Wildlife Research in South Africa

Welcome to GVI's Wildlife Research Expeditions blog where you can keep up to date with all the happenings and information from our field operations in South Africa.

GVI is a non-political, non-religious organisation, which through its alliance with over 150 project partners in over 30 countries, provides opportunities for volunteers to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education and community development.

Facts and figures

  • Nine years of continuous large mammal research on Karongwe Game Reserve
  • At least 360 days per year, 16 research hours per day
  • Contributing to nine annual reports for warden and land owners
  • and to two journal publications, another three in process
  • and to 3 MSc and a PhD thesis
  • Over 1100 volunteers trained in Southern African mammal identification and field research techniques
  • New field projects such as erosion control, road maintenance etc with over 700 man hours worked
  • Established partnership with De Beers and Endangered Wildlife Trust on Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve
  • Over three years of continuous monitoring there...
  • And thank you to all involved over the years for all those early mornings!

[+/-] Quick links

  • SA National Parks
  • GVI South Africa
  • GVI Homepage
  • GVI Corporate Alliance
  • GVI Charitable Trust
  • Karongwe game
  • Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT
  • Mpumalanga Parks Board
  • Leshiba Wilderness
  • De Beers Ecology Division

Subscribe to the latest news via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner


Share this blog

Like what you read? Share it with others!

Bookmark and Share

[+/-] Online Resources and News

  • Why volunteer abroad?
  • Hyena Research article
  • De Wildt Cheetah Project
  • Peace Parks Foundations/Shashe Limpopo Carnivore Conservation Group
  • Kruger to Canyaon Biosphere Reserve
  • Shashe-Limpopo Transfrontier Area
Powered By Blogger

Become a fan of our blog!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Elephants in the Hlambanyathi dam....

Monday, December 12, 2011

Our first night on Hlambanyathi...

Our last days on Venetia............

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Wow in my wildest dreams I could never imagine....

A Volunteer's perspective - Rosie Wilkes

Friday, December 2, 2011

Incredible day on Karongwe

Newer Posts Older Posts Home
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)



GVI South Africa Best Posts

  • Click here for a selection of the Best Posts!

Good times...

Loading...

Videos from the field

Loading...

Quotes from the field

"What an amazing experience this has been! Each day here at GVI base is a gift, although the base is rustic and has no electricity or hot water. I found that didn’t matter. Community days are incredible! It’s very gratifying to spend time with the local school children. On our second community outing we had a number of activities for the children to participate in. Mine was a spoon and marble race. The kids were so excited and had a blast. One group, team name hippos, completely surrounded me giving me hugs from all sides, one girl even tickled me. I will cherish that memory for a lifetime. GVI is a phenomenal organisation." Tess Hill, USA, Feb 2008

"My best experience at Venetia was going out on my first working drive. It was a find-all drive and wow, what a long, hot day! But it was so totally worth it. I have worked with many different species of animals before, including ones from Africa, but only in zoos. Nothing can top the experience of seeing your first lion, or having a bull elephant mock-charge your vehicle in the wild. All of which happened on my very first drive! Being able to see the herds of impala, zebra, wildebeest and more is so incredible – everyone should be able to experience it at least once in their lives. I’m so happy I took a chance asking for a leave of absence from work to come out here. It was one of the best decisions of my life!" Katrina Smith, USA, March 2008

