A Volunteer Trip to South Africa

November 2011

Jill Kamienski received an education in conservation, wildlife management, and anti-poaching efforts during a recent volunteer trip to South Africa with Earthwatch Institute. And for this avid volunteer, there's more to come.

Jill Kamienski says it was her passion for helping animals that led her to travel to South Africa in fall of 2010. She studied endangered animals with the Earthwatch Institute, an international nonprofit that links volunteers with scientific research teams.

"The main goal of the expedition was to research the numbers and status of brown hyenas in two nature reserves near Johannesburg—the Mankwe Wildlife Reserve and the Pilanesberg Game Reserve," she says. "However, the things we learned extended well beyond that. We had the chance to learn about wildlife management, conservation, and anti-poaching efforts."

Kamienski, a MITRE senior multi-discipline systems engineer, joined a dozen other volunteers from across the globe for the 12-day trip. "All Earthwatch trips are based around research—they need volunteers to help with data collection," she explains.

Researchers from the British universities of Brighton, Nottingham, and Trent ran the expedition she joined. Kamienski and the other volunteers assisted the researchers with videotaping in the habitat of the brown hyena, which is listed as "near threatened" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The hyenas are identified by their distinctive leg patterns, and Kamienski's team tracked several of the animals, documenting their movements and behaviors.

"We set up cameras and baited them with meat," she explains. "We would go away for a few days, then come back and download the footage." Earthwatch Institute can use the data to gain insight into any potential threats to the animals.

"Another activity was spotlighting, which means getting to see the African wildlife at night," Kamienski adds. This entailed driving through the parks in open trucks, sweeping spotlights slowly around the area to identify a variety of animals.

"The animals' eyes would just glow when the light was on them," she says. "We'd stop the driver, and then all pull out binoculars to try to identify the animal. Then we'd log the animal and continue on."

During one spotlighting expedition, the group discovered a different hyena, known as an "aardwolf," which researchers previously thought was gone from the reserve.

The two different parks where the team worked provided a study in contrasts, Kamienski says. "In the private reserve, the animals were more skittish. They weren't used to people," she says. "But in the public reserve, we were able to get a good look at the zebras, elephants, antelopes, hippos, rhinos and giraffes."

Asked what the most rewarding aspect of the trip was, Kamienski responds that it was getting to meet volunteers from all over the globe. "Many of us have stayed friends," she says.

Next up for this intrepid volunteer, who also regularly pitches in at her local humane society outpost, is a possible second Earthwatch Institute volunteer trip, to the Amazon Basin. "It was such an amazing experience that I'm really looking forward to the next trip," she says.

—by Maria S. Lee

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