Volunteer

Africa is calling you!

Come and participate in a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife and cultural experience with a friendly, home-grown, responsible crew.

Volunteer tourists can now experience a ‘behind the scenes’ conservation holiday in Zimbabwe assisting vets on various wildlife and rural expeditions. Tourists are able to participate in everything from sterilisation campaigns to immobilising wildlife for research or treatment purposes.

Why pay to volunteer?

Quite simply, without the financial support from volunteers, AWARE would not be able to perform many of its projects.

Most conservation organisations in the world are not in a position to cover the costs of hosting you. Meals, housing and transportation costs can add up quickly, and if we had sufficient funds to pay for volunteers the funds could be better spent employing local workers who would stay at the job for a longer period.

So what’s in it for you?

• Zimbabwe: You will fall in love with its incredible landscapes, its huge biodiversity of wild mammals, the warmth of its people and their spirit of perseverance. Despite the political turmoil of the last decade it remains one of the safest destinations in Africa.
• See and experience endangered wildlife (and habitats) before it’s too late.
• Practise responsible eco-tourism: High volume, traditional tourism can be damaging to the environment, and can adversely affect the cultural integrity of local communities. To volunteer is to experience genuine integration into the local cultures, and to
  see and experience otherwise restricted wildlife areas.
• Grow through cross-cultural exposure: nothing enhances personal adaptability like the culture shock of living in an African environment!
• Satisfy your desire for activism and philanthropy: The trip will open your eyes and make you reassess your values.
• Learn new skills under personal supervision. You will gain hands on experience and expand your horizons.
• Explore potential future career paths and enhance your CV. More and more employers look for internship experience when hiring for entry-level positions.
• Network:make lifetime contacts that may enhance future career opportunities.
• Make special memories that will be cherished for a lifetime.

Cost

The cost of the package to volunteers is US$1000 per week which includes all meals, accommodation and transport (excluding flights and National Parks fees).

So where does your money go?

You pay for the cost of your housing/camping, food and transport, as well as your supervision. The money also goes toward funding project inputs directly, e.g. veterinary equipment and supplies.

2012

We generally run 2 week packages, however if you would like to stay longer, please contact us. Please bear in mind most of our projects are in remote parts of the country so it is difficult to stop a project halfway through, should the volunteer want to leave early. We are now recruiting for 2012.

Dates at a glance 

Although we do our best to try and stick to our annual work-plan, it is extremely difficult to plan these missions in Africa months in advance, especially when relying on other organisations for various logistics. Therefore we cannot guarantee that volunteers will participate in a specific activity. Volunteers should be up for participating in any/all of the projects outlined below and flexible enough to cope with all living conditions!

Foreign veterinarians please take note: You may not practise in Zimbabwe as a vet unless you are registered with the Zimbabwe Council of Veterinary Surgeons, and the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe. In order to register you need to pass the Zimbabwean equivalence examination which is held every February at the University of Zimbabwe. Under certain circumstances (e.g. you have a specialist skill that is lacking in local practitioners) you may be able to apply for temporary registration with the Council without writing the exam, however this is a once-off registration that lasts for a maximum of one year. Therefore all visiting veterinarians will be regarded as ‘watching practice’ and will be supervised as such. 

The outlines below are designed to give potential volunteers a general idea of living conditions and what they can expect in each of our projects.

• Sterilisation programme project outline

•  African rhino conservation project outline

• Lion tuberculosis testing project outline

• Buffalo tuberculosis and FMD testing project outline

• Rehabilitation (including welfare and veterinary treatment of captive lions)

• Donkey clinics

PRE-DEPARTURE INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE VOLUNTOURISTS