Short-term volunteering

The AWCRC is located at Campfornis Game Farm in Alldays, Limpopo province, South Africa. The property, and wider area, shelter a variety of mammal, reptile, amphibian, insect and bird species, as well as interesting vegetation. This offers students and researchers a wide variety of choice when deciding on a research topic.

Our focus is primarily on human-wildlife coexistence and possible mitigating solutions, but we welcome any other propositions depending on the feasibility and material available. The long term projects listed below are on the basis of a minimum 3 month stay.

Future projects are listed in long-term volunteering and are currently not running, but if any of them pique your interest then please feel free to contact us. General volunteering activities are ad-hoc activities and are scheduled when possible or seasonally suitable.

PRIMATES

• Deterring wildlife from foraging in crop fields: short-term methods (Chili oil, pop-up scarecrows, net bell fences, ultrasound)

General volunteer activities:

• Electric fence assessments
• Primate group counts
• Crop damage assessments
• Baboon crop preference
• Litter picking

PREDATORS

• Predator presence on Campfornis Game Farm
• Predator diversity using tracking methods only
• Predator detection: tracking dog versus camera-traps
• Diet of specific predator

General volunteer activities:

• Carnivore population census with camera traps – servicing and image tagging (especially from April to end of June)
• Snare sweeps
• Interview transcribing
• Scat analysis

SMALL MAMMALS and BATS

• Small mammal diversity between two locations on Campfornis Game Farm
• Porcupine activity and threats

General volunteer activities:

• Elephant-shrew habituation

REPTILES/INVERTEBRATES (seasonal during summer months -September to March)

• Reptile diversity on Campfornis Game Farm

General volunteer activities:

• Application development

BIRDS (seasonal during summer months -September to March)

• Bird diversity on Campfornis Game Farm
• Raptor diversity on Campfornis Game Farm

Future projects:

• Application development

HERBIVORES

• Herbivore diversity on Campfornis Game Farm

General volunteer activities:

• Game counts

VEGETATION

• Vegetation diversity on Campfornis Game Farm
• Identify succulent species occurring on Campfornis Game Farm
• Highlight any endemic, protected or endangered species in order to establish a management plan for their conservation

General volunteer activities:

• Habitat assessments