Gain invaluable veterinary
skills with the Kenya Wildlife Service and its veterinary team.
Live and work under the auspices of
the Kenya Wildlife Service Veterinary Team - here you can work
in the Kenya Wildlife offices and in various Game Parks, as part of the
Veterinary Team. You may also be involved in other conservation projects
around the country. Your work will be exciting and
fascinating, such as helping with monitoring Rhino Disease, darting
animals, and possibly even elephant translocation.
PROJECT LOCATION: This project is based at
the biggest National park in Kenya, Tsavo Park. This park is just
over 21,000 Km2 and because of its size it has been split into two parks,
Tsavo East and Tsavo West, and running between the two is the
Nairobi/Mombasa railway.
Tsavo West has some excellent scenery and especially in the wet season when the country side is green. At other times
of the year it has that wonderful dusty Africa feeling.
Tsavo is famous for its
herds of elephants with large herds of 50 or more robust elephants that have
instinctively retreated to the vicinity of the lodges where they are assured
of protection against poachers. Another great sight is the spectacular herds
of up to 1000 buffalo which are common here.
The Veterinary team is
dedicated to conservation in Kenya and is often called when any animal is
injured or in need of veterinary treatment. They are based in Tsavo, but the
teams are often asked for help by wardens and rangers from many parks in
Kenya. They generally concentrate on endangered species, but are not averse
to helping any animal, no matter how small!
Your accommodation base is
in Voi in a host family, a comfortable 10 minute drive from the headquarters
and 150km from Mombasa. You may even find yourself camping out in various
game reserves and parks with the rest of the Vet team.
So as
you can see, not only will you be helping the wildlife of Africa, but also
having one of the most unique and interesting work placements around.
THE KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE - Their Aims and
Objectives
The Kenya
Wildlife Service (KWS) was established in 1989 to protect, maintain and
develop Kenya’s natural environment and heritage. To maintain its goals
they adhere to a strict code of conservation management and uphold close
relations with local communities as well as national and global
partners, so as to ensure optimum support for the natural habitats and
wildlife under its care.
It is a
pioneering wildlife management association which has challenged
traditional views and prejudices amongst the local community. The people
who form this union include private ranchers, small scale farmers,
cooperatives, local CBO’s, and tourism ventures. They are united by a
common goal: to take responsibility for and protect the biodiversity
of their land.
The KWS
responsibilities include: coordinating research, ecosystems monitoring,
planning, project management using an ecosystem management strategy,
conservation and management of wild life resources outside protected
areas in collaboration with the stakeholders, providing security and
veterinary services. It also contributes to policy and legal framework
development on conservation and sustainable use of natural resources,
and at the same time advertises on issues relating to international
conventions, treaties and agreements as concerns conservation and
natural resource management.
The KWS Veterinary Unit:
The KWS
Veterinary Unit is based at the organization headquarters in Nairobi. The
unit comprises the country’s most competent wildlife veterinarians,
technicians and animal capture staff. They can be mobilized quickly and
work efficiently when funds, equipment’s and drugs are available. This
unit liaises closely with the Biodiversity department and the Directors’
office. Also through cooperative effort with other KWS field stations,
they attend to wildlife cases in all parts of Kenya, involving a wide
variety of species.
The goal
of the veterinary unit is to offer wildlife veterinary service nationally
to ensure stable/growing healthy populations of wildlife within Kenya,
assist prevent habitat destruction by wildlife, and reduce human-wildlife
conflict. Also to prevent extinction of rare species by establishing
viable breeding groups.
The KWS'
stated objectives are:
To Provide effective and rapid response to
cases of sick or injured wildlife reported to the unit.
React
immediately to field veterinary emergencies including reports of snared,
injured or orphaned animals. Animals most frequently caught in snares
include elephants, rhino, giraffe, zebra, lion, cheetah and a variety of
antelope, among others. In
addition they carry out treatment or forensic work on sick and
dead animals.
