. Volunteers will also assist in reserve management which will include: game capture (seasonal) wildlife relocation, fence checks, waterhole checks, game counts and monitoring, buffalo habituation and monitoring, wildlife care, anti-poaching etc.

Program may include: The program could also include helicopter work such as game counts etc. We also sometimes assist in elephant monitoring, rhino monitoring on sister reserve. Kruger national park trips are also available.

Includes: All meals and accommodation, use of equipement and tracking.

Excludes: Soft drinks and alcohol

Applicants: Good health and fairly fit

Hours: Volunteers work with us from 07H00 - 18H00 with a long lunch (8 hour work day) Saturdays are laid back starting at 09H00 and Sundays everyone is off.

Freetime: Free time is spent at camp or sitting at various hides on the reserve.

Volunteers Feedback: Franziska Belz from Germany: We headed out to track a female cheetah and when we found her, she was not alone: One or two hours earlier, she had hunted down a young kudu and was now enjoying her meal. When we approached, she started to defend her kill and charged us: Snarling and spitting, she jumped at us, trying to chase us away. We felt safe, however, because we went with an experienced tracker. After a while, Rebecca calmed down and started eating again, so we could sit down and watch her. All you could hear was bones crushing and the rumbling of a full cheetah stomach every now and then. She kept on eating for almost an hour in which we enjoyed the close company of a wild cheetah. I really love how relaxed Rebecca is when there are humans around. John Arthur, England: on my second day at the project we tracked a female cheetah on foot. When we found her she leapt out of the bush she was resting in and had stopped just a few meters from where we were standing, spitting and snarling at us. Anthony told us that she would only behave like that for two reasons; if she had food, or if she had cubs- and he suspected it was the latter. Returning the following day, we found her in the same bush, but this time she was more relaxed and stayed where she was. Standing within 5 meters if her, straining our eyes as we peered into the bush, we soon saw a tiny cub, maybe 5 days old, moving around; then a second, a third and finally a fourth.

Contact Tyron for more info +27 83 661 5393