Khulula Care for Wild
Help with the hand rearing, care and nutritional needs of infant and orphaned wildlife
Volunteering at Khulula Care for Wild, you will be at the heart of a wildlife centre focussed on the care and conservation of wild animals, ensuring they continue to proudly roam through Africa's majestic landscapes.
As a volunteer you will be focussed on hand rearing, infant care and nutrition of varied species on a stunning game reserve and nature estate in South Africa, home to giraffe, wildebeest, waterbuck, kudu and primates.
- Lectures on hand rearing and infant care
- Hand rearing young wildlife
- Animal care and husbandry
- Rehabilitation work
- Treatment and care of injured animals
- Assisting with the continual development and design of new enclosures at the care facility
- Reserve management
Conservation Value
Khulula Care for Wild's mission is to care for wildlife of all forms and sizes to make an attempt to help the continuation of the species and to ensure wild animals continue to roam proudly and freely in Africa's majestic landscapes. You are directly involved in fulfilling these aims and in the continuing development of the wildlife centre, acredited by the NSPCA.
hand rearing caracal
Khulula gives a temporary home to a wide range of exotic wildlife, from caracal cats to chameleons.
Bobby the rhino
Bobby the rhino calf relaxing with a Khulula volunteer.
Looking after serval kittens
Volunteers who look after young animals often form very close bonds
Cuddle from a serval
Volunteers who look after young animals often form very close bonds
duiker
Orphaned antelopes are commonly cared for at Khulula
Volunteer with Bobby
Bobby the orphaned rhino calf is a great favourite with volunteer
Bobby inspecting work
Bobby is a part of life at Khulula - where there are volunteers, there is Bobby
Hand rearing baby rhino
Lunar was so traumatised by loosing her mother that she initially refused all nourishment. She has made great progress and is now enjoying regular milk-feeds.
Weighing baby rhino
Regularly weighing the baby rhinos is an important aspect of monitoring their healthy growth and development
Vervet monkey
Bath time for the little vervet monkeys
Volunteer with bushbaby
Volunteer with bushbaby
Baby vervet monkey
Khulula recently took in 2 baby vervet monkeys for hand rearing.
physiotherapy
Doing physiotherapy with the animals is an important part of the rehabilitation work.
baby sun parakeet
Volunteer and bushbaby
Volunteer taking care of a thick-tailed bushbaby
Sun Conures
Sun conures all grown up
Friendly mongoose
Rambo the mongoose getting friendly
Play time
Spot the bush baby amongst the playing vervets?
Feeding time for growing cubs
When the cubs are old enough, they are weaned off milk and "graduate" to meat.
genets
These two young genets recently joined Khulula
Cuddle time with lion cub
Even little lion cubs need cuddles
Hand rearing lion cubs
The lion cubs are on a carefully managed nutrition plan to assist their healthy development
Shaka the cub growing up
The most rewarding part of hand rearing lion cubs is watching them grow up - Shaka already thinks he is a big lion.
Feeding the owls
Khulula is now home to a sizeable population of various bird species
Storm and steenbok
It's not only the volunteers who make friends! Storm the rhino and his friend the steenbok.
ostrich visit
Kevin the ostrich was reared at Khulula and now lives in the neighbouring reserve
feeding little birds
Chameleon shedding
George the chameleon is shedding his skin
croc centre
Volunteers occasionally also lend a hand at a nearby reptile project
Tortoises
Playing with tortoises
vet visit
Volunteers at Khulula frequently visit local vets' clinics to gain more insight into veterinary work
Tug-of-war with serval cat
Playing with the animals is an important part of providing stimulation.
school visit
Sometimes the local schools visit Khulula to learn about the wildlife.
night shift with abandoned baby giraffe
A lot of the work at Khulula involves hand rearing wildlife, such as Duke, who was abandoned by his mother when he was just a few hours old.
setting up enclosures
Khulula takes in wildlife of any shape and form, even if it means building new enclosures to find a home for an animal.
Preparing animal diets
Volunteers learn about the wildlife diets and prepare all the food
view from volunteer house
Khulula is set in a reserve with stunning scenery
volunteer "castle"
Volunteers at Khulula are housed in the quirky "castle"
Work with the Wildlife
Khulula is situated on a beautiful game reserve and nature estate, based on the banks of the Vreek, Noord-Kaap and Queens River of Mpumulanga. With vast experience in the care and conservation of wild animals, you will work alongside our experienced coordinator and her team, caring for wildlife of all species and sizes. This project allows you to learn in depth about hand rearing and infant care and species nutrition and to work closely with a diverse range of species while living on a stunning nature reserve in the heart of the South African bush.
Wildlife Care
Lectures on hand rearing and infant care
- Khulula's founder and coordinator will provide detailed lectures on the theory behind hand rearing and infant care, where the hand rearing of birds, antelopes, cats, primates, rhino and elephants will be discussed.
- The nutritional requirements of the species will be covered as a main topic crucial to their needs, and how these can be adapted in an abnormal environment.
Hand rearing young wildlife
- To hand rear and rehabilitate a wild animal means to return an animal back into its natural habitat in such a condition that the animal can, initially, survive the elements and re enter a social hierarchy that may already be established. The ultimate objective, in successful rehabilitation, is for that individual animal to breed and pass its genes into the wild population.
- The nursing, care and management of these animals requires intimate knowledge of their requirements and habits of the various species, as well as an understanding and ability to adapt those requirements to a captive and compromised condition. As a volunteer you will learn these processes and become responsible for the continued development of the animals being hand reared, including their care, weighing of food and cleaning of enclosures.
Rehabilitation, treatment and care of injured animals
- You may be involved in the initial treatment of injured animals, possibly requiring veterinary assistance and continued applications of bandages and drugs.
- Many species will require some form of rehabilitation after an injury and as a volunteer you will be involved in ensuring every animal that passes through the centre has it's needs met to be able to live a natural life when released back into a wild environment.
Reserve Work
Continual development of the care facility
- Khulula Wild Care relies on volunteers like you to support the centre and assist in its continual development through your funding as a volunteer and the building and design of new enclosures.
Reserve management
- Game walks in the wildlife conservancy.
- At times you may be involved in enriching the species' environment to increase biodiversity.
- Assistance with local school education groups at the centre.
Hear from other volunteers who've visited Khulula Care for Wild
Shannon BartonI've been back from South Africa for 2 weeks now, and I miss it everyday! I recently graduated from my Veterinary Assistant program, and having ACE on my resume really gets me excited to go places with my career.
Project Location
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