Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary

Highlights

No tourists 

Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary is a private wildlife rehabilitation centre that exists solely to provide the best possible care for animals. It doesn’t admit paying visitors or safari tours.

Rhino specialists

Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary’s project leader Petronel Nieuwoudt is one of the world’s leading experts in the rehabilitation of rhino, with an excellent track record of releasing animals successfully into the wild.

Rhino monitoring

Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary has successfully released many of its orphans back into the surrounding reserve, and these survivors are regularly monitored to ensure they are safe and thriving.

Fully accredited

Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary is the only rhino rehabilitation centre accredited by the National Parks Board of South Africa.

Excellent location

Just 3.5 hours from Johannesburg and only half an hour from the provincial capital, Mbombela (Nelspruit), Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary has easy access to all the facilities of a major city. However, it’s also surrounded by 7,500 acres (3,000ha) of wilderness, giving you the feeling of true isolation.

Do

As a volunteer at Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary your role will be very hands-on with feeding and cleaning.

This is how you will help:

Rehabilitation, care and husbandry

As part of a dedicated team, you’ll help get animals back to full health and begin their long journey towards release back into the wild. Where a successful release is not possible, you’ll instead help to create a sanctuary for the animals to stay as long-term residents.

• Provide animal care and husbandry for orphaned rhino
• Prepare animal feeds and provide hands-on help with feeding
• Provide additional feeds such as grass and pellets
• Prepare and hand-feed young rhinos
• Participate in the vital daily routine of the centre, including mucking out the animals’ living spaces, cleaning their water troughs and the bottles used to feed rhino calves

Research, monitoring and practical conservation work

Volunteers like you are vital to the success and day-to-day running of Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary.

• Get your hands dirty cleaning and maintaining the wildlife enclosures
• Monitor the social dynamics within the rhino groups at the orphanage
• Head into the field and monitor the behaviour of the released rhinos

Caring for young wildlife

Care for Wild Africa Rhino Sanctuary’s committed and experienced team will provide detailed lectures on the theory behind hand-rearing and infant care.

• Assist the conservation team in hand-rearing orphaned rhinos and other animals
• Prepare milk formula for the milk-dependent animals
• Bottle-feed young rhino and help keep records of weight gain and development
• Assist with the integration of young rhinos into a crash (the collective noun for a group of rhino)

Learn

As well as gaining all kinds of practical work experience, you’ll learn about the behaviour, biology and conservation of rhino and other species.

Conservation

• Rhino poaching and the crisis of orphaned calves in the Kruger National Park
• Rhino rescue operations
• The reasons for the decline of the species

Ecology

• The natural environment for rhino and other African species
• The vital role rhino play in the wider ecosystem as an ‘umbrella species’

Biology

• The biology and differences between African white and black rhino
• Rhino physiology
• How rhino groups interact in the wild
• The natural diet of white and black rhinos in the wild

Behaviour

• The behaviour of rhino in the wild as well as in captivity
• How to create an emotionally suitable environment for orphaned rhino
• How rhinos communicate and interact with each other