If
you are looking for a hands-on veterinary experience and need to fulfil a portion
of your Extra Mural Study (EMS) requirments, then Vets go Wild is the perfect
programme for you!
The Addo Elephant National Park, The Amakhala Game
Reserve and The Shamwari Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, are the
settings for our 16-day module for students undertaking veterinary courses at
selected universities.
Veterinary Science in Wildlife Management and
Conservation Field Training Expeditions:
The objective of the programme
is to conduct theoretical and practical training focused on the role of veterinary
science in the context of African wildlife conservation & utilisation. The
course's length is 16 days (15 nights, 14 course days).
Our
Principle Partners: Addo National Elephant Park
120
000Ha (260 000 acre) conservation area famous for its elephants but fast becoming
recognised as one of the most ecologically diverse national parks in the world.
Amakhala
Private Game Reserve
6500 Ha (15 600 acre) wildlife reserve in the Eastern
Cape of South Africa. Scenically beautiful with diverse vegetation and a diversity
of fauna to match, including the "Big Five" http://www.amakhala.co.za
Shamwari
Game Reserve
20 000 Ha (45 000 acre) wildlife reserve in the Eastern Cape
of South Africa. Scenically beautiful with diverse vegetation and a diversity
of fauna to match, including the "Big Five" http://www.shamwari.com
Bayworld
Oceanarium - Port Elizabeth
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Centre for African Conservation Ecology
|
MORE
INFORMATION ...
Staff
Veterinary Science Dr Johan Joubert, Dr
William Fowlds, Dr Murray Stokoe
Conservation Biology Dr Jennifer Gush / John
O''''Brien / David Peddie
Conservation Management David Peddie, Prof Graham
Kerley & associated researchers
Field Skills Schalk Pretorius & Ulovane
Training Facility.
Location
Amakhala
Game Reserve is situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa only an hour's drive
from Port Elizabeth. This area historically had an abundance of wild game roaming
free.
The Eastern Cape is justifiably famous for a number of other game
reserves. The great herds of Knysna Forest elephants were almost totally eradicated
at the turn of this century, and yet, miraculously, the man most responsible for
nearly wiping out an entire species, had a dramatic change of heart and spent
the balance of his life fighting for a safe haven for these rare and wonderful
animals. Addo National Park and the Mountain Zebra Park saw almost exactly the
same thing happen to the rare mountain zebra. Shot to the brink of extinction,
in the 1930s this rare species struggled to come back. Today, there are over 200
in the park. Mountain Zebra Park is about 2 and half hours from Amakhala just
outside Cradock in the Little Karoo
Amakhala has varying vegetation
types consist mainly of wide-open plains, acacia-savannah, mixed bush-savannah
and valley thicket. Topography and soils vary from alluvial in the riverine areas,
sandstone sediments on the escarpments and sand forest areas on higher ground.
Shamwari
Game Reserve is located 10 minutes drive from Amakhala. This multi award winning
reserve has been largely responsible for pioneering the return of many once destroyed
species back into the Eastern Cape over the past 15 years. For this work they
have been recognised for all their achievements on a global basis. The reserve
is home to 5 biomes, which allow for much diversity in terms of fauna and flora.
The
Addo National Elephant Park is a mere 30 minutes drive from Shamwari and Amakhala.
It is home to a diversity of wildlife today, including over 400 elephants. The
World Bank has granted the park massive funding for development and growth initiatives.
Bayworld
(Museum & Oceanarium) is located in Port Elizabeth, an hour's drive from
Amakhala. Veterinary personal do weekly examinations of their dolphins and seals
as part of the management of these captive animals. This facility serves as an
introduction to the wild marine management-taking place from Algoa Bay, South
Africas largest coastal bay. |
Accommodation
Students
are accommodated at the on reserve in a traditional lodge, which boasts comfortable
rooms, en-suite (shower facilities), a private swimming pool, and separate dining
and bar area.
The Camp is situated in one of the protected areas that
make up Amakhala Game Reserve. It is a recently completed facility positioned
within the surrounding vegetation with good comfortable amenities and providing
a great safari camp atmosphere. Most of the units are thatched. It is enclosed
within 750 acres of varying bush and riverine vegetation outside of the main "dangerous
game area" of Amakhala. This allows for relative freedom to pursue educational
activities around the lodge while being within a few minutes access to the main
reserve.
The lodge consists of separate units set into the surrounding
vegetation:
- Social area (lounge & bar, balcony looking over the
protected area, outdoor barbeque facilities, fireside area
- Accommodation
units sleeping up to six with en-suite bath or shower, toilet and basin
-
Dining and kitchen unit
- Swimming pool area
- Office and
lecture facility, which backs onto one of the accommodation units
Time
Off
Due to the nature of the course free time in minimal. The evenings
are spent at leisure and course participants are welcomed to enjoy the tranquillity
of the Lodge. |
Project
Duration and Rates (2009)
| 2
weeks | 3
weeks | 4
weeks | 8
weeks | 12
weeks | | £1,999 | | | | |
Course
Start Dates - 2009
Course 1: 18 June - 3 July 2009
Course 2: 9 July
- 24 July 2009
Course 3: 28 July - 12 August 2009
Course 4: 17 August -
1 September 2009 |
