African Impact - Volunteer in Zimbabwe
Although the thought of volunteering abroad in Zimbabwe evokes some discomfort, with African Impact you will be welcomed with open arms to our safe and responsible volunteer programs. Despite their history of political unrest, Zimbabwe has been recently been enjoying peace. African Impact was founded in 2004 in Harare, the country's capital.
Join us in this breathtaking and wild part of Africa on our projects ranging from hands on lion rehabilitation and conservation, medical and community programs, teaching and childcare, and elephant and rhino conservation.
Reviews
100%Overall
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100%Overall
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Do you ever dream of seeing a lion up close? To walk next to the King of the Jungle? To feel its soft fur under your hands as you stroke it? Dream no more, volunteer at Antelope Park with African Impact and your dream will be fulfilled.
The experience you will get at Antelope Park will last you a life time. Here,in the summer of 2012, I got to be a part of a crucial program to save the African Lion. And the best part was that you were given proof of the programs success. I saw how the lions evolved in their natural habitat, becoming more and more confident everyday. And this in only 4 weeks time. By the last week, we were running after the lions as they chased Impala, zebra and even giraffes. These are the lions that you as a volunteer will be with everyday. They are only at stage 1 of a 4 stage program to rehabilitate and re-introduce them to the wild. Another proof that made me truly believe that everything African Impact is trying to do for the African Lion really works was when I saw a Kill. As a volunteer you will get the chance to visit Stage 2, the release site where lions who have been thru stage 1 are roaming free in their natural habitat. It was here that we saw the magnificent pride run into the long grass and take down a dukier (small antelope). To see that these lions preformed as lions would in the wild was truly spellbinding and something I will never forget.
Other activites include, meat prep and lion feed (one of my many favorites), elephant training, horse safari, cub sit, research, a weekend trip to Victoria Falls and many more. The staff are some of the greatest people I have ever met and they take great care of you and they always make sure that you are safe.
I suppose the best part of this volunteer program is that you get so close to the lions to the point where you feel you know them, and would never want to leave them. That is why I am planning my return in 2014, but for now I carry all the lions and my memories of Antelope park in my heart.
Critical Feedback:
There is really nothing I would change, and I would have to be really picky to find something to be critical about. So, all I can say is that I wish there was an option where volunteers could stay longer than 4 weeks.
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I visited Antelope Park in September 2012 as a volunteer. I can only give positive feedback from my trip as it was the most educational, exciting and inspiring experience of my life. Being in my 50's I was quite apprehensive initially, I was quite nervous and not sure what to expect. From the moment we landed in Bulawayo the AP team gave us 100% help and support. We were met at the airport and taken straight to AP where we were shown straight to our volunteer accommodation,which was very basic but comfortable. We were then given a full tour of the park. We were given various safety talks, I must say that the team at AP are extremely on the ball when it comes to safety. We were given 3 fabulous meals a day and unlimited tea/coffee/water throughout. A normal day at AP would be to get up about 5.30am working day normally starts about 6.30am depending on what we were doing, I used to love the early morning lion walks, we would then return for breakfast and then going of to work, there are so many different things to do from cleaning up lion poo to elephant training,horse riding, cub sitting (my favorite) behavioral enrichment, elephant herding, border patrol the list just goes on and on. At the end of the day we would enjoy our 3 course evening meal and then time to sit around the fire and catch up with other volunteers. I could write for hours but I don't have the space. All I can say is Antelope Park is an absolutely fabulous place and if you have the chance then you must go to volunteer you will not regret it. From the moment I left AP I knew I had to return, I have already started to save up to return in 2014. Don't forget that the money you pay to volunteer at AP all goes to the rehabilitation project, the African lions need all the help and support that we can give.
Critical Feedback:
I cannot think of anything negative, (only that the showers were cold quite a lot). For personally it was an uplifting experience.
Alumni Interviews
Meet Margaret Robertson, African Impact - Zimbabwe alum
Margaret Robertson is from Edinburgh, Scotland. She currently works as a PR manager for a children's charity on a voluntary basis. She enjoys running and is currently trying to plan her next travel adventure. Her trip was from April 8, 2012 to May 7, 2012.
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer with African Impact in Zimbabwe?
