Kruger Conservation

Volunteer role at the project:

Volunteers assist in research tasks and to help maintain the reserve in three areas; predator monitoring, conservation research and reserve management. Whilst at the project you will be involved in a variety of tasks which may include:

• Monitoring of leopard populations: installing, maintaining and checking camera traps
• Predator monitoring
• Habitat assessments
• Bird point counts
• Herbivore transects – observing herbivores, such as antelope
• Identification and management if invasive plant species
• Creating seed banks
• Bush patrols monitoring fences
• Manual labour tasks on the reserve

Volunteers all complete Bush Craft training on arrival which will give you a foundation of knowledge on animal identification, tracking, and behaviour.

You are working on a diverse reserve and your daily commute to research sites will often include lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard sightings.

How the project is making a difference:

Limpopo is home to over one third of South Africa’s suitable leopard habitat, however there is still very little know about its population. Despite this lack of information on population and a high level of illegal poaching in the area, the government continues to issue increasing numbers of leopard hunting permits. Without vital conservation research in this area, the population could be seriously threatened in the future.

The primary role of the project is to avert this, by providing important data on leopard and other predator population and behaviour. This information is used to improve conservation both in the Limpopo province and throughout South Africa.

Why volunteers are needed:

Whilst the Kruger Conservation project employs a team of local staff, they are often over-stretched, particularly due to the fact that many of the research activities involve extensive data collection over many hectares of land. This is very labour intensive and volunteers provide additional manpower.

As well as focussing on Leopard and predator monitoring, the additional support provided by volunteer’s means that the team is able to collect data on many species which migrate through and live on the reserve. Volunteers also put together rhino identikits, analyse territories, record buffalo and elephant movement patterns, snare locations and poaching activities and protect reserve boundaries.