11 August 2009

Tour of the day: Big cat conservation holiday in Namibia & Botswana

Country: Botswana, Namibia
Departures: 2009: 16 Aug, 30 Aug, 20 Sep, 4 Oct, 25 Oct, 8 Nov
Price: From £1690 (13 days) excluding flights. Price includes food, accommodation and project contribution

UPDATE: Last minute deal GBP1500. Applies to 4 Oct, 25 Oct & 8 Nov departures only.


the things you'll be doing
On these wildlife volunteering vacations you will start at Victoria Falls in Zambia and then travel to the Caprivi delta of Namibia and Botswana to study lions, cheetahs and leopards and their interactions with the local human population. The Caprivi delta boasts the same amazing array of African megafauna as the Okavango or Chobe National Park, but without the crowds. In fact, it is virtually unexplored and unmapped, and your job on the expedition will be to track, capture and relocate (if necessary) lions, cheetahs and leopards in order to mitigate human-wildlife conflict. You will also help our scientists to map the area properly and talk to local people about how predators and people can live side by side.

the project
These wildlife volunteering vacations will conduct a survey of five of Africa’s large carnivore species (lion, leopard, spotted hyaena, cheetah and wild dog) their dominant prey species (cape buffalo, giraffe, red lechwe, puku, sitatunga, roan antelope, kudu, Burchell’s zebra, blue wildebeest, warthog, bushpig, impala, common duiker, steenbok, numerous small mammal, primate and bird species) and domesticated species such as cattle, goats, pigs, cats and dogs. We will capture, collar and monitor key study animals and respond to incidents of livestock depredation in neighboring communities.
The expedition will also survey human populations in the area, conduct investigations into the ecology of human-predator conflict (HPC) and contribute to the development of rural livelihood strategies that will promote coexistence between people and predators and be implemented on a national scale. The area is of very significant conservation importance but also experiences the highest number of HPC incidents in Namibia and some of the highest in Africa. Data collected by this expedition will be crucial in our mission to combat the top threat to carnivore conservation in Africa today, namely human-predator conflict.

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