COME
EXPERIENCE AFRICA AT ITS BEST, WHILE YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL HELP WITH NAMIBIA'S
RHINO CONSERVATION..
Muller
Stud is a private game reserve, 32 427 acres, located close to the
World-renowned Etosha National Park, Namibia, aiming to convert old cattle
farmland to a game reserve, and thereby to conserve large game.
The
introduction of indigenous Game and Predators back into their natural habitat
is a step towards our goal in creating this Wildlife Sanctuary.
Want
to experience some real "live" African Adventures?
Be part of this exciting wildlife development
and join our team for an unforgettable adventure in beautiful Namibia.
By
volunteering at Muller Stud, you contribute to the conservation of Namibia's
endangered white rhino.
You will be working alongside our permanent
staff and assisting them and even doing tasks on your own. Students/Interns should be open minded, have
a willingness to learn new things and help out where needed. On a reserve/farm, especially where we work
with animals/wildlife it is sometimes difficult to keep to a planned schedule,
but as far as possible we try to keep to it.
No
special equipment is needed to bring with, although we greatly rely on sponsors
for some equipment, for example:
- AA
Rechargeable battery's
- Camera
traps
- Game
capture ropes
- Wildlife
tracking collars
- Telemetry
- Feeding
buckets 5 & 10 kg
- 1
ml, 2 ml,5 ml, 10 ml, 20 ml,
- 60
ml syringes
- 18 g
needles long-pink
- 21 g
needles long&short-blue
- 12 g
needles-yellow
- Red
Top, Yellow top, vacuum tube
- Swabs
- Measuring
tapes
- Old
towels
- Microscope
covers
- Magmaster
slides for counting
- Faecal
ova 3 step-Egg flotation fluid
- Surgical
equipment
- Pneudarts
- Microchips
- Range
finders
Feces
& Pregnancy
In
2008, there has been a research on a field test which can predict pregnancy in
wildlife, by using feces. Now we take
blood (during immobilization of the animal) and send these samples to
South-Africa. This is both
time-consuming and costly. We would like to try these field tests, and compare
it to the blood results to find out whether this would be a better method for
us to determine pregnancy in our wildlife.
During feeding we regularly see them defecating, so collecting feces
should not be a problem.
Behaviour
We
have started a Lucerne field in one of our wildlife camps. It seems that this
has affected the movement and breeding of the animals in at least one camp. We
would like to know how large the effect is. What is the effect on breeding and
distribution? We have data on where the animals have been feeding, who walked
with who, who has calved and from who.
Parasite
& Worm Burden in Wildlife
We
would like to know how high the worm burden of our wildlife is. This can be
done by examining worm eggs in the faces under a microscope.Does the worm
burden differ per camp? According to
literature, what is an acceptable burden and when should you deworm?
Nutrition
In
the dry season, our wildlife is supplemented with a specially mixed food and
Lucerne. We would like to compare the
contents of the food with literature. Do
the animals get what they need? How does this differ with the wild
vegetation?
Field
Survey
Grass
analyzing, bush encroachment and weeds as well as poisons plants all needs to
be managed.
The
carrying capacity of the 32427 acres need to be done on a yearly basis to
ensure that the correct number of species and species diversity is held.
Fences
We
would like to receive advice about our fences. What can we do to make sure
small antelope or other animal for example Hyeana can go through, but large game not?
Is
there also something we can do to prevent them from getting the poles out? Is
there something to deter them, besides electricity?
Any
other ideas or projects from students or the university are more than welcome!
Besides
the project which the student will do, he or she will also be involved in every
aspect of the farm; husbandry (game and horses), maintenance, game management,
administration, practice darting, possibly assist in capture immobilization,
veld management.
5