Margaret: I first came across African Impact's Lion project when I visited Victoria Falls and went on a lion walk at the site there. I really enjoyed how closely you got to interact with the lions and spoke to a number of the volunteers who were helping with the walk to find out about their experience. They all said it was a wonderful thing to do so I resolved to do it myself one day. My opportunity came 18 months later when I was offered voluntary redundancy so I just had to choose which of African Impact's three sites to go to. I chose Antelope Park because it was an area of Africa I hadn't visited before and also because of the opportunity to also work with elephants and to ride horses.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Margaret: In this project you are hands on with the animals from the word go. You are taught all the essential behaviours you should exhibit when working with the lions and elephants and are in the care of friendly expert handlers at all times. Once you've completed all the inductions your day will be split into four sessions and activities are allocated on a rota basis and posted on the notice board the night before. The day starts early, leaving at 6.30am for either a lion walk or 'bomas' which is cleaning out the areas where elephants spend the night then walking them back to camp. The lion walk might be a client walk with paying visitors or a walk only with volunteers and handlers. These are very important sessions where the young lions get the opportunity to practice their hunting skills and, if you're lucky, you might see them make a kill.
Data is collected on each lion walk and everyone takes their turn at being the data collector. Sometimes, instead of the lion walk you can go with the researchers to the Stage 2 release site where a pride of lions is living with minimal human interaction. The pride, led by the magnificent Milo, is successfully hunting and breeding and getting the project a step closer to its ultimate aim of boosting the numbers of lions living wild in Africa.
Then it's back for a fantastic cooked breakfast and time to gather the appropriate kit for your main activity of the morning. This can be anything from meat prep to enclosure maintenance, enclosure cleaning, filling up water troughs, horse food making, boundary patrol, checking for snares, cub sitting or a session called behaviour enrichment where you make toys for the lions and see how they play. Some of the activities are quite physical so a reasonable level of fitness is beneficial though there are always people willing to help if there's something you can't manage to do. Having worked up an appetite it's back to camp for a cooked lunch and a bit of relaxation time before the afternoon activity. If you've had an energetic morning you'll usually find the afternoon is a more relaxing activity such as cub sitting. The day rounds off with either another lion walk or with walking the elephants back to their bomas.
There's then usually time to grab a shower before the daily volunteer meeting where there are updates on the day's activities and any issues can be raised and discussed. Then it's off for a three course dinner (the food at AP really is excellent!) often followed by drinks and chat round the fire pit. On Saturday you have the chance to go into the local town of Gweru for shopping followed by a visit to one of the two orphanges the project works closely with through its community programme. These visits are well worth doing as you'll meet some amazing children and staff and see how much we in the west take for granted. Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday is free time, a chance to relax by the pool or grab some internet time to catch up with friends and family. AP is in a beautiful setting by a river where you can also hire canoes if you're feeling energetic.
GO: What made this experience unique and special?
Margaret: There are a number of volunteer projects where you can work with big cats but this project is unique because it aims to overcome the problems other captive breeding projects have in re-introducing lions to the wild. The lions you work with in Stage 1 are given the opportunity to learn and fine tune their hunting skills on the twice daily lion walks and, when they're older, on night encounters. This gives them the skills they will need when they move into a pride in Stage 2 of the programme, skills they can pass onto their cubs who, when funding is in place, can move into a much bigger Stage 3 site where they will learn to compete with other hunters. Having such a hands on experience with lions, helping them develop their natural behaviours and seeing how well Stage 2 of the project is working made this a very special volunteering experience.
GO: How has this experience impacted your future?
Margaret: This volunteer project attracts people from around the world and I met some lovely people who I still keep in touch with. I don't think anyone could visit Africa and fail to be touched by the amazing spirit of its people who are so cheerful, despite what we would consider to be great hardship, and so grateful for so little.
Meet Helene, African Impact in Zimbabwe
Helene Margel is from Oslo, Norway, 21 years old and is currently studying Marketing. Helene enjoys traveling, design and life changing events. She was a volunteer at Antelope Park, Zimbabwe from June 4th to July 2nd, where she says she had the time of her life.
GO: Why did you decide to volunteer with African Impact in Zimbabwe?
Helene: I had a gap year between high school and college that I wanted to fill with travel. I knew from early on that Africa would be my destination and I also knew that I wanted something more than a safari trip. So with a little bit of research I came over African Impact. Their site thoroughly informed of the different ways one could travel and make an impact in Africa. By looking at their options as a volunteer there was one program that stood out to me, Hands-On Lion Conservation at Antelope Park.