Blog Archive

  • ► 2012 (29)
    • ► May (12)
      • BYO(w)B to the DDD
      • Game Capture on Hlambanyathi....
      • 2 week volunteer experience.....
      • Darting Cheetah
      • Hluhluwe-imfolozi Park
      • Moments with Scar
      • Wild dog puppies
      • Mvula and the Wild dogs
      • The garden
      • Practice for the DDD!
      • Cuttroat the legend....
      • Recycling into the GVI Logo........
    • ► April (7)
      • The bird hide
      • The Daktari Delivery Derby
      • Hangin' with a Pangolin
      • Hlambanyahti Road Signs
      • A sad day for Safari....
      • "Zuri", the base pup
      • The talented Miss Ria.....
    • ► March (8)
      • …The Hills…
      • The impala feast next to the N2....
      • Elephants and Eucalyptus on Hlambanyathi?
      • Lions at Base!
      • The Painted Wolves of Hlambanyathi....
      • Rie Jensen's blog - A volunteer's perspective
      • IRINA the Cyclone......
      • Camera trap nightmare!
    • ► February (1)
      • Mysterious deaths......
    • ► January (1)
      • GVI conquers SODWANA
  • ▼ 2011 (75)
    • ▼ December (6)
      • Elephants in the Hlambanyathi dam....
      • Our first night on Hlambanyathi...
      • Our last days on Venetia............
      • Wow in my wildest dreams I could never imagine.......
      • A Volunteer's perspective - Rosie Wilkes
      • Incredible day on Karongwe
    • ► November (2)
      • New elephant calf on Karongwe
      • Exciting Captures on Mariepskop
    • ► October (10)
      • Bentley gets a collar
      • Pam is back in Action!!
      • Ketswiri Update
      • Lowveld Coordinated Research Forum - Rhino symposi...
      • Helping Conserve the Pepper Bark Tree!
      • The illusive Tsotsi Spotted by GVI
      • Hoedspruit Sustainable Living Festival
      • Botswana the Circus Elephant!
      • GVI donates clothes to Hlokomela
      • Thank you Miriam Gooch!
    • ► September (4)
      • Emma Mitchell's Blog - a volunteer's perspective
      • Savannah's lost litter
      • Arbour Day 2011
    • ► August (2)
    • ► July (4)
    • ► June (5)
    • ► May (12)
    • ► April (9)
    • ► March (6)
    • ► February (9)
    • ► January (6)
  • ► 2010 (86)
    • ► December (5)
    • ► November (8)
    • ► October (6)
    • ► September (3)
    • ► August (6)
    • ► July (18)
    • ► June (5)
    • ► May (10)
    • ► April (13)
    • ► March (8)
    • ► February (2)
    • ► January (2)
  • ► 2009 (46)
    • ► December (6)
    • ► November (4)
    • ► October (3)
    • ► September (3)
    • ► August (9)
    • ► July (7)
    • ► June (1)
    • ► May (3)
    • ► April (2)
    • ► March (2)
    • ► February (2)
    • ► January (4)
  • ► 2008 (15)
    • ► November (1)
    • ► October (1)
    • ► September (2)
    • ► August (2)
    • ► July (3)
    • ► June (5)
    • ► May (1)
[+/-]

