Family Volunteering in Namibia: Protecting Desert Elephants

We recommend that you arrive in Windhoek the weekend before the project starts so you have enough time for the transfer to Swakopmund. You meet the team and get an introduction to the project on Sunday evening. Therefore, you should arrive in Swakopmund by 6:30 PM that evening at the latest. The project starts on Monday morning. You can run some errands and then get to your base camp by bus (ca. 4 hours). The project lasts ten days.

To ensure the safety, learning quality, and success of the project, we try to keep the group as small as possible. In general, there won’t be more than 14 people in one group.

1. “Building Project” at a primary school in Erongo, which helps human-wildlife-conflict and enable humans and animals to co-exist
2. You will be on patrol and get involved with elephant research.
3. You will help compile identification files of ‘new’ herds since they often cause a lot of damage to farms.
4. You will perform a lot of handcraft jobs using traditional construction methods.
5. Understand animal behavior and navigate with GPS + maps.

On your day off, between the two projects, you have the opportunity to participate in a guided nature walk or you may simply relax in the camp.

The minimum age is 18 years and for children 8 years. You and your family should be physically fit enough to work and hike during high outdoor temperatures. Furthermore, you might need a visa to carry out volunteer work. You can check out the foreign department’s website or ask the Natucate team directly for the visa standards.