Mangetti Wild Dog And Elephant Protection Project

Highlights

Remote location

You can’t get much further from the beaten track than Mangetti. This is an area that hasn’t been discovered by tourists, giving you the chance to experience a slice of real wild Africa.

Small project

Only the most hardy conservation travellers make it to Mangetti, which means you’ll be an important member of the project’s small, close-knit team.

See a different side of Namibia

If your mental image of Namibia is all desert and sand dunes, you’ll be amazed at the landscape that greets you at Mangetti. Dense African bush stretches out for thousands of acres in every direction, providing excellent cover for the wildlife that lives here.  

Save the African wild dog

Endangered in the wild, there are now just 6,500 African wild dogs left and numbers are forecast to decline even further.

Tackle human-wildlife conflict

Intolerance by local farmers of the negative impact of elephants and African wild dogs on their farming activities are a serious threat to their survival, something the project is working hard to prevent.

Do

As a volunteer at Mangetti your role will be very hands-on. Focusing on the protection and management of wild elephants, African wild dogs and their prey, you’ll get involved in the following activities:

Wildlife research and monitoring

Learn how to track animals over thousands of acres, using both high-tech and ancient monitoring techniques.

• Set up camera traps for 24/7 monitoring of elusive wildlife such as wild dogs 
• Identify individual wild dogs on camera trap footage from their unique coat pattern
• Learn how to analyse footage to estimate population numbers and group structures
• Use GPS equipment to track and monitor elephants across the wilderness, exploring herd structure and mapping their habitat
• Learn how to track elephants by identifying wildlife signs and spoors
• Monitor ungulates such as oryx, springbok and mountain zebra to ensure
• Mangetti National Park has a sustainable source of water and avoids overgrazing

Community outreach

One of the main goals at Mangetti is to tackle human-wildlife conflict. A vital phase in this programme is to record all incidents of conflict and start to identify patterns. As a volunteer, you’ll work with the local community to help to reduce the number of predators persecuted in Namibia.

• Trap and relocate problem predators
• Visit local communities, educate local landowners and record any human-wildlife conflicts
• Provide data showing the movement of problem predators to local land owners

Practical conservation work

As one of the first wildlife conservation projects in northern Namibia, you can help Mangetti set the tone for conservation in the area.

• Assist in devising and creating new conservation initiatives to minimise human-wildlife conflict 
• Manage the habitats around key monitoring areas

Learn

As well as gaining all kinds of practical work experience (which you can read about under the ‘do’ tab), you’ll learn about the behaviour, biology and conservation of elephants and African wild dogs.

Conservation

• The decline of African wild dogs due to habitat fragmentation, persecution and disease – as well as new plans to protect them 
• How to work with locals to tackle human-wildlife conflict
• Methods used by poachers and the wildlife conservationists who try to stop them

Ecology

• The varied different habitats of Namibia, comparing the northern bush environment at Mangetti to the semi-desert environment in the south
• Predator territories, how they’re established and maintained in such a vast environment, and what this means for breeding and feeding 
• African wild dog and predator ecology in arid habitats with limited resources 

Biology

• The differences between bush elephants found in the Mangetti area and desert elephants found further south
• The biology of ungulates such as oryx, springbok and mountain zebra

Behaviour

• African wild dog’s breeding and hunting habitats, pack structure and communal care for their young
• Ungulate behaviour and predator-prey relationships