Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project
Maloti-Drakensberg Park
Everything you need to know
The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project is a fairly new project focusing on the monitoring of endangered and critically endangered vultures, and various other much needed priority species and protected area boundary conservation work. The vulture conservation work involves nest monitoring and vulture-safe feeding site management and monitoring, management of a long-term camera trap survey and various protected area boundary support, such as alien plant control and emergency response for issues related to vultures and other priority species.
Project type
Duration
Price
Requirements
Overview
WE ALSO OFFER THE OPTION TO JOIN THIS PROJECT FOR 1 WEEK, AT A RATE OF R9,100 FOR 1 WEEK
The Maloti-Drakensberg Park is a World Heritage Site in KwaZulu-Natal and is one of the five largest protected areas in South Africa – providing one of the last strongholds for several threatened and endangered species. The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project heavily focused on vulture conservation, helping to conserve South Africa’s two cliff nesting species of vulture found in the area, namely the Bearded Vulture and Cape Vulture.
The Drakensberg region is a breeding stronghold for these endangered birds. The team monitors and manages vulture-safe feeding sites and nests through active surveys, camera traps and ground-based hide monitoring. Vultures are a keystone species providing several fundamental ecosystem services, including reducing disease outbreaks, and this project and its aims align with and helps support the national and provincial vulture conservation strategy of developing vulture-safe zones across the region.
A second aspect involves conducting a long-term camera trap survey to allow for robust predictions regarding the status and abundance of the various species present. This survey will provide the necessary long-term insights into the ecosystem health and current species status within this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
LOCATION
The Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site is renowned for its spectacular natural landscape, importance as a haven for many threatened and endemic species, and for its wealth of rock paintings made by the San people over a period of 4,000 years. The property covers an area of 249,313 ha making it the largest Protected Area complex along the Great Escarpment of Southern Africa. Extending along most of KwaZulu-Natal’s south-western border with Lesotho, the property provides a vital refuge for more than 250 endemic plant species and their associated fauna. It also holds almost all of the remaining subalpine and alpine vegetation in the KwaZulu-Natal province, including extensive high altitude wetlands. The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park has been identified as an Important Bird Area, and forms a critical part of the Lesotho Highlands Endemic Bird Area.
Project Detail
The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project is made possible through a collaboration between Wildlife ACT, the Drakensberg Conservation Initiative and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. This project is increasing the conservation effort in the relatively neglected Southern Drakensberg, with a focus on vulture conservation, priority species monitoring and protected area boundary conservation support.
This involves monitoring of nesting sites in the World Heritage site and surrounds, managing and maintaining safe vulture feeding sites in the buffer zones surrounding the site, and conducting a long-term remote camera trapping survey in the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site. Working closely with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project will provide useful information for use in management and policy making within the World Heritage Site and surrounding areas. Other work involves alien plant control and emergency response for issues related to vulture and other priority species.
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What Will I Do?
Vulture Nest Monitoring: Volunteers will be required to monitor the various nest sites in the area, which often means hiking into mountainous areas, and involves long hours identifying and monitoring activity at the nesting sites. This only takes place during the active breeding months, from May to November.
Vulture Safe Feeding Sites: Volunteers will be required to assist with the transport of carcasses to vulture safe feeding sites. This can happen at any time and volunteers must be prepared to move at a moment’s notice. The site needs to be managed, and old carcasses then need to be moved off to the side when a new carcass is brought to the site. On occasion vulture hide monitoring sessions will be required to monitor activity at the sites. The camera traps at the feeding sites also need to be maintained, which involves batteries and memory cards being changed. Once back at the house, the camera footage needs to be downloaded with photos of tagged vultures being catalogued for long-term species monitoring.
Long-term Camera Trap Survey: Volunteers will be required to assist with management of this survey which involves long days hiking in the remote mountainous areas scouting for, setting up and maintaining camera trap stations. Management of this survey includes battery and memory card will then be changes, clearing of vegetation around the camera trap to provide a clear image of the animals passing by and prevent false triggers and, back at camp downloading and cataloguing of the camera trap footage.
Protected Area Boundary Support: On occasion we are required to respond to emergencies, these include vulture and other priority species concerns such as injuries, poisonings and human wildlife conflict. These situations vary but we provide support by responding rapidly and ultimately helping both the species of concern, and in the case of human wildlife conflict support by providing solutions to the problem. In some areas alien plants are encroaching into the World Heritage Site and our team works at controlling this problem in specific pre-identified vulnerable spaces.
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Where Will I Stay?
The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Project team is based in an old farm house in the buffer-zone surrounding the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site. This location is perfectly situated to allow for easy access to the World Heritage Site, vulture-safe feeding sites and allows for swift response to emergency call-outs. The house is fairly rustic but offers twin rooms, an indoor bathroom, a large lounge and kitchen, and a lovely outdoors verandah. The volunteers are responsible for preparing their own meals, cleaning and maintaining the research house.
Get in touch with us via the form below if you are interested in joining
Dates & Costs
| ZAR | USD | EUR | GBP | |
| 2 Weeks | 18200.00 | 1277.64 | 1099.28 | 968.24 |