African Impact - South Africa Conservation Projects

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African Impact - South Africa Conservation Projects

At African Impact, we create the most transformative & impactful volunteer and intern experiences for communities, wildlife & international participants.

African Impact is a multi-award winning volunteer travel organisation operating responsible and sustainable volunteer projects and internship programs throughout Southern and East Africa. We have over 17 years’ experience and have facilitated over 15,000 volunteers in 12 countries across the continent!

21/04/2023

On Thursday the volunteers spend 4 hours removing wire fence from the broken down Sawong fence line. When broken down fence wire is left it can act as an inactive snare to wildlife causing injuries that vary in severity. Through removing the wire, we have a direct impact on potentially saving wildlife from injury. In total the volunteers removed 1724 meters of fence line.

10/04/2023

Research update!!

One of our volunteers Robyn Major shows us an extract from her diary from one of her days as a research and conservation volunteer 😊

17/03/2023

Research update from one of our volunteers, Elisha!!

This week our camera traps that have been strategically set have been catching some amazing images of our local wildlife here. What has made this weeks images particularly special is seeing the effect the phases of the moon have on the animals behaviour.
We were lucky enough to catch two Wild dogs roaming past our camera at 3:48 AM, due to Wild dogs being primarily diurnal this does not coincide with normal behavioural patterns apart from when there is high amounts of moonlight! It has been truly amazing to see the effect that the full moon has on certain behaviours and how animals adapt to correspond with their environment.
With the African wild dog being classed as Endangered on the IUCN red list and there only being 6,000 left in the wild this is a truly rare sighting that will hopefully contribute to the preservation and understanding of the species. What an amazing week!

13/03/2023

Research Update!
One of our volunteers, Izzy talks us through her highlights from last week.

We started off the week great by seeing a female lion on Monday morning which made everyone at camp very excited and ready for a very fun week ahead 🦁

On Tuesday Daisy gave an entertaining educational presentation on dwarf mongoose. We learnt some interesting facts including, in the event of an alpha male or female dying, the mongoose that is next in the hierarchy will take over the role by having a ‘grooming contest’ where two mongooses will groom one another until one eventually gives up covered in saliva! 🫢

On Wednesday we started off the morning collecting camera traps and when we got back we did some camera tagging for the afternoon and got through a lot of traps where we seen some interesting animals including a hyena 📸

On Thursday we did some cactus removal and found out that the cactus is called the devils rope cactus and it is native to northern Mexico and no animal or human can eat the fruit 🌵

On Friday some of the researchers and photographers had a really close elephant encounter with a curious boy that came right up to the game viewer. Meanwhile, some volunteers went to Kruger for the weekend and saw 4 leopards 🐯🐘

Overall a great week was had and everyone at camp is looking forward to the week ahead 😁

06/03/2023

Research update!

Sighting of the week!
We encountered a lovely female lion on our drive both this morning and afternoon. There is no better way to start the week! During the sightings we witnessed the lioness scent mark as well as call out for a potential mate.

03/03/2023

Hiya, I’m Sarah, one of the Conservation and Research Interns with African Impact. I flew in from the U.S. about 2 weeks ago to join this group of amazing people who are all passionate about wildlife conservation. Within just two weeks I’ve worked with a group of research volunteers and staff to do physical conservation work out in the bush. We have removed invasive species, picked up litter, cleared unruly branches, and even removed some snares.

I’ve also gone on multiple game count drives where we keep track of what animals and animal tracks we see, where they are specifically, how many animals there are, and what activities they are doing. There have been so many amazing sightings. My group has seen two prides of lions, one very large group of giraffes, and quite a few elephant herds - some with infants.

When we’re not out in the bush, we have been back at camp filing data that we have collected either through game count drives or camera trap photos. I’ve also been working with the research coordinators to do a research project of my own on African Wild Dogs AKA Painted Wolves.

I’ve really enjoyed my time with African Impact these first two weeks and believe they will continue to have a positive impact on me as we collaborate for the following eight weeks.

27/02/2023

Hi, we’re Izzy and Amy, cousins from Ireland. We’re volunteering for 8 weeks with African impact on the Research and Conservation Program and currently on week 3.

This week has been full of physical conservation activities as well as animal research. We started this week with physical conservation on Monday and Tuesday. Monday included wire fence removal. This includes the removal of old wire fences from the bush because they can cause harm to animals and the environment. To remove the wire fences, we worked as a team to first cut the old wire fences into more manageable sections. We then measured the wire and rolled the wire up to bring it back to camp to dispose of the wires correctly. We were able to remove over 500 meters of old wire fences from the bush. Although the wire fence removal is challenging it allows us to make a great impact in the short time we are here. Also on Monday, we went out in the bush to remove prickly pear cacti which is an invasive species to the area.

Tuesday was also a great day for physical conservation. A group of volunteers got to remove litter from the wider camp area as well as in the bush.

We love to feel like we are truly making a positive lasting impact at camp as well as in the bush.

10/02/2023

Research update from a volunteer’s point of view

This week we completed the repairing of five marula Trees which had been damaged by elephants. The elephants use their tusks to access the cambium layer of the tree which contains nutrients and is a sweet treat. The conservation entails painting the tree with an eco-friendly paint to repel insects; the tree is then wrapped with chicken wire for prevention of further damage. It is nice to see the direct impact we can have on the biodiversity by protecting this species.
-Ben research and conservation volunteer.

23/01/2023

Research Update!!

Camera Trap capture of the week!! 📸

This week our volunteers had the pleasure of finding not one, but two very exciting sightings from our camera traps. Within the same week, a male leopard and a male lion were captured passing in front of the same camera trap.
It's not unusual to find multiple sightings like these, but we were fascinated to see that both animals were seen on the same camera trap within 32 hours!

16/01/2023

Research Update!!

Camera Trap capture of the week!!

Our research volunteers found a rare sighting this week while tagging our camera trap photos. Three Southern Ground Hornbills; a breeding pair and their offspring. Southern Ground Hornbills are the largest hornbill species in the world, and are commonly found in grassland, savannah, and woodland habitats. They are categorised as vulnerable on the IUCN red list, due to a low reproduction rate and habitat loss.

13/01/2023

Research update!!

Sighting of the week!!

Today while our research group were conducting their monthly game count in Sawong game reserve, they came across an interesting sighting. A couple of dagga boys Buffalo (old lone males) along the riverbed were being chased by a trio of Hippos on the northern side of Sawong.

09/01/2023

Research Update!!

Camera Trap capture of the week!!!

This week was an exciting time for our research volunteers with camera trap tagging. Our camera traps recorded a pride of 8 Lions moving through the area.

Address

Olifants River Camp
Hoedspruit
1380

Website

http://www.africanimpact.com/

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