SOS Wildlife
South Africa
This exciting 2 week course is designed and run exclusively by Worldwide Vets for people with a love of wildlife and interested in working with animals through care, rescue or conservation. It takes place in safari reserves North of Durban in beautiful South Africa. It is RACE accreddited for 50 hours. The course focuses on wildlfie capture and translocation as well as working alongside vets. It is is hands-on to maximise your learning and you are guaranteed fast paced missions as you help capture and translocate a range of iconic species.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
Spend your days working with wildlife vets and game capture teams
Participate in darting, translocation and mass capture of wildlife.
Combine lectures, practicals and clinical work to excel your knowledge
A hands on field course so you can improve your clinical skills
Perfect for people interested in a career with animals or conservation
Work with iconic species such as rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard and lions
Learn a range of industry specific skills
Make friends for life, whilst living in the wilds of Africa
Project video
The program takes place in wildlife reserves north of Durban in south Africa. Through the course you will move between a number of wildlife areas, supporting animal conservation where it is needed the most. The goal of this 14 day course is to equip you with skills to get you on a path for a career in animal care, conservation or exotic animal management. No matter what your dream job, if you love animals, want to experience Africa the real way, get your hands dirty, learn support conservation, this is the course for you.
Through the 2 weeks you will go through a set routine of lectures and practical teaching, mixed with real wildlife capture and management work. This is the real deal, and thanks to the huge volume of wildlife in the area, we can guarantee you will work with a big variety of species during your course. This course is intensive, and aims to send you home confident with planning, carrying out and understanding the logistics surrounding wildlife capture, translocation, capture and conservation so hand onto your seats for a lifechanging stay with us in Africa.
COURSE CONTENT
This course will cover all topics of game capture, including but not limited to:
Chemical capture and immobilization techniques
Various dart delivery systems
Darting procedures, telemetry tracking, and satellite collaring
Drugs for immobilization and sedation and their safe handling
Helicopter safety and the intricacies of darting from a helicopter
Netgunning for game capture
Animal handling practices
Principles behind physical and chemical capture
Selection and setup of capture bomas
Considerations for housing animals in bomas
Animal transportation methods
Beyond the mass capture event, the course offers opportunities for participants to be part of other practical wildlife veterinary management procedures, should the opportunity arise such as:
Rhino horn removal, a crucial anti-poaching method
Unique giraffe relocation activities
Darting various animals and transporting them to holding facilities
Visits to a buffalo breeding facility and being part of the disease testing process
Project Photos
ACCOMMODATION
Your main base will be at a beautiful safari camp 3 hours north of Durban. This stunning camp hosts all of the Worldwide Vets Wildlife SOS attendees and is a very special place which will feel like home right away. This is where you will spend the majority of your nights for the course, unless we are required to travel further afield for a night or two to assist wildlife. The rooms are shared same sex spaces, with comfy beds and crisp sheets. There are nice bathrooms and hot and hold running water.
The power supply is good and there is a great common area where you can enjoy spending your evening at leisure, watching the sunset, sitting around the fire, playing card games, team building games, and generally enjoying good vibes with fellow course mates. There is WIFI up at the lecture room yard. We do suggest that volunteer buy prepaid sim cards at the airport. There is washing machine if laundry needs to be done. Our meals are South African dining at its finest (Vegetarians can be accommodated for) with local ingredients and flavors. Expect a braai (BBQ) on the 1st night you arrive, breakfasts of cereals, toast, spreads and a cooked option. Lunch onsite is a cooked meal or if onsite, a packed lunch. Dinner is a hearty South African style home cooked meal. Tea, coffees and juice are provided. There is fresh water for drinking.
LOCATION
The project is based on the south eastern coast of South Africa, about 3 hours from Durban. This territory is knows as KwaZulu Natal and is beautifully wild, with a richly diverse ecosystem and some of the finest reserves on the continent. Here you will be living in the bush, surrounded by nature which is both calming and invigorating. It is one of the best places to visit in Africa to view wildlife and is known for thriving populations of elephants, giraffe, lion, leopard, rhino wild dog, zebra and other planes game like antelope. Here you are surrounded by nature every moment of the day, off the beaten track, waking up early to enjoy the calmness of the bush and enjoying evenings around the campfire, under the stars.
ASSOCIATED COST:
The cost of this course is :
2024: £ 2,499 for 2 weeks
2025: £ 2,800 for 2 weeks
In order to provide you with a fun, safe and rewarding stay, we have a project fee to cover your accommodation, food, and all transfers when staying with us. This cost also allows you to be covered by our public liability and professional indemnity insurance. We do not charge for your training or spending time with our vets. So you can focus on having an amazing time and we will take care of the rest.
Want to know what’s included? Great news, it is pretty much everything! Including your:
Pre departure assistance with planning your trip from one of our destination specialists
Transfers to and from the airport
A hard copy of ‘Chemical and Physical restraint of African Wild Animals’ - Third Edition
Project coordinator on the ground 24/7
All entry in to national parks and reserves
Ground transportation related to the project
All your meals
WIFI in the classroom
Shared rooms
OUR PRICES EXCLUDE:
Flights to/from South Africa
Required: Personal medical insurance. Optional: trip/flight/luggage insurane
Visa for South Africa (free to many nationalities)
Any ‘extra activities’ or alcoholic beverages (we suggest budgeting £500 for the 3 week course)
PROJECT SPECIFICS
AGE: 18 – 65 years old
QUALIFICATIONS: open to anyone, not suited to qualified vets and nurses.
EMS (other), CEMS, CPD, CE
START DATES
2024
8-17th April (12 day)
16th -29th June (13 nights, 14 days)
7th – 20th July (13 nights, 14 days)
2025
1st June-14th June (13 nights, 14 days)
22nd June -5th July (13 nights, 14 days)
20th July - 2nd August (13 nights, 14 days)
10th August - 23rd August (13 nights, 14 days)
Volunteer feedback
WHAT NEXT?
We want you to join Worldwide Vets in South Africa to enjoy the experience of a lifetime and to gain ample hands-on experience with African wildlife. Just hit the "apply now" button and fill in the form.
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