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Age Limit
Minimum 17 years, maximum decided on potential participants’ health
Project Requirements
Due to health and safety requirements, all volunteers must be 155cm or 5ft minimum in height to work with the lion cubs.
Project Highlights
- Work on the world’s leading programme for the release of lions back into the wild
- Walk alongside lions as part of the pride and enjoy the exhilaration of being part of a hunt as the young cubs learn to stalk their prey
- Conservation Education in local schools, providing you with a wonderful insight into the local community
- Assist with elephants at a local orphanage
- Make friends for life with the other international volunteers on the programme
- Immerse yourself in local Zimbabwean culture and spend time at the magnificent Victoria Falls
Your Volunteer Project
This programme is a combination of two project areas, where you will work on our lion breeding and rehabilitation programme along with the local community development initiatives. Your time will be divided equally between these areas, which are outlined below:
The Lion Rehabilitation Programme
250,000 lions used to roam the African continent: Latest estimates are that between 12,000 and 15,000 remain. The end objective of the Victoria Falls lion project is the reintroduction of captive-bred lions into the wild by means of a three-stage process, which you will learn more about during your involvement with the project.
This breeding and rehabilitation project is a World First and is supported by the world’s leading ecologists in this field.
We invite you to walk and work with African Lions, to be involved in our in-depth research and data-collection activities, as well as to work with us towards the eventual release of lions back into the wild. Spending time with the lions in the wild each day is an essential part of the cub’s upbringing. If the cubs are to be released into the wild it is important that they spend time out in a natural environment - they need to adapt to it, learn from it, understand, observe, feel and smell the wild.
Since the start of this intensive programme, we have noted a marked increase in the Lions’ awareness of their natural surroundings, as well as an improvement in their hunting skills. The larger cubs are now able to take down smaller game species whilst out on walks and these abilities are being enhanced each day whilst under the supervision of volunteers. These are invaluable discoveries, which have earned us further support for our world first endeavours. Join our team of professional guides and other dedicated volunteers, gain a deeper understanding of the King of Beasts and assist us in gathering vital information that will facilitate their eventual release back into the wild.
Please Note: In order to raise vital funding and awareness for the continuation of our lion release efforts we also have a commercial tourist aspect to the lion programme in Victoria Falls. The lion programme offers tourists the chance to walk with our lions through the wild and experience our programme first-hand. As a result you might be accompanied by tourists on a portion of your lion walks as a volunteer.
Conservation Education Initiative
We believe that our work would be incomplete without involvement in the local community. This new scheme is an exciting development initiative, which will involve you working 1 ½ to 2 days a week within local schools carrying out important conservation workshops with the children, who are an absolute pleasure to teach. We firmly believe that one of the best long-term sustainable solutions for solving the conservation crisis that this country is currently facing is by educating the local children and communities.
You will find that the children flock to the lessons and look forward both to the interaction with the volunteers and to the chance to learn more about what is going on around them in the conservation arena. We are keen to pursue the route of educating local communities about conservation and their wildlife heritage, and are extremely excited by the positive results that have already been reaped in the Victoria Falls programme.
The aim of this scheme is to educate children on the following topics:
- The diversity of plants and animals
- A brief outline of the history of the world and evolution
- What DNA is, where we find it and what it does:
- Food chains, food groups and medicines from plants and animals
- Poaching and the extinction of endangered species
- Class Activities
Please note that this syllabus is a guideline and depending on the needs of the project, may change without prior notice.
Elephant Orphanage
Alongside your involvement with the lions and our conservation education initiatives, volunteers also have the unique chance to visit a local elephant orphanage, where our assistance in data capture and other duties is greatly appreciated. Depending on the status of the elephant involvement when you are there, you will have the opportunity to be involved in some, or all, of the following areas:
- Record traits such as behaviour, allegiances, dominance and aggression to enable them to be able to form a herd for possible release into the wild
- Feeding and caring for some of the very young elephants
- Record eating habits of the young calves as well as important behavioural nuances
- On Friday mornings, walking alongside the herd and capturing behaviour
Project Support
Throughout your placement you will have the support and guidance of our experienced volunteer coordinators. They are part of our greater African support team who will provide you with competent 24-hour field support and assistance. In addition, we will provide you with a 24 hour emergency contact number before you depart, so that you can contact one of our UK staff at any time should you need to.
Project Orientation
Upon arrival at the Victoria Falls project, you will receive a full orientation, which will cover the following areas:
- You will receive your volunteer's manual, which includes information that will help with your integration into the project.
- Introduction to all accommodation and project staff and heads of department
- Familiarisation of the work areas
- Introduction to the lions and cub enclosures
- Briefing on completing data capture forms and entering data
- Further information on the lion breeding programme and our ultimate objective of releasing lions into the wild
- Familiarisation with all duties you will be involved in and the basic tools you require to carry out your duties
Accommodation and Meals
You will be staying at our volunteer lodge, close to the town of Victoria Falls, just a 20-minute walk to the town centre and a 10-minute drive away from the Lion project. Each morning, you will be picked up and taken to your project for that day. The accommodation is simple and rustic but comfortable and completely suited to your needs. The lodge has satellite television, a swimming pool, barbeque area and lovely green lawns for relaxing after a hard day of work.
You are provided with 3 meals a day during your placement in Zimbabwe. Breakfast and Lunch are usually at the guides’ quarters at the Safari area where the lions are based, or back at your lodge if you have been assisting in the conservation education programme for the morning. Our volunteer cook prepares these meals.
A very sociable dinner usually then takes place at your volunteer lodge and is prepared by the volunteer cook who is based there. Project managers and volunteers have the chance to discuss their day’s activities and plan for the next day over dinner.
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