Volunteer at the Karoo Wildlife Centre
News update 2020: course offered
In addition to providing a relaxing country retreat for nature lovers and comfortable accommodation for volunteers, we are now able to offer a three-night stay in the informal setting of our Karoo headquarters, which includes a course on animal advocacy. Our wildlife sanctuary, Karoo Wildlife Centre (KWC) in the Western Cape province, is set in one of the most beautiful natural surroundings of Southern Africa. See the video ... feel the atmosphere.
(More details below.)
In addition to providing a relaxing country retreat for nature lovers and comfortable accommodation for volunteers, we are now able to offer a three-night stay in the informal setting of our Karoo headquarters, which includes a course on animal advocacy. Our wildlife sanctuary, Karoo Wildlife Centre (KWC) in the Western Cape province, is set in one of the most beautiful natural surroundings of Southern Africa. See the video ... feel the atmosphere.
(More details below.)
volunteering at karoo Wildlife centre
The sanctuary is situated in one of the most iconic parts of South Africa, the Klein Karoo. It is a semi-arid area of stark beauty. We preserve 260 ha of pristine fynbos and we are surrounded on three sides by a 2,500 hectare conservancy stocked with wildlife such as zebra. Across the road is a private nature reserve, where animals such as giraffe and eland are free roaming.
Early mornings are magical at KWC. Walk through the hills and valleys; help feed the horses; learn a bit about bees and bee-keeping. Do some field work before the day gets hot.
Stay indoors during the heat of the day and do computer work; when it gets cooler, go down to the protective enclosures (camps) to feed the bat-eared foxes. Relax on the deck and enjoy a glass of wine as you gaze out over the valley, watching the sun set in a blaze of African colour. Hear the cries of the jackals calling at dusk, the owls calling at night.
Enjoy the quiet of evening turning into night. Look up and see the Milky Way cut a swathe through the clear, unpolluted night sky. Star gazers come from all over the world come to experience the clarity of a Karoo night sky.
Bookings for our volunteer course are open. Choose your dates; come for a short or long stay. All meals, accommodation and KWC activities are included in the price. The nearest town is Ladismith, a 20-minute drive from our wildlife centre, and it has all facilites: pharmacy, shops, supermarket, restaurants, doctors and hospital, etc.
Rates 2020:
Animal activist course with Chris Mercer: R3, 000 all inclusive (meals, course and activities).
Volunteering: €500 (five hundred euros) per week.
Rates include:
Stay indoors during the heat of the day and do computer work; when it gets cooler, go down to the protective enclosures (camps) to feed the bat-eared foxes. Relax on the deck and enjoy a glass of wine as you gaze out over the valley, watching the sun set in a blaze of African colour. Hear the cries of the jackals calling at dusk, the owls calling at night.
Enjoy the quiet of evening turning into night. Look up and see the Milky Way cut a swathe through the clear, unpolluted night sky. Star gazers come from all over the world come to experience the clarity of a Karoo night sky.
Bookings for our volunteer course are open. Choose your dates; come for a short or long stay. All meals, accommodation and KWC activities are included in the price. The nearest town is Ladismith, a 20-minute drive from our wildlife centre, and it has all facilites: pharmacy, shops, supermarket, restaurants, doctors and hospital, etc.
Rates 2020:
Animal activist course with Chris Mercer: R3, 000 all inclusive (meals, course and activities).
Volunteering: €500 (five hundred euros) per week.
Rates include:
- comfortable guest accommodation with private bathroom
- Full Board (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
- teas and coffees & fresh local fruit
- laundry
- wifi and TV
- course materials
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In our untouched wilderness, there is an interesting variety of naturally occurring wildlife, such as antbears, black-backed jackal, steenbuck, duiker, porcupine, honey badgers, baboons, vervet monkeys, caracals and even leopard. Endemic birdlife includes eagles, owls, goshawk, buzzards, and one of the largest flying birds in the world, the beautiful Stanley’s bustard.
This is a malaria free area.
This is a malaria free area.
our advocacy courses
Most people believe that by commenting and sharing on social media, by signing petitions, and by attending protest marches that they will eventually succeed in getting conservation authorities to ban canned lion hunting.
They won’t.
"The hunting industry is always ahead of the game, because it works unceasingly at a policy level with law makers to promote the narrative that hunting is conservation,” says Chris Mercer, Director and founder of CACH. "It’s very clear that animal advocates need to be fully informed, better trained and more strategic.”
Chris will deliver daily talks on the subjects listed below. The course is designed to empower animal advocates to engage knowledgeably and convincingly in the great debate on whether hunting is conservation; to rebut the arguments of pro-hunting propaganda; and to work effectively to bring an end to trophy hunting.
Mercer is a retired lawyer who has used his legal expertise to campaign against canned lion hunting since it hit the headlines almost 25 years ago.
They won’t.
"The hunting industry is always ahead of the game, because it works unceasingly at a policy level with law makers to promote the narrative that hunting is conservation,” says Chris Mercer, Director and founder of CACH. "It’s very clear that animal advocates need to be fully informed, better trained and more strategic.”
Chris will deliver daily talks on the subjects listed below. The course is designed to empower animal advocates to engage knowledgeably and convincingly in the great debate on whether hunting is conservation; to rebut the arguments of pro-hunting propaganda; and to work effectively to bring an end to trophy hunting.
Mercer is a retired lawyer who has used his legal expertise to campaign against canned lion hunting since it hit the headlines almost 25 years ago.
aspects covered:
- Overview of the hunting industry, how it works in South Africa, why and when.
- State capture - how the hunting industry controls conservation structures in South Africa.
- The importance of raising awareness of canned hunting and its spin-offs, including cub petting and lion walks for tourists; and the lion bone trade.
- Why raising awareness is just the start (but not enough).
- How to rise to policy level to secure an outright ban.
- Strategies that work - and those that don’t.
- Why global organisations like CITES are completely useless.