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GYC0617 - Selinda Conservation Project Country: Botswana Cost: £3970.00 Please note: You will require insurance which you can get for yourself or we can arrange for you a a cost of £33 per month. You will also need about £20 spending money per week. Cost Includes: The price includes flight, accommodation, food and pickup from airport but does not include insurance, kit or visas      Duration: 12 weeks Company Rep Nearby: Various 0845 344 7518 or

 

	This placement would suit... Those with a passion for conservation and the outdoors and wishing to gain excellent field experience. This programme is as described by the co-ordinator on the project and the specific activities that the volunteer would be involved in are: 1) Full Moon Counts. This involves ground surveys over a 24 hr period, every month, in which all animal sightings are recorded. They would also assist me in the consolidation of all the additional Full Moon data sent in by Game Rangers in other areas of the concession and data entry into our concession database. 2) Casual Counts. The volunteer would be expected to note all unusual sightings they see throughout each month (bird and animal species). Again, we would consolidate all data sent into us by other Game Rangers enter it onto our Database. We would then produce monthly computer reports of this data. 3) Predator Identification Book. Assist me with the naming, photography and identification marks/ear patterns of all individual predators in Selinda. Lion, Cheetah, Wild Dog and Leopard are our main focus. This will assist with the general monitoring of prides/packs and our accuracy of predator population estimates. 4) Compilation of a Monitoring Report. Every year I consolidate all the data we have collected for the previous year and produce an annual report, to be submitted to Dept of Wildlife; Land Board; Council and Directors. This includes all environmental, bird, vegetation and animal data. It would provide the volunteer with a good grounding of the computing skills required in this field of work, particularly with Arc View, a GIS computer program which we use to produce graphical illustrations of species distributions etc. 5) Elephant Impact Study. This involves a team of 4, including myself, to go out into the field to carry out intensive vegetation studies (transects, photos etc). We have set up the vegetation control plots this year and hope to have the electric fencing so that we can set up the remaining enclosures by next year (pending funding). The data collected will allow us to establish what impact elephants and other species are having on the vegetation of different biomes. We will be working closely with the Botswana National Parks Board and a local NGO, as they have a similar project running. Ultimately we would hope our data could assist with decision-making at a national level. It is a very controversial subject here in Botswana as elephant populations are believed too be too high. It is already providing very interesting results. 6) Tsetse Fly Control. As part of a government initiative Tsetse Fly numbers must be monitored and controlled. Part of my job is to set up and replace specifically designed Tsetse Targets, throughout our concession, to reduce their numbers. The volunteer and myself will deploy these with the assistance of our Botswanan staff and monitor traps on a regular basis to establish tsetse fly density and distribution. 7) Education Visits. Every month the volunteer would join me in the preparation and presentation of a conservation/ecological-related lecture at one of the local Botswanan schools in town. As part of the Selinda Foundations activities, we provide the school with continued support and these regular lectures. I am currently building them a Fishpond within the school grounds and hope to extend it into a Bio Park with other animals. By next year there is likely to be other projects/input the volunteer would be involved with. 8) GPS - mapping. There are often sightings, vegetation types, new roads, tsetse targets that need to be recorded on GPS and then transferred into ArcView where we can update or create new maps of our concession. An important skill to have within this line of work. 9) General monitoring and conservation of the whole concession. This covers a lot of background activities such as anti-poaching patrols; monitoring the movement of vehicles and people within our concession; liaising with local NGO's, government departments (e.g. Water Affairs, Wildlife Department, etc and local communities. I would involve the volunteer as much as possible. It would give them a good understanding into the operations and management of other conservation organizations within Botswana and Africa as a whole. 10) Camp Relief. Although this is strictly during June and October, I am occasionally asked to stand in for camp managers as a favour. This would give the volunteer a good idea of what is involved in the overall management, maintenance and activities (e.g. game drives, fishing, walks, etc of a safari camp. 0845 344 7518 African Conservation Experience: We arrange for young people to work on Game and Nature Reserves throughout Southern Africa, playing an active role in Conservation and the maintenance of the Environment - working in intimate association with Game Rangers and Conservationists in the Wild