Pre-Vet Students Volunteer in South Africa

Pre-vet volunteers assisting in an impala relocation

December saw the arrival of two groups of Pre-Vet volunteers through International Student Volunteers (ISV) who have shown huge support to VA32 projects throughout 2013. These groups were the first to take part in the new Pre-Vet Group Program designed for groups of students, schools and special interest groups looking to volunteer on a worthwhile program.

Based in an Eastern Cape Game Reserve, the Pre-Vet volunteer teams spent 2 weeks working with the local wildlife including rhino, nyala, impala, giraffe and countless bird and small mammal species as well as taking part in lectures and hands on conservation management tasks. They also had hands on experience with agricultural livestock and vulnerable domestic animals in local farms and townships.

The Pre-Vet Team Volunteer in Rural Townships

Team Pre-Vet have been doing some amazing work in rural Eastern Cape communities as a part of the VA32 Pre-Vet Project where as well as taking part in exciting African wildlife captures, assisting with veterinary work and studies, we also focus on helping the thousands of neglected domestic animals in local townships. Find out what the team have been up to this month...

"Hi everyone!

We pre-vets have just returned from an extended outreach mission in the former-Transkei, South Africa. For those of you who don’t know, this area is a huge territory with thousands of cultural villages and was one of the "homelands" of apartheid South Africa. 

Traditional thatched rondavels at Bulungula

We were working in an area called Bulungula, where a non-profit organization called the Bulungula Incubator has done some amazing work for the surrounding communities including several educational, health and infrastructural development projects. The backpackers we stayed at is called Bulungula Lodge and is one of the Incubator’s biggest projects as the community owns 40%. You can read more about this amazing place and their mission here: www.bulungula.com.

Pre-Vet Hands-On Experience in South Africa

VA32 have teamed up with local wildlife and conservation expert Dennis Taylor*, to offer international pre-vet students looking for vital hands-on experience, the opportunity to assist in managing a large conservation area with wildlife interactions, general management of the "ranch" and the opportunity to assist local vetenary surgeons.

The African Pre-Vet Wildlife Experience

Vetenary surgeons working with a rhino

This experience is located on a real-life, working reserve where participants sign up for an internship-style program and assist in all aspects of running and managing the conservation area. Tasks include anything from assisting experts with animal capture, rehabilitation and re-introduction to fence patrols and trap eradication. 

VA32 launch Rhino Ambassador Stewardship Project (RASP)

The latest addition to the Volunteer Africa project base addresses a very real threat to South Africa’s conservation efforts and the world’s population of rhino. In the two articles which preceded this one I explained how the rhino is facing extinction in South Africa due to poachers and what you can do to help fight this problem.

In this final article VA32 offers an opportunity to be physically involved in conservation work which supports the efforts of anti-poaching organisations in South Africa. This opportunity is a break-away from what has become the norm in volunteer programs and puts the onus on the volunteer to continue their work and raise awareness of the plight of the rhino after leaving the physical aspect of the project in South Africa.

Save the Rhino: what can be done and how you can do your bit...

Last week we published an article The Iconic Rhino Faces Extinction in South Africa, about the plight of the rhino and the dangers facing this beautiful creature which is such an icon of Africa. This week I wanted to share with you what is being done in this country to tackle the situation and what you can do to do your bit.

Anti-Poaching Agencies and Organisaitons are attempting to:

• Protect existing key rhino populations through trained conservationists and awareness in nearby communities.
• Break the trade chains and increase law enforcement around rhino poaching.
• Improve communications between South Africa and the horn consumer countries in the East. On 10th December a deal was signed between South Africa and Vietnam in an attempt to slow the demand for the rhino horn and crack down on poachers and the organised crime around this issue. 
• Experts are trying to understanding the rhino horn trade and influence the buyers as to the effects of the poaching on the rhino population.

Conservation Volunteers get up Close and Personal with a Rhino

It's been an incredible week for our conservation volunteer Marco who's been with VA32 for the last month - not only did the conservation team re-locate two buffalos but they also darted a fully grown Rhino!

Marco & the conservation volunteer team with the rhino

Clipping a lion’s toe-nail? All in a day’s work for a volunteer on the Wildlife & Conservation Program

It’s been a hectic few weeks for volunteer Bernadette who is joining us from Germany on the VA32 Wildlife & Conservation volunteer program for a month. The week began with the relocation of a HUGE buffalo - “Much heavier than a cow”…is how co-ordinator Dennis described the beast…just how many cows Dennis has attempted to pick up we have not dared to ask!