Your first week will be an orientation period during which you will learn the principles and goals of the reserve and gain a general knowledge of conservation and its importance in South Africa. One of our main goals at Askari is to share as much information as possible about all aspects of the bush. Many volunteers often comment that they didn’t realise just how much they would learn!
You are then immersed into a huge variety of reserve and conservation activities such as anti-poaching patrols, predator monitoring, alien plant control and habitat improvement to name a few. You will also spend a night under the African stars during sleep-out. Each day brings a new variety of things to see and do, and at any moment Askari volunteers can be called upon to assist with certain situations and emergencies that arise. The work at Askari is divided into 2 main categories – Reserve management, and Wildlife conservation & research.
Activities vary seasonally but may include:
The minimum length of stay at Askari is 4 weeks. This ensures that you get the most out of your experience and also that you are of maximum benefit to the reserve. Longer stays, up to a maximum of 12 weeks, are welcome. Orientation will include an introduction to important bush skills such as first aid, 4×4 driving (licence required), fence maintenance, rifle shooting etc. You will be introduced to research and monitoring programmes and learn the various techniques for recording and capturing data.
A typical day starts around 6.00 am with a morning work session perhaps removing alien plants, repairing an eroded site or removing bush encroachment. After a mid morning breakfast the team heads out again, this time maybe to set and check camera traps for our research. After lunch the team departs on another activity such as an herbivore age and sex ratio research drive.
Volunteers also take it in turns to carry out various duties on a daily basis at Askari. These include meal preparation, data collection, vehicle checks and fence checks. All ingredients are provided for cooking along with easy to follow recipes so don’t worry if you’re not a master chef!
Depending on the season, events such as prescribed burns and game capture and release take place. Both emergency and planned veterinary dartings also occur and volunteers are involved in all of these if they coincide with the period of their stay.
Our activities are not only essential but also aimed at being educational, inspirational and fun. We are proud that we are valuable participants in the running of an active wilderness reserve.
“At Pidwa, wilderness is not merely a marketing tool; for us it is a way of life.” (The Askari Team)
Askari offers you the following for your field placement:
All of this, combined with stunning, world class wildlife viewing of species such as elephant, lion, rhino, cheetah, leopard, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, warthog and wonderful bird life.
If you are interested in this offer, please mention it when emailing us, providing details for your course supervisor or institute. We will liaise with your study institute and determine if this can work for you.
The accommodation at Askari offers the following: