Improve your CV and broaden your horizons on a Gap Year with African Conservation Experience.

Didn’t get the exam results you hoped for? Let an orphaned lioncub console you.

Bored of being chained to a desk? Herd buffalo in the great outdoors instead.

Want to do some charitable work? All African Conservation Experience projects have the prime aim of helping the local community and its eco-systems.

Want to have the time of your life?

For a life-changing gap year or career break you might consider AFRICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE

There are ten African Conservation Experience projects in South Africa and Botswana. Volunteers can visit any project from two to 12 weeks, making them ideal for part of a gap year. African Conservation Experience was the first UK company to offer this kind of interactive conservation adventure and its expert team consists of highly qualified conservationists, botanists and biologists, setting the company apart from its competition.

Activities on these projects are diverse and exciting. Volunteers find themselves face-to-face with wild buffalo or school children, hand-rearing baby warthogs and lioncubs, identifying dangerous species, learning how to drive a 4x4 or shooting a rifle in the bush, horse-riding by moonlight and sleeping out under the stars to the background noise of lions and hyenas.

Tasha Craft, a volunteer at the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, South Africa, says: “With African Conservation Experience I achieved more than I could dream possible: I raised a baby cheetah called Porsche who slept in my hut at night along with a baby jackal, a warthog, two sun weavers and occasionally a lion cub! Not a day goes by where I don’t apply something I learned about myself and the world around me.”

Two weeks start at £995 pp including accommodation, all meals and all project-related costs. Flight inclusive packages are also available.

For more information call 0870 241 5816 or go to www.conservationafrica.net.

Here are some testimonials detailing volunteer experiences 

Tasha Craft, a volunteer at the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, South Africa, says: “With African Conservation Experience I achieved more than I could dream possible: I raised a baby cheetah called Porsche who slept in my hut at night along with a baby jackal, a warthog, two sun weavers and occasionally a lion cub! Not a day goes by where I don’t apply something I learned about myself and the world around me.”

Oliver Lock, a volunteer on the Game Capture project, at Moloholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, South Africa and Tuli in Botswana, says: “The day I arrived (on the Game Capture project) I was thrown into capturing springbok, using a helicopter to herd the animals into a net boma with us hiding behind camouflage and a vet running around injecting them with a relaxant to avoid stress. It is certainly dangerous, especially capturing animals such as gemsbok (that have horns that can pierce metal) and zebra. People’s view of zebras (as was mine) is shockingly misconstrued; they are some of the most dangerous to catch. I had a close call when working with a juvenile zebra that charged me as I was running across the boma with a curtain to shut them in. It is an experience that I’ll never forget, and am actually going to go back out to work with African Conservation Experience next year. It is amazing working with some of the most endangered bovids in Africa alongside world renowned figures in the world of conservation."

 Kayleigh Pietzak, a volunteer at the Nholwasi Community Project, South Africa, says: “ I wanted to do a project that would make a difference and I believe that if just one child listened to me whilst I was teaching, then I have achieved that. The first week in school I thought I would never cope! It has been hard working with the children but rewarding at the same time. I have learnt so much about the community and their culture. I feel I have been able to see a very different side of South Africa.”