Desert Elephants Project, Namibia

Track desert elephants and take part in community development building work in the beautiful Damaraland region of the Namib Desert where the famous desert-adapted elephants roam free. 

Namibia

Namibia is in South West Africa, bordering on South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Zambia.  Most of the work that the project does is concentrated in the North West region of Namibia, known as Damaraland. This is one of the areas of Namibia that is seeing an increase of wild Elephants returning to habitats that they have not lived in for hundreds of years.  The project base camp is located on the Ugab River, Northwest of Uis and Northeast of the Brandberg Mountain.

 

Damaraland is a vast, scarcely populated communal trust land. As it is a transitional zone between the high rainfall area in the east, and the Skeleton coast in the west, it is regarded as un-farmable on a commercial basis.  Therefore it has become a natural, unfenced refuge for desert adapted animals such as; black rhino, oryx, giraffe, springbuck, kudu, steenbok, baboon, lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, brown hyena, black backed jackal and more.

Project Details: Opportunities to join for 2 weeks up to 12 weeks.   The project takes place in 2 week rotations.   Week 1:   Volunteers will first join a team in building walls around vitally important water sources for Damaraland homesteads. The walls are built to protect water pumping facilities: a borehole, solar panel and pump or windmill. The elephants are given access to the water at certain points, thus preventing them from damaging the pumping mechanics and allowing the farmers use of the clean, fresh water. You will be camping and all cooking is done over the fire, everybody sharing camp duties. It is extremely intense work in the heat of the African sun doing hard physical labour, but you will undoubtedly finish the week with a great sense of achievement. The weekend is spent relaxing at thebase camp in the Ugab River.    Week 2:   You then head off on patrol for the next week. Patrols are lead by at least one experienced guide on their very specialised 4x4 vehicles, again with minimum of equipment, setting up camp at a different site every evening. You will be experiencing areas of Damaraland and surrounding desert that no safari or overland tour will ever venture into, tracking and observing their local desert-adapted elephant herds. Volunteers will help with herd identification and data collection projects. This project is a perfect opportunity for people to really return to basic levels of living, learn simple camp-craft and survival skills and get back in touch with nature; whilst becoming directly involved in spearhead conservation work. It is a chance to experience hard but rewarding work, witness amazing natural phenomena and escape the highly strung world and its day to day routine.   Dates for 2012: 30 January - 10 February 13 February - 24 February 27 February - 9 March 12 March - 23 March 26 March - 6 April 9 April - 20 April 23 April - 4 May 7 May - 18 May 21 May - 1 June 4 June - 15 June 18 June - 29 June 2 July - 13 July 16 July - 27 July 30 July - 10 August 13 August - 24 August 27 August - 7 September 10 September  - 21 September 24 September - 5 October 8 October - 19 October 22 October - 2 November 5  November - 16 November 19 November - 30 November Please email Victoria.McNeil@workingabroad.com for any questions on dates. All projects run from the Monday morning on the starting date, to the Friday afternoon of the finish date.  Participants can book a minimum of one two-week slot, or multiple slots, up to three months (six slots) maximum.  It is advisable to arrive before the departure date, and give yourself enough time to reach the airport for your flight out.  Please contact us for advice on this matter at Victoria.McNeil@workingabroad.com. All accommodation before and after project dates is at your own cost, as is the optional weekend at the end of every 2 week slot.

Induction and Training

• camp craft including cooking over a fire, bush camp setup, safety and hygiene.
• bush craft like tracking, approaching dangerous animals on foot, animal behavior, bush walking, navigation, map reading, GPS etc.
• compiling identification kits on elephants.
• traditional building skills.

Requirements

This project is real spearhead conservation work.  It is not about cuddling baby animals, or being an observer of conservation from the comfort of a game drive vehicle. You need to have an open mind, a willing heart and be prepared to put in work for something bigger than yourself.  This is about true adventure with likeminded people that care, about teamwork and tolerance.  You will live close together, close to the ground, and close to the animals.  Your project manager is there to make your time in the bush educational and safe, but it is up to you to make a success of the expedition.  They ensure that you have the means to be comfortable and well fed, and would teach you how to be that.  You need to have an average degree of fitness, as lot of the work is manual, and you could spend a lot of time in high temperatures on foot.  A bit of training beforehand would make your time more comfortable.  You need to be able to speak English.  All applicants over 18 yrs are considered.

Watch a video below showing day to day life on the project

Camp & Transportation
The mobile base camp is set up at each project site, which will be as comfortable as possible!  You will be accommodated in two man tents or you can choose to sleep under the stars.  Washing facilities are limited but a ‘bushman’ shower will be made available.  Toilet facilities will be in the form of long drops (enclosed and private).  Meals are prepared by you on a rotational basis, over the open fire, and eaten around the campfire together.  You are supplied with basic, but balanced food with adequate vegetarian options. Whilst on patrol, you camp wild, and sleep under the stars on your bedrolls with mosquito nets.  No showers or toilets out there, so roughing it.   You need to get to the assembly point in Swakopmund (we give advice on this).  From the first day of project until your return to Swakopmund, all transport is supplied.

The cost to join for a 2 week project is 590 GBP, 4 weeks is 1030 GBP, 6 weeks is 1470 GBP, 8 weeks is 1910 GBP etc.  Please enquire for prices up to 12 weeks (Victoria.McNeil@workingabroad.com).  Your payment covers all your food, transportation and accommodation during the project.  In addition, it goes towards the project cost such as building materials, fuel, vehicle cost, as well as WorkingAbroad Projects backup and placement support and so on.