Elephant Habitat Conservation in Legodimo Wilderness

I decided to volunteer with Legodimo Wilderness because I am interested in environmental issues and conservation. Until my time in Botswana, most of my environmental volunteer work had been done in Canada in the form of policy development and pro bono legal work. This was the first time (other than some tree planting) that I was able to engage in hands-on conservation work, which was a great treat. Further, I wanted to be able to spend time in Africa, engaging with wildlife and seeing how conservation is run abroad, without simply booking a safari.

When I looked into Legodimo, it was clear that I would be able to get this kind of experience.

We joked, when I was at Legodimo, that if you want to do environmental conservation, you have to like digging. There is no getting around the physical labour that is required to do conservation work in the field and spending time at Legodimo is not for people who want to sit by the pool.

That being said, the day to day life at Legodimo is very balanced. Generally, there are 2 activities per day and in the morning you are put in a group that would either do data collection, or work. Data collection involved bird and animal watching, either done from a vehicle or by foot on a walk, and work would involve maintenance of the reserve. During my time there, this maintenance could include digging water holes, wrapping trees (to prevent elephants from scraping off the bark), trail clearing etc.

While the data collection is more scenic and relaxing, the work was more labour-intensive, which means that by doing one and then the other, the day was pretty balanced. When I was at Legodimo, it was winter time for them, but I was told that the pool gets used quite often during the summer and there are beautiful areas to sit and read, or have a nap during breaks. At night, after dinner, we would often see herds of animals trotting by on the river bank and enjoy a cup of tea by the fire.