GO: Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.
Helene: We would get up early around 6 for a Lion Walk or Boma and Elefant herding (cleaning the elephants enclosure and walking them down to camp). Then we would have breakfast from 8-9 a.m., after that there was mostly an activity that consisted of heading up the the breeding program. Such activities could be enclosure cleaning, meat prep, maintenance, etc. Though this might not sound like fun, it was! After that we would return to lunch and activities would start again around 2. After lunch activities could be Cub Sit (entering the cubs enclosures and spending time with them), more maintenance, boundary patrol, fire breaks, behavioral enrichment. Then we would return for Camp and the last activity of the day which would often be a Lion walk, but could also be elephant herding.
There could also be a night encounter, where the lions that have graduated from lion walks would be taken out at night to hunt. Everyday was different and a new adventure waiting to happen.
GO: What made this experience unique and special?
Helene: Many things made this experience unique and special, the place in itself, the people, but most of all being so close to the lions. Learning about their behavior and being a part of their rehabilitation and re-introduction to the wild because of their decreasing numbers. The fact that this experience was worth every moment and not a inkling of regret was what made this experience a once in a life time event and life changing.
GO: How has this experience impacted your future?
Helene: I have become more aware of little things that I often before thought unimportant. I am more grateful for everything I have gotten to experience in my life and have a very optimistic view on the future. I have learned, thanks to the wonderful people at Antelope Park, to not complain if anything does not go as planned, but rather make a new plan. My experience there has impacted me to seek work within wildlife conservation.
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Further Information About This Program
About African Impact
African Impact is an award-winning volunteer travel organization, offering meaningful interactive volunteer programs throughout Africa. We have come a long way from our humble beginnings at Antelope Park in Zimbabwe in 2004 where we started out with a single goal - to bring about positive change.
With over 8 years' experience, we are now the largest on-the-ground African specialists in volunteer tourism with operations offices in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We pride ourselves on doing things the right way, and are always seeking better, more sustainable ways to operate and offer responsible, safe volunteer experiences with long lasting positive effects on local communities and the physical environments in which we work.
We truly believe in making a difference and empowering our volunteers to do the same.
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If, like me, you want to get closer than you would have believed possible to the King of the Jungle while contributing to a programme aiming to reverse the decline in numbers of these magnificent beasts, this is the project for you. I spent an amazing month in the beautiful setting of Antelope Park in April 2012. As a solo traveller I really appreciated being picked up at the airport and having every detail of my transfer to the park taken care of. The accomodation is simple but clean and laundy and three fantastic cooked meals a day are included as well as unlimited tea, coffee water and juice. On day 1, after a full safety briefing, you get to go on your first lion walk and meet one of the sets of lions you'll be working with. Safety of guests and volunteers is taken very seriously and there are always experienced handlers with you when you're working with the animals. The snake induction is particularly useful as we encounterd a number of poisonous snakes around camp and on the walks! The day starts and ends with either a lion walk or herding the 4 lovely elephants to and from their bomas. In between you'll have jobs ranging from food preparation to enclosure cleaning and maintenance or boundary patrol and snare sweeping.There are also plenty of opportunities to interact with the lions in smaller groups during cub sitting and behaviour enrichment. Playing with a 16 month old lion was definitely a highlight for me! If you're there during a full moon be sure to go on a lunar elephant or horse ride and a night encounter, where you watch the older lions (who are retired from walking) hunt for prey is also a great experience. AP has a very successful stage 2 of this 4 stage programme where you can observe a pride that is hunting and breeding with minimal human involvement. The lion volunteer programme operates alongside a community programme so on Saturdays you can visit two of the local orphanages. Spending time with the children is both heart warming and an eye opener. The staff, and particular the guides and handlers, are fantastic and go out of their way to make your stay unforgettable. One of the real testaments of this volunteering experience is the number of people who go back time and time again. I met one woman who was on her 6th trip!
Critical Feedback:
If I have one criticism it's that the AP volunteer project is perhaps becoming a victim of its own success. Volunteer numbers are high - there were almost 50 volunteers at one stage during my visit, the majority of these on the lion programme. If there are only 4 walking lions, as there were when I was there, the lion walks can be very busy. If you prefer a higher ratio of lions to volunteers it's worth checking out the Zambia or Victoria Falls programmes where volunteer numbers tend to be lower.