Assist Desert Elephant conservation in Damaraland and work on community building projects
Program Overview
Based in the Namib Desert region known as ‘Damaraland’, this project takes you to the heart of this harshly spectacular wilderness to work with a small population of desert-adapted elephants that have come into conflict with the local human population.
You will spend time on the project assisting project staff with research, following and monitoring the movements of the elephants. Working with local farmers, you will help build protective walls around their water points and help them develop the skills they need to manage, and eventually resolve, the conflict with the resident elephant populations.
This unique project will take you into the desert far from the tourist trail to cook over an open fire and sleep under the African stars.
Life on the Program
This project works on a 2 week rotation, with volunteers spending the first week in camp and the second on patrol. For the first week you will live at a remote desert camp, working to build protective walls around vital water sources for Damaraland homesteads. In the evenings, you will gather around the campfire to cook, eat, relax and discuss the day’s events.
After a weekend relaxing at base camp on the Ugab River you will head out on patrol for the second week. You will camp wild and follow and observe the elephants, sometimes for hours, under the desert sun. In addition to the desert elephants, you can expect to find black rhino, ostrich, springbok, giraffe, and kudu. You may even hear the roar of desert lions!
Each 2 week rotation ends with a trip to Swakopmund to drop off/collect volunteers.
Project Details
Increasing human use of water has led to the depletion of the natural water table and a reduction in available surface water. In their attempts to reach water, elephants have targeted local farmers’ man-made water points and, in many cases, destroyed them. As farmers’ homesteads are usually close to the water points, this threatens the lives of humans and livestock.
As part of a long-term initiative, this project aims to help facilitate peaceful co-habitation of local subsistence farmers and desert-adapted elephants. This is achieved through research, education and development.
The emphasis of this project is on building protective structures around communal water points and creating additional water points for the elephants. In addition, research work is carried out and data collected on the movements and distribution of both herds and individual elephants.
How this project makes a difference:
Namibia's desert-dwelling elephants are one of only 2 populations of elephants in Africa living in a desert environment. Competition with humans over scarce water resources causes conflict, which threatens the elephant’s existence. This program aims to find simple, practical and cost effective solutions to this problem so that elephants and humans can live together.
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Program Details
Build Your Program
What's Included
- Pre-departure support and discounted services
- 24-hour emergency phone
- Airport pick-up (unless otherwise stated)
- Arrival orientation
- Long term experienced staff
- Safe and basic accommodations (usually shared)
- All meals (unless otherwise stated in field manuals)
- Welcome meeting
- Location orientation
- All necessary project training by experienced staff
- All necessary project equipment and materials
- 24-hour in-country support
- Training in elephant behaviour
- Tracking
What's Not Included
- Flights
- Medical and travel insurance
- Visa costs
- Personal kit
- Additional drinks and gratuities
- Extra local excursions
- International and domestic airport taxes
