Learn the art of bush craft, help a community, monitor elephants, aid orphaned and injured monkeys, camp in the bush, go on safaris, see amazing wildlife, travel through a variety of terrains, visit Okavango Delta National Park, explore Cape Town, and immerse yourself in the ways and wilds of Southern African!
Tour Itinerary:
- South Africa
Weeks 1-2: African wildlife exploration and adventure to learn the skills and secrets of safari field guiding including how to track animals, identify different species, shoot a rifle, and drive a 4x4.
The dramatic landscapes, variety of wildernesses’, and abundance of wildlife makes South Africa a fantastic place to begin our Southern African exploration. Our plane touches down in Johannesburg where we will make our way to Lowveld, witnessing spectacular scenery as travel north by road. Our destination is a private game reserve within the Kruger National Park, the largest game reserve in South Africa and home to the Big Five, over 500 species of birds, and nearly 2,000 species of plants. At the training school we will complete a course that is essentially an introduction to field guiding and follows standards set out by the FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa), the leading qualification body for field guides. Living deep in the South African bush we will learn how to track wildlife, understand safety in the wilds, discover the importance of wildlife conservation, find out how to identify different species, study ecology, botany, taxonomy, and ascertain how to handle a weapon and drive in the bush.
In our ram-packed learning extravaganza you can expect to shoot a rifle, drive a 4x4, see lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, rhinos, giraffe, hippos, and a variety of other marvelous creatures. Actively learning the skills you need to live in the South African wilderness will make our whole adventure more authentic and challenging, leaving you more aware and appreciative of mans place in an area where some of the fiercest and most beautiful animals roam. Armed with the knowledge and skills of a proper bush ranger we will embark on our next adventures!
Weeks 3-4: South African vervet monkeys wildlife project to aid orphaned and injured monkeys.
Traveling about an hour and a half will take us to the foot of the Wolkberg Mountains and the Vervet Monkey Foundation, the largest rehabilitation center for monkeys in South Africa. Based near the town Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province, the Vervet Monkey Foundation specializes in providing sanctuary to monkeys who have become injured or orphaned due to anthropogenic causes. Established over ten years ago, the project now nurses over 500 monkeys, receiving and looking after an average of 40-60 babies per year and 30-60 juveniles and adults.
Our job in the project is always extremely varied and changes from season, but will generally focus on infant care, monkey camp construction, release into the wild projects, and all-round camp care. Volunteers will be working alongside the renowned primatologist Arthur Hunt, who has made numerous television and radio programmes. He is the founder of the Vervet Money Foundation, so will no doubt offer the soundest knowledge to aid your aid! Vervets in South Africa are commonly classed as vermin, so for us to help an animal in constant danger will be extremely worthwhile and provide us with great satisfaction as we learn about and help such a beautiful yet threatened creature.
- Botswana
Weeks 5-6: Botswana exploration and adventure expedition to the Okavango Delta, exploring an area teeming with wildlife in dug out canoes.
Heading north and out of South Africa we cross the border into Botswana, the most stable country in Africa and the world’s largest exporter of diamonds! Highly regarded for its dedication to conservation, Botswana has richly diverse landscapes ranging from grasslands and savannahs, to the Kalahari Desert and Okavango Delta. Venturing into the world’s largest inland delta, Okavango Delta, we will explore an area that has inspired people for centuries, some calling it the most beautiful place on earth, and Aurel Schultz exclaiming in 1897 ‘Where all the water goes is a mystery’.
The area was once part of the Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up years ago, leaving as the delta waterways, lagoons, islands, flooded plains, and savanna forests. Such a diverse natural habitat is home to a variety of animals, including crocodiles, hippos, lions, cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs, and over 400 species of birds. We will explore the area accompanied by local guides who will keep us safe and educate us about the Delta and its wildlife. In traditional dug out canoes (known locally as mokoros) with poles for motors, we will explore a stunning area that is bound to be one of the highlights of the trip. A must see for all explorers of Southern Africa, the Okavango Delta’s adventures will be a great way to end the first half of our expedition.
- Botswana, Namibia
Weeks 7-8: Namibia exploration expedition to Fish River Canyon, finishing at hot springs.
From Botswana we travel overland to Namibia, which sitting between the Atlantic Ocean and the Kalahari Desert, has some of the most breath-taking scenery in Southern Africa. We will explore the striking Fish River Canyon which is the second largest canyon in the world behind the Grand Canyon. What defines the Fish River Canyon as opposed to the Grand Canyon is that much of it is privately owned and incorporated into private national parks, keeping the area well preserved and beautiful.