Labels and Feeds

  • 2 week holiday
  • 350
  • 4x4
  • aardvark
  • acinonyx jubatus
  • Aepyceros melampus
  • African adventure
  • African bush
  • African python
  • African sunset
  • African wild cat
  • afromontane rainforest
  • AIDS
  • alpha pair
  • amazing
  • anal pastings
  • animals
  • antelope
  • anti poaching
  • appreciate
  • arbour
  • arbour day
  • Aussies
  • Australia Day
  • autopsy
  • baboon
  • banded mongoose
  • base manager
  • Bat eared fox
  • Bathing
  • beautiful
  • behaviour
  • best
  • big 6 birds
  • big cats
  • Bike 4 Beasts
  • Bikes for Beasts
  • bin
  • biodiversity
  • biodiversity survey
  • birding
  • Bitis arietans
  • black backed jackal
  • Black eagle
  • black mamba
  • black rhino
  • blind eye
  • Blue wildebeest
  • boabab
  • boma
  • breeding herd
  • brown hyena
  • bull
  • bush buck
  • bush pig
  • butterflies
  • Camera Traps
  • camp out
  • cancer awareness
  • capture the moment
  • Caracal
  • carcass
  • carnivore
  • carnivore census
  • CCG
  • celebrated
  • ceratotherium simum
  • Chacma Baboons
  • challenge
  • charity
  • cheetah
  • cheetah coalition
  • cheetah hunting
  • cheetahs
  • Civet
  • Cliffs
  • climate change
  • coalition
  • cobra
  • collared
  • collaring
  • collie
  • community
  • community development
  • conference
  • connochaetes taurinus
  • conservation
  • contraception
  • Courtship
  • Crocodile
  • Crocodylus niloticus
  • Crocuta crocuta
  • cub
  • cubs
  • cyclone
  • Daktari
  • dam
  • darting
  • data
  • den
  • different
  • digital camera
  • diphuti
  • documentary
  • dog
  • donation
  • Drakensberg
  • drug
  • dung beetle
  • eco tourism
  • education
  • educational resources
  • elephant
  • elephant focus
  • elephant impact
  • Elephants
  • elusive
  • employment opportunities
  • endangered
  • Endangered wildlife
  • Endangered Wildlife trust.volunteers
  • energetics study
  • entertained
  • environmental
  • environmental education
  • Equus burchelli
  • Erosion
  • evening
  • EWT
  • exitement
  • exiting
  • expectations
  • expedition
  • expedition members
  • expeditions
  • experience
  • Fancy dress
  • Fearless
  • feeding
  • fences
  • field qualification
  • find all
  • flamingo
  • floods
  • focus
  • footage
  • forests
  • friends
  • frog
  • fun
  • Game Capture
  • game drive
  • game reserve
  • genetics
  • Giant land snails
  • giraffe
  • ground hornbill
  • GVI
  • GVI Base
  • hard work
  • help
  • highlight
  • hike
  • hippo
  • HIV
  • Hlambanyathi
  • Hlambanyathi dam
  • hlokomela
  • Hluhluwe-imfolozi Park
  • home range
  • Honey badger
  • Honeyguide
  • horn
  • hornbills
  • horse
  • Humane trap
  • Humidity
  • hunted
  • hunting
  • hyaena
  • hyena
  • hyena pups
  • hyenas
  • ID kit
  • identification
  • illusive
  • impala
  • incredible
  • infant
  • insects
  • interaction
  • internship
  • invasive plants
  • involvement
  • joining
  • Karongwe
  • Karongwe game reserve
  • ketswiri
  • kill
  • kitchen
  • knowledge
  • Kolope River
  • kori bustard
  • kudu
  • Kwa-Zulu Natal
  • Lab
  • lappet-faced vulture
  • latrine sites
  • leaving
  • Leopard
  • leopard; veterinary; hyena; boma; kill
  • Lesheba Wilderness
  • limpopo
  • Limpopo Lipadi Nature Reserve
  • lion
  • lion cubs
  • Lion darting
  • Lions
  • local students
  • locores
  • Loxodonta africana
  • Luck
  • lunar eclipse
  • lycaon pictus
  • Magoebaskloof Canopy Tours
  • maintenance work
  • mamba
  • mammals
  • Mapungubwe National Park
  • Mariepskop
  • martial eagle
  • mating
  • medicinal purposes
  • mice
  • Millipedes
  • monitoring
  • Mopane thickets
  • Mopane worms
  • morning drive
  • mountain
  • mountian
  • movember
  • musth
  • National Geographic
  • natural
  • nature
  • new
  • newborn
  • nocturnal animal
  • Norwegian day
  • nyala
  • oestrus
  • once in a lifetime
  • outreach
  • PAINTED DOGS
  • Pam
  • pangolin
  • Panthera leo
  • Panthera pardus
  • paradise
  • Party night
  • PATROLLING FENCES
  • peacefull
  • pel's fishing owl
  • Pepper bark tree
  • photography
  • pictures
  • play fighting
  • POACHING
  • poem
  • population
  • Predators
  • prey
  • primary school
  • privilege
  • project
  • promotion
  • puff adder
  • pups
  • quarantine
  • racing
  • Radio Collar
  • radio telemetry
  • rain
  • Rainfall
  • recylcling at base
  • red billed oxpeckers
  • reedbuck
  • rehabilitation
  • release
  • relocation
  • reptile
  • Research
  • Research drive
  • researchers
  • Reserve
  • reserve management
  • reserve warden
  • reseve
  • rewarded
  • river
  • rivers
  • road
  • Road Kill
  • roars
  • saddle billed stork
  • Safari camp
  • safe procedures
  • sand
  • satisfaction
  • sattelite collar
  • sattelites
  • scar
  • science officer
  • scientific poster
  • Secretary bird
  • shrew
  • sighting
  • Simba
  • small mammal
  • Small spotted cat
  • snake
  • Sodwana bay
  • South Africa
  • south african bush
  • Soutpansberg mountains
  • spate
  • special sighting
  • spotted hyena
  • St Patrics day
  • staff
  • stalking
  • star
  • students
  • study
  • stunner
  • stunning views
  • success
  • sunrise
  • sunset
  • sunsets
  • surgery
  • survey
  • sustainable development
  • Swimming
  • talented
  • tawny eagle
  • teaching
  • team
  • technology
  • Telemetry
  • territories
  • territory
  • thermo regulation
  • Thika
  • town trip
  • toyota
  • tracking
  • tracks
  • Tragelaphus strepsiceros
  • trail
  • training
  • traps
  • treat
  • trees
  • trek
  • Triangulation
  • underpriveleged children
  • vegetation
  • vehicle
  • Veneta
  • Venetia
  • Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve
  • Venetia team
  • Ventia
  • Veterinarian
  • vetinary
  • vhf collar
  • video
  • Views
  • visitors
  • visual
  • volunteers
  • Volunteers experience
  • Vulture
  • walk
  • warthog
  • waterbuck
  • waterhole
  • weather
  • weimaraner
  • welcome
  • white rhino
  • wild
  • Wild Dog
  • Wild dog Puppies
  • Wild Dogs
  • wilderness
  • Wildlife
  • wildlife research
  • wildlife vet
  • wish list
  • Zebra
  • zuri
Visit www.gvi.co.uk or contact us on info@gvi.co.uk