Carrying out research on
wildlife health concerns of management importance to KWS:
* Investigate the source of disease outbreaks and institute
control measures on newly reported diseases. This includes sampling,
forensic and diagnostic work. * Radio collaring of animals to support KWS
researchers in monitoring and animal studies, especially, endangered
species.
Carry out scheduled or
emergency translocations of different species of animals for park
management reasons: * Translocate to set up endangered species
into breeding groups especially where decline/extinction is confirmed
such as Rhino or Hirola antelope. * Move animals out of areas where they are
causing deterioration of the ecosystem, and/or overstocking has been
confirmed to be a problem * For introduction or reintroduction of
wildlife species into National Parks and Reserves, ranches and
conservation areas
Respond to problem animal
control (PAC) requests: * Assessing the seriousness of problem
animal complaints received, investigate reports and come up with short
term and long term solutions that will prevent animals from becoming
pests. * Trapping of stock raiders. * Translocation of problem animals from areas
where they pose a danger to human settlement * Humane culling when dangerous animals such
as hippo, elephant, buffalo etc. are a threat to human life. Quick and
accurate shots are necessary to eliminate suffering. * Educate the public on how to deter pests
such as, avoiding feeding of wild animals, or leaving rubbish heaps in
the open
Support other
Departments, Institutes, Ranches and Community Wildlife Programs: * Involvement in activities that support
other departments of KWS such as giving advice to game ranch managers
through the Partnership Department, advice on disease problems and
captive animal management etc. Also supporting the Biodiversity
Department in monitoring of animals, by radio tracking. * Encourage relevant and sustainable
collaboration with other institutions, individuals and ranches through
the diagnosis, treatment and research of wildlife diseases.
Continually improve the
skills and competence of the staff:
* Carry out appropriate in-house and external training of
veterinary, capture and laboratory staff * Encourage the attachment of veterinary and
other wildlife conservation students and scientists to the unit, to
enhance staff skills through training students, and exchange of
information through working with peers.
Develop policy documents
and maintain records: * Continue to develop and refine all
policy guidelines that pertain to wildlife veterinary intervention in
all aspects of wildlife health. Both for free ranging and captive
animals. * Maintain database and case reports of all
incidents encountered in the field and in captive situations. * Also keep records on translocation.
The work you do on your
project will all assist in working towards the above objectives, either
directly or indirectly.
ABOUT YOUR WORK
Some of the exciting areas you may be allocated to work
in could include:
Tsavo East,
Tsavo West,
Shimba Hills
Chyulu hills,
and
possibly other parks and reserves within Kenya.
... it will all
depend on what is needed at the time you are there.
Your work will take place in various parks and reserves,
as well as in the Veterinary and Research
headquarters. You'll assist the Vet and
research team in all areas of their work - so
there is plenty to do! Much of the work is actually based at
the Veterinary Headquarters, but when a report of an injured animal comes in,
you and the rest of the team will travel to a national park and be based
there until the work is complete.
As a volunteer, you and the team will
have access to the most remote areas of Africa's premier game reserves,
where there are generally huge herds of elephant, buffalo, plains-game,
lion and leopard. You will be helping to protect and conserve Africa's
wildlife sanctuaries and you may experience situations that will leave you
literally breathless!
Your duties will be fairly varied and as there is a
mixture of research work and the veterinary work, you'll be expected to
turn your hands to whatever is required at the time you're there.
Generally, you will be asked to go
to different parks and reserves to help with one or more of the
following activities:
Research Work:
Monitoring endangered species,
likely to include
elephants and rhinos
Rainfall count, this will be on
a monthly basis
Road count of wildlife
Data work – entering onto the
database statistics relating to animal control and vegetation changes
Clearing research plots within
the park
There could be many other
activities as well, depending on what is required at the time you're
there. Some of the new projects in the pipeline include monitoring
the effects of fishing, establishing new enclosures and inspecting
livestock.
Monitoring the water quality
and the rate of change of quality is done on a monthly basis.
VeterinaryWork:
When an animal is sick or injured,
the vet can be called at any time to go anywhere and you'll accompany
the vet wherever possible. Other work elements could include:
Elephant Translocation.
