Kenya Maasai Wildlife Research Volunteers

Each day at the camp you will rise and have breakfast by about 7.00am, ready for an early start. The sunrise in this latitude of Kenya is at 6.15am, and sunset at 18.15pm – so early to rise, and lovely long evenings of camp fire conversation!

Your mornings will be spent out in the field, returning for lunch at the camp or at a remote day camp on location, and then a period of rest during the hottest part of the day, and then back out in the field for the rest of the day. Home at 18.00pm in time for camp shower (sometimes using water warmed by the fire if you're lucky!), followed by supper, and then an evening under the stars with your new found friends and sounds.

The programme is divided into two parts and operates on a two week rotation, the Olowaru Bush Project and the Oloibor Elephant Project. 

For the first part of your programme, you will spend 2 weeks in Rombo on the Olowuaru Bush Project. You will accompany both the Researcher and a local Masai guide either by foot or in a vehicle on data collecting surveys of all animal species within set transects and blocks within the region. The aims of this project are to monitor the predator prey relationships of the animal populations, and gain understanding of human / wildlife conflict and the affect it is having on the lion population. The lions in this region have been mistreated over the years and sightings are very rare, you may not actually see a lion, but will be active in recovering fresh scat and making casts of prints for our continuing data collection. This data is crucial for the project to be able to assess the conservation needs of the lions in this area to be able to increase their confidence so that they will become more active and be visible during the day.

Your two weeks working on the elephant project will be from the main Olowuaru Camp in Rombo. You will be involved in the daily monitoring of elephant herd activity between Tsavo East National Park and the Tanzanian border near Oloibor, some 25km form the main camp This is a new project and its aim is to gain an understanding of the movements and behaviour of a population of elephants that have not been studied before.

You will be involved in the following:

• Data collection with our Research Project Leaders
• Tracking and recording elephant evidence and movements
• Counting and recording elephant numbers, group make up and location using GPS equipment
• Recording animal numbers of other large mammals in the vicinity
• Individual identification and family group research
• Habitat and human population surveys within the elephant range

This work will be done from a vehicle that will be used to follow the elephants very closely and you need to learn how to behave in their presence, for the safety of your team and that of the elephants.

This type of work will continue through the week, using a day camp within the elephant area for specific dawn and dusk surveys and another weekend trip to Loitokitok.