Living Earth Adventures

Big Five Photography and Conservation Volunteer Project, South Africa

Join us on this volunteer project, and get the opportunity to photograph the African Big Five, while contributing to conservation education! Based in a stunning game reserve, the project is a unique chance to improve your photography skills, take pictures of the Big Five, and help to create a photo database for educational purposes. On top of that, you’ll educate local Zulu children on wildlife, and the importance of conservation. 

Highlights

• Improve your photography skills in a three-day intensive course taught by an award-winning professional photographer
• Spend four weeks in a stunning game reserve and photographing the African Big Five
• Learn about and photograph smaller species of flora and fauna on bush walks
• Help to create a photo database for awareness and educational purposes
• Help raise awareness in the local community about the importance of conservation
• Get involved in local conservation projects within a World Heritage Site
• Immerse yourself in the local Zulu culture

Tour Leader

Emil Von Maltitz

Emil is a professional nature and fine art photographer with a great love for the African bush. Emil supplies photographs to stock companies such as Getty Images and Photographers Direct, and his images have been published in magazines, textbooks, and advertisements around the world. In addition, he runs his own…

Location

The project is based in Thanda Private Game Reserve; a 14,000 hectare reserve set in the stunning Zululand heartland, around 1.5 hours north of the small town of St Lucia. The pristine bush of the reserve is home to the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and buffalo), as well as the cheetah and the extremely rare African wild dog. The area is home to the Zulu tribe, a group of people with a very lively and colourful culture. It is within this impressive setting that we offer you the opportunity to improve your photography skills, to photograph the phenomenal wildlife in the area, and to help raise awareness in the local community about the importance of conservation.

Accomodation and Meals

During your volunteer placement you will stay in comfortable twin cabins within the game reserve, overlooking a water hole that is commonly visited by the animals in the park. There is a large communal thatched building with areas to dine, relax, watch the animals or to take a dip in the swimming pool. Three meals a day will be provided here for you. The accommodation is staffed with cooks and cleaners and all bed linen is provided. You can spend the evenings sat around a fire under the stunning African sky or chatting on the viewing deck to see what animals visit the area as night falls.

Itinerary

Day 1

Arrival at Durban International Airport. At the airport, you will be met by a project coordinator, and driven to Thanda Game Reserve. After you have settled in, your introduction to the project will begin.

Day 2 - 5

You will be given a comprehensive orientation program, which includes an introduction to the project's aims and a photography course.

Day 6 - 27

During the rest of your stay, you will go out into the African bush during game drives and bush walks to photograph wildlife on a daily basis. In addition, you will be involved in conservation and conservation education activities.

Day 28

You will be driven back to Durban, where you will catch a flight home.

Tuition

Upon your arrival, you will be given a five-day orientation program, which will introduce you to the project and its aims. Included in this program is a three-day photography course by Emil Von Maltitz. During this course, you will be taught about composition, technical details of your camera, and photo editing. In addition, Emil will focus specifically on wildlife photography, so that you will be able to make the most of your encounters with the Big Five. At whatever level you are as a photographer, this course will greatly help you improve your skills.

What you need with you

• SLR digital camera with at least an 18-55 mm lens. (Please note that for wildlife photography, a telephoto lens is highly recommended.)
• Memory card of at least 2GB
• External hard drive
• Battery charger
• Computer (this is not essential, but will greatly help you with reviewing and editing your images)

Sustainability and Conservation

As a volunteer, you will contribute to the following:

CONSERVATION EDUCATION
In partnership with the Thanda Foundation, volunteers assist in a number of exciting conservation initiatives in surrounding areas:
a) Conservation in Action – you will be involved in activities such as regeneration of the local village back to its natural state, planting of indigenous trees, clearing alien invasive plants, carrying out snare sweeps and when possible, and helping on game counts.
b) Conservation Field Trips - In addition, you may take local school children into the bush on field trips. By experiencing the game reserve and its wildlife for themselves, the children will learn to appreciate the area they live in, and get a better understanding of why these efforts are being made. It will also provide them with a fun and relaxing day out; something they don’t experience often!
c) Conservation Education in the community – As a volunteer, you may visit the local schools and deliver a class / workshop about the reason for, and methods of conservation to the children in the after school Conservation Club.

CREATING A PHOTOGRAPHIC DATABASE
In association with the Green Vision Foundation, the project aims to create a complete photographic database, and use it for educational purposes. The aim is to document and preserve iSimangaliso as a key heritage site of Southern Africa. As a volunteer you will contribute to this goal by taking photos of the different species of flora and fauna, some of the 526 species of birds that exist in the Wetlands area, local conservation issues, and the unique eco-systems of the area. On this project we provide a varied programme of bush walks and game drives in order to maximise photo opportunities.
Alongside the Thanda Foundation, we have also identified that in order to preserve indigenous plant life and wildlife, it is essential to get local communities involved. We will look for every opportunity to use the photographs you donate to the project to help educate local schools about nature and the precious environment that surrounds them.

CONSERVATION RESEARCH
Photographers may be involved with helping researchers collect animal identification information and other interesting data research.
This project is a unique opportunity to encounter some of Africa’s most beautiful animals on a daily basis, to improve your photography skills, as well as to contribute to conservation efforts.
Please note that these projects are always evolving so are likely to be at different stages upon your arrival. Volunteers should be prepared to be involved in a wide spectrum of project work as things progress.

To inquire about this project, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)