Game Capture Project

Vet Nursing students and those students studying animal behaviour/management or care have an exciting opportunity to work alongside a professional game capture specialist helping with wildlife captures in free-ranging situations and to take part in game ranch management duties on other days when there is no capture work.

Staff

Students will be under the strict supervision and guidance of a Game Capture Specialist and a qualified Canadian Veterinary Nurse.

Types of Captures and Work

The capture work changes from day to day, week to week, volunteers will participate in whatever captures happen in the time they are there and we can’t promise exactly which species you will experience or how often.  Captures range from a night-time lion capture to catching several hundred antelope in a day.

Typical capture work includes building mass capture sites, participating in mass captures (running ‘curtains’, preparing animals for transport), ground crew for immobilizations, moving immobilized animals, loading animals onto trucks, obtaining tissue and/or blood samples for research and quarantine.

Captures depend on many factors such as weather, helicopter permits, animal translocation permits and similar things which cannot be controlled, therefore there may be some days with no captures.  On these days students will work on the game ranch management projects which will include game counting, brush clearing, fence building, assisting the Vet Technician, working on and preparing the equipment and so on.

Who can Participate?

All participants must be 18 years or older and those with animal and wildlife experience or studies are preferred.  Students are expected to be physically fit, enjoy hard physical work, enjoy the outdoors and not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Places are limited to only 4 students per project.

The Working Day/Week

The work days can be very long, often from sunup to sundown, or longer.  The week runs from Sunday to Sunday with usually the Saturday off for rest and relaxation where participants can hire a car to visit local sights, rehabilitation centres or similar.

The work is with dangerous wild animals in free-ranging situations and participation is as extensive as possible, limited only by field conditions, the species being handled and safety issues. 

Time of Year

Wildlife captures in South Africa are limited by weather conditions and extremely hot weather precludes safe capture of the animals.  Game capture weeks are best between April and September.

Travel Arrangements

Volunteers should fly into Johannesburg airport early on Sunday morning and get a connecting flight to Hoedspruit airport where they will be collected and transferred to the game reserve.  They will be transferred to Hoedspruit airport on the following Sunday morning for a flight to Johannesburg and the subsequent flight home. 

Accommodation and Food

Students will be accommodated in a comfortable farm house and will have 3 meals a day provided.  On very rare occasions it may be necessary to either eat on the run, sleep out in tents or drive through the night.

Volunteer Contributions:

1 week - £680
Each extra week £600

What is Included:

Transfer from Hoedspruit Airport to the Game Reserve on Sunday and return to Hoedspruit at the end of the project, 7 nights accommodation, 3 meals a day, supervision of Game Capture specialist and Vet Nurse, all necessary project materials.

What is Not Included:

Flights, medical/travel insurance, luxury items such as chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol.

Combine with Other Projects:

Vet Nursing students may like to combine one week of Game Capture with one week on the Vet Nurse Project. 
Total cost £1220.  Check out our Vet Nursing Animal clinic project.

Students may like to combine with our Adventure weeks or our Safari week – check out the possibilities….. for example….

1 week Game Capture and 1 week Safari £1430

1 week Game Capture and 5 day Adventure package £1130
 

GAME CAPTURE PICS CLICK HERE!