Volunteering trip to Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary and Reserve

Hi! My name is Millie Morgan and I am currently in my final year of my Veterinary Nursing degree at Hartpury University. As part of one of my modules I need to complete 40 hours of volunteering.

I have chosen to go to Namibia in Africa and donate my time to the Wildlife sanctuary and Reserve to care for the animals they rehabilitate. This experience will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I feel very privileged to be able to experience the culture, wildlife and sanctuary. I will be out in Namibia for 2 weeks working alongside other volunteers, veterinary professionals and wildlife workers.

My role will include caring for the 200+ animals within the sanctuary and ensuring the sanctuary grounds are maintained to allow rehabilitation work to continue. I will also be preparing food and feeding all of the animals, cleaning and maintaining all of the enclosures, creating and providing enrichment, administering medication and providing general care to the animals.

Some of the species within the sanctuary require some extra attention. The baboons are often referred to as pests in Africa and many of them sadly end up being shot or mistreated. Because of this, the sanctuary hosts large numbers of orphaned baby baboons who need socialisation, enrichment walks and around the clock feeding. Cheetahs are also a species targeted by the human-wildlife conflict, often in the sanctuary due to being too habituated or too injured to return to the wild. We need to offer them space as they would have in the wild meaning enrichment walks with the Cheetahs is also a part of my responsibility.

I will be heading out onto the Zannier Reserve in an open top jeep once or twice a week to participate in research activities such as camera traps, GPS data and tracking collared animals. I will also be heading out during the night sometimes to provide an additional presence to the anti-poaching unit.

The organisation I am travelling with is The Mighty Roar, they host many volunteering opportunities globally and have been great in helping us organise our trip.

I will be completing a fundraising activity where I will be walking 5km a day for 28 days throughout December. This is the equivalent to walking around the 7500 hectare private reserve that the sanctuary has, FOUR times. This will be logged on Strava to keep me motivated!

The funds raised will be going towards the cost of equipment to take with me, essential travel vaccinations to ensure my safety and travel insurance. Any funds left over will be used to purchase items the sanctuary has asked for.

I will be creating a ‘vlog’ of my experience as part of my exam for this module however I would love for any people following my experience to be able to watch this too, so it will be uploaded to social media (@m.illiemorgan).

Any donation, big or small and any shares of my page will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my page.