– details of this will be given here as soon as they are confirmed
Surveying and routine checks on
sick animals. There are various shift patterns
where you can assist, when available. These checks could take place
in the early morning, in the evening or late at night.
Elective
Disease Scanning. Teams will go out on different occasions to survey
and monitor the risk of diseases spreading through certain groups of
animals
Rescuing orphaned and abandoned
young animals that are in distress
Patrols to assess the general
health of the wildlife
Hive Mortality Inspections.
When there are
many deaths within a particular group of animals within a certain area,
you'll accompany the team to investigate diseases and how they are being
spread.
Written reports for the
Veterinary team and the KWS. The need for these very necessary
and much needed reports occurs throughout the year and will form
part of your duties.
Helping
to update and improve the
new database. So if you have any computer
skills then this would be advantageous.
On-the-job training: You'll be given advice by a
qualified warden as you go along your placement, so you will need to use
a lot of initiative.
Any other work which will
benefit the Kenya Wildlife Service and its Veterinary Team.
This could be anything from pushing paper in the office to building a
fence or digging a waterhole.
The hours of work:
The normal working hours are 08.00
to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, but occasionally due to the nature of the work
you will be required to work evenings or weekends.
QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
You should
either be planning to study a veterinary or animal
related subject, or have some qualification or past experience. More importantly, you
MUST have
a keen interest in animals and conservation in general. Any experience you
have with animals will help your application so please ensure you add this
to your application.The project will only last
for the duration of TWO months at any one time. You may be able to extend this while
in Kenya, but this is at the discretion of the project and the KWS.
Although
Travellers’ will try to place two or more
volunteers on the same project at the same time, there
may be times where the project itself will dictate that
only one volunteer can work
on a specific project. However, there will be local
staff on that project.
ACCOMMODATION AND LIVING IN KENYA
The veterinary and research headquarters for
the team is based in Tsavo Park, but your accommodation will be with a host
family based in the town of Voi.
The standard of accommodation is basic African and will give you
a true African experience.
Your food will be provided and will vary, depending on where
you're living. Meals could be very basic and at times you may only have two
meals a day (a hearty breakfast and dinner), with snacks and biscuits during the
day.
TRAVEL AND SUPPORT:
You have the option to arrange your
own flights or we can assist you with your flight arrangements. If you would
like us to do this for you, we will liaise with you regarding available flights
and dates to suit you. All arrangements for your flight bookings/payments will
be fulfilled by Murray Rogers Travel Ltd., ATOL No. 6856. (Read more about Murray Rogers Travel Ltd.)
Where possible, we arrange for two or more people to travel on the
same flight and we will let you have the names and telephone numbers of other
volunteers on your flight, so that you can chat to each other or even meet up
before leaving for your placement.
Where possible, all flights we arrange for you
have changeable return tickets because many of our volunteers choose to extend
their stay once they are in their destination country. Changeable return tickets
enable you to do so, within the limits of your visa and the level of your air
ticket, of course. If you choose to book your own flights, you should endeavour
to get a changeable ticket. We meet you at the airport regardless of whether you
make your own travel arrangements or not.
Support: You'll fly into Mombasa where you'll be met by
our local Manager Njery Wathika or a member of her staff. She will take you
into Mombasa and get you settled into your accommodation. You will then
receive an induction into the country, and be taken to your placement
and introduced to everyone.
Volunteer with baby elephant
VISAS:. In countries where visas or
immigration documents are required, we'll send you all the necessary forms and
information and make the process very easy for you.
To read about the extensiveSupport & Backup
we provide in our countries, please
click here.
We can also arrange your flight
dates to give you additional time at the end of your project for travelling
around and sightseeing - this is a fascinating and wondrous country!
PRICES
To see the Prices of this project and all
our other projects in Kenya, please
click here
Prices
include
Food & accommodation while on your project,
2 T-shirts, if required
for your project
All support and backup
during your programme
Meeting you at the
nearest airport, where appropriate, but exclude international travel.
.
+44 01903 502595
