Join our award-winning hands-on conservation project in one of the most remote and beautiful places on Earth. EHRA is one of the only organisations working to reduce human-wildlife conflict in Namibia’s northwest, where people and desert elephants share the land.
The desert-adapted elephants of north-west Namibia are among the most remarkable wildlife on Earth. Surviving in one of the driest landscapes imaginable, they share their habitat with local communities.
EHRA works to reduce human-elephant conflict, and volunteers play a vital role in that work.
Expect to get sweaty, learn about conservation, make new friends, sleep under the stars and enjoy the natural surroundings. All cooking is done over the fire. We work in groups taking turns to be on kitchen duty, which includes providing ‘coffee-in-bed’ in the mornings, breakfast, lunch and dinner. During Build Week, you’ll support community infrastructure projects, while Patrol Week involves tracking and monitoring the elephants to ensure their safety and movement.
Join a team of fellow volunteers to build protective walls around farmers’ and communities’ water pumps, tanks and windmills, to ensure elephants can access water without damaging the infrastructure. This hands-on experience is both physically challenging and extremely rewarding, as you witness the progress of your work and its direct impact on local conservation. The aim is to work together and do as much as you are capable of: from a ‘rock run’ to collecting water, mixing cement and constructing the wall by hand.
During patrol week, you’ll track different elephant herds and build up a data bank on their movements, helping EHRA plan waterpoint protection work effectively, based on where elephants are likely to be. We visit farmers to assess the risk of any elephant-human conflict and monitor elephants to record births, deaths, and injuries. EHRA believes that effective elephant management is only possible through knowing every individual elephant, recording physical features, their herds’ movements, numbers and learning about their personality traits.
You can volunteer for 2 to 12 weeks per calendar year. The price for a two-week project is £950, which includes transfers from Swakopmund to EHRA Base Camp, all accommodation, meals, and camping equipment (see the kit list for what to bring).
Flights, insurance, airport transfers, and accommodation or meals in Swakopmund are not included. However, we’re always happy to help volunteers find good travel options.
Download our Volunteer Info Pack for more information.
This briefing is designed to answer some of the questions you might have with regards to EHRA, the work we do, and the contribution you can make to help us reach our objectives.
Winner of the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Award for Regenerative Tourism
EHRA’s volunteer programme has been recognised for creating meaningful conservation experiences that benefit both participants and the communities they work alongside. Every expedition contributes directly to long-term research, conflict mitigation and practical coexistence solutions that help protect Namibia’s desert-adapted elephants.
