About

The Siyafunda Wildlife and Conservation project offers you a unique experience in the African bush and gives you the opportunity to observe and be a part of the research and monitoring teams on the reserve.

The focus of the Siyafunda project revolves around some of our key species; elephants, lions, hyenas and leopards. You will also be involved with monitoring our breeding initiatives comprising buffalo, Livingston eland and nyala. Habitat work also plays an important part of the monitoring process.

The wildlife reserve where the project is located is a vast Big 5 nature reserve covering an area of 25000 hectares. Situated in the Lowveld area, the home of nature conservation in South Africa, your work as a volunteer adds immense value for accurate management of the animals within the reserve.

Whether on a monitoring drive, on foot, or observing the wildlife at a waterhole, all of your work will be done under the guidance of our qualified rangers. As each activity has a pre-determined objective, you don’t just get to view the animals, you get to live with them for a little while. There’s nothing quite like sitting in the dark next to a lazing lion waiting for it to start its nightly call or being surrounded by a herd of elephants and being able to spend time observing their individual traits and family dynamics.

At the end of the day, you return to the camp to share your experiences over dinner around the open fire and then fall asleep to the sounds of the bush. Join us for the experience of a lifetime!

Employees

You will work with a variety of people from all walks of life.

Other volunteers

This project is specifically selected to give you a unique and personal experience. Khaya believes in smaller projects with a limited number of volunteers to guarantee this uniqueness. Volunteer numbers therefore differ from 1-10 and as volunteers come and go numbers can differ. Most volunteers are from the UK, USA and Western Europe.

Activities

Monitoring forms the basis for the majority of our research assistance on the Greater Wildlife Reserve. We conduct monitoring drives in the mornings and afternoons to see the animals when they are most active.

We also spend time on foot tracking the more elusive animals, which is an amazing way to experience the bush.

Your activities as a volunteer will evolve around several key focus points for this programs;

- Elephant monitoring

- Lion monitoring

- Breeding of Buffalo, Eland and Nyala monitoring

- Hyena monitoring

- Leopard monitoring

- Small mammals surveys

- Birds and Raptor monitoring

- Habitat conservation

- Local community involvement

Typical Project Schedule

Monday: Project start day. Town trip to pick up volunteers and restock supplies

Tuesday: Early start setting out on a set route drive as part of our game counting program to determine populations of general game.

In the afternoon we depart for a monitoring drive to locate one of our key species of interest; lion, elephant, leopards or hyena.

Wednesday: Waterhole monitoring in the morning to determine species utilisation of the area. We set off for a drive in the afternoon to the breeding boma to monitor the buffalo, Livingstone eland and nyala.

Thursday: Habitat work; we could be busy with exotic plant removal, erosion control or bush clearing. In the afternoon or evening, we head out on hyena monitoring and night patrol

Friday: Early morning start and we will be out locating the elephants as part of the ongoing research into the elephant contraception program. The afternoon we will set out to monitor bird species.

Saturday: Habitat work in the morning, followed by an afternoon monitoring drive focussing on our lion population. On return in the evening, we may head out to the local pub or have a typical South African braai (BBQ)

Sunday: Either an outing will be planned, or it will be a free day for volunteers to relax or head out on their own tour.

In between activities, volunteers will receive a series of presentations on the work of the Reserve, or how to approach dangerous game on foot, or possibly even a Zulu lesson. This time will also be used to transfer all data collected onto the computers and compile the weekly research report, as well as helping out with vehicle checks and cleaning.