CAMPFIRE SAFARIS NEW ADVENTURE FROM JUNE 2010!!

Over the past 10 years we have listened to the suggestions, complaints and compliments from our agents and volunteers in an effort to keep improving the program at Campfire Safaris. This has resulted in our comprehensive program which offers volunteers, field guide students and interns a new outlook on wildlife conservation that is not just applicable in the Kruger National Park but through out the world.

In the past few years we have been researching the possibility of including marine conservation to our current program. The majority of our participating volunteers, students and interns voted for the opportunity to combine a wildlife and marine conservation program to form a cooperative program including both schools of conservation.

From June 2010 Campfire Safaris would like to offer students and interns the opportunity to participate in this cooperative program.

The proposed program will consist of the following:

1 Month volunteer/educational program

Week one and two will be at Campfire Safaris in Balule Nature Reserve.

The program will be similar to the current program with a few changes due to the shorter duration (two weeks and not four). For example, Ecology and Geology lectures will be combined into one but the participants will still receive the full curriculum as they would in four weeks.

Week three and four will be at
Guinjata bay in Mozambique

The program will consist of three
activities during the day:

1. Mornings:
   Work which will focus on aspects of Marine conservation, for example, cleaning of the shore line, eradication of exotic vegetation and the educating the local youth on aspects of marine conservation.
   Conservation work will be alternated on various days with rural development and upliftment, for example establishing of vegetable gardens which the resort will then buy fresh produce from the community. This type of work will depend on any available tasks within the community.
2. Mid morning and lunch
   Lectures – refer to the curriculum below
3. Afternoons
   Practical application of theory covered during lectures

Marine conservation curriculum:

• Module 1: Introduction to life on earth and the Ocean
  Creating a basic understanding of life on earth, the forces that prevail in it, the ocean environment and the environments that it embodies.
• Module 2: Coral reefs, Rocky shores, Sandy beaches, Pelagic zone, Estuaries, Dune & dune forest
  To familiarize the student with these land zones and its inhabitants
• Module 3: Marine wildlife
  To familiarize the student with sponges, Cnidaria (creatures with stinging cells), Unsegmented and segmented worms, Arthropoda and Mollusca.
• Module 4: Echnodermata
  To familiarize the student with starfish, sea urchins, brittle stars, sea cucumbers and feather stars.
• Module 5: Fish
  Basic understanding of cartilaginous fishes, rocky shore and coral reef fishes and Pelagic fish.
• Module 6: Marine mammals, reptiles and birds
  To familiarize the student with the most common marine mammals, reptile and birds of Southern Africa.
• Module 7: Algae en Seaweed
• Module 8: Dangerous Sea life
  Creating a basic understanding of the dangers and how to deal with their danger effects.
• Module 9: Food chains and food webs
  Creating a basic understanding of trophic levels, energy flow in the marine ecosystem and the biodiversity in marine ecosystems.
• Module 10: Management and conservation
  Human impacts on the coastal biodiversity and the sustainable use of the marine ecosystem.
• Module 11: Marine survival
  The objective is to give the student a basic understanding of tides, currents, waves and surf, medical aspects and sea survival.

This curriculum will cover a basic understanding of the ecosystems in and around the marine habitat.

A PADI diving course is optional and the duration will be 4 days. The student will receive an accredited PADI openwater 1 qualification at the completion of the course. Students that opt for the diving course will still receive the curriculum above.