Tuli Conservation Project

Africa Conservation Experience

The Tuli Conservation Project gives volunteers the opportunity to closely study 2 of Africa’s famous ‘Big 5’ species; the majestic African Elephant and the secretive Leopard. The student camp, nestled within massive trees on the bank of the vast Limpopo River, is situated within Botswana. It is from here that the students venture into this harsh land of extreme beauty. The isolated position and sheer size of the area has left humans knowing very little about the wildlife within this wilderness, and this is where you, the Volunteer, fit into this raw African conservancy. The project is named after the Tuli Block, an area which forms part of the Limpopo/Shashe Trans Frontier Conservation Area, which also straddles the borders of South Africa and Zimbabwe allowing for natural migration of Elephant herds and other animal species.

Elephants are the key research and monitoring species of the Tuli Conservation Project. The research will involve;

• Developing personalized identification cards for individual animals.
• Recording information about herd dynamics, namely age and sex ratios.
• Monitoring behaviour of both breeding herds and male groups.
• Monitoring range utilisation of the elephants and imputing this information onto a computer mapping program. GPS is used for this purpose.

In addition, the other main research studies ongoing at Tuli involve;

• Leopard monitoring - Data collected is used to establish territory size and interaction between members of the same and other species.
• Baboon Study – The aims of this study are primarily to determine the number of troops in the core study area and the number of individuals in each of the identified troops. Food utilization is also recorded as is the choice and use of roosting sites of the troops.
• General Game monitoring- Recording of all general game numbers via a grid co-ordinate system is done on a systematic basis. General game counts, leopard tracks, sex and age ratios and unusual sightings are recorded.

Other activities involve the restoration and maintenance of the land in order to maximise the suitability of the area for animal species to flourish. This work may include;

• Removal of old fence wire to prevent harm to animals.
• Erosion control of the gullying effects of the Limpopo River.
• Eradication of alien vegetation species.
• Ongoing habitat rehabilitation initiatives.

Tuli offers volunteers the opportunity to become part of a new approach to game management. This "open" system of Trans Frontier Areas creates as large an area as possible for game to move freely and migrate naturally across historically established national borders.