Trekking through we will be accompanied by a variety of wildlife that includes zebra, springbok, and antelope, as well as a plethora of lizards and birds. The 86km trip will be challenging and only for those who have a certified clean bill of health, but the surrounding famous landscape of rocks colored in purple, pink, and grey hues, will keep our minds off the hard work and our fingers extremely camera trigger happy! Our trek will end at some hot springs where we can deservedly relax and rest our bones, reflecting on the adventure we have just had on one of the best treks in Southern Africa.
- Namibia
Weeks 9-10: Namibia desert elephant wildlife project.
Our second project commences in one of the most scenic areas in Namibia, the region formally known as Damaraland. Prehistoric water courses, open plains, grasslands, and massive granite koppies form a stunning landscape laid out beneath the soaring peaks of the Brandberg Mountains. Home to a host of species including black rhino, ostrich, springbok, giraffe, kudu, desert lions, our days and nights are bound to be filled with a great variety of calls, roars, and caws. Running parallel to the Skeleton Coast National Park, the arid tribal wilderness is home to a small population of desert elephants, one group of only two known groups of desert dwelling elephants in the world. Sadly in the 1980s nearly all of the 3000 elephants were killed by hunters and poachers, but protection measures established since then has raised the population to roughly 600.
The majority of our work will be spent working with local subsistence farmers to build protective walls around water points, and educating the community how to live with the elephant population. Assisting the project staff we help to monitor the movements of the elephants, and aid the resolve of the conflict between the residents and resident elephants. Our mobile base camp will be at the foot of the majestic Brandberg Mountains in an area not only famed for being beautiful but also as being a place of spiritual significance by Bushman tribes, boasting the famous White Lady Rock painting. Spending our days on patrol in the desert, and camping out beneath the stars at night, we will truly enjoy an authentic experience of the earth where elephants roam!
- Namibia, South Africa
Weeks 11-12: Overland trip to Cape Town.
Concluding our project work with a farewell to the elephants, we will then head south through Namibia and South Africa, soaking up the sights, sounds, culture, and cuisine. Heading overland our specialty lorries (lorries with windows, coach seats, and a fully equipped kitchen) will take us to the best and must-see places for our final adventures. We will visit Windhoek where the famous beer is made, and witness Swakopmund, the highest dunes in the world that stand over 300m high. Those with cameras stand ready for the extremely photogenic Dune 45, famed among tourists for its stunning resultant pictures. Making our way through South Africa we will head down the famous ‘wine route’, stopping to refresh our pallets at some of the most famous wineries in the world, including ‘Stellenbosch’. Our evenings will be spent relaxing around a campfire, and sleeping in tents under the stars listening to the sounds of the South African wilds.
Our trip reaches its end in the metropolitan city of Cape Town, famed for its stunning harbour and unique cultural character resultant from Indonesian, French, Dutch, British, and German settlers mixing with the local Khoisan (Bushman and Hottentot) tribe and the Bantu tribe from the north. Table Mountain forms a stunning backdrop to the city bowl, with its plateau over one kilometer high. Hopefully we will visit it on a day that a thin strip of cloud forms over the mountain, making it appear like its nickname - as a ‘tablecloth’. Cape Town’s pristine beaches, magnificent countryside, unique flora and fauna, bountiful rivers, dams, friendly communities, and warm summer climate, make this the perfect final port of call for our adventure.
We will also visit Robben Island, the prison colony located 12 km off the coast, in which Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years of his life within a 5 meter squared cell. Being led around the island by a tour guide who was himself a political inmate of the prison, our final days will truly make us appreciate the beauty to be found in having an adventure as we have, enjoying the uninhibited stunning landscapes of Southern Africa, traveling in total freedom.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Costs £3795 / $7400 (US) / €5579
Price Includes:
* Pre-departure support
* 24 hour emergency phone line in the UK
* Airport transfers
* All internal transportation
* All food and accommodation
* Professional guides throughout the 12 weeks
* All permits and entrance fees
* All camping equipment (excluding personal items such as sleeping bags etc)
* English speaking tour leader
* CD containing photos and movie clips from your trip
Also see tour packages in:
Africa
South Africa
Botswana
Namibia
Wildlife Viewing
Hiking & Trekking
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