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Want to gain a unique career experience? Ready to travel internationally with both independence and support? Consider joining one of our incredible animal internships abroad!
Our veterinary internships abroad offer a blend of career experience and travel, providing more flexibility than our study abroad programs. They are an excellent choice for students who want to gain valuable knowledge while still having the freedom to travel and explore independently. We simplify the logistics for you by handling the placement and housing, so you don’t have to navigate, find, and vet your own opportunity abroad. Like traditional internships, you will be placed with one of our partner projects, where you’ll spend approximately 35–40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, shadowing, observing, or assisting, as needed. This experience can be a valuable addition to your resume, and some colleges may even offer internship credit. However, please note that these internships differ from our standard programs—you won’t have a daily Loop Abroad staff member, a teaching vet, or pre-scheduled activities and transportation. Instead, you’ll have the independence to travel on your own, supported by your Loop Abroad and in-country coordinator.
The externship is for anyone who is interested in learning about zoos, big cats, or wildlife conservation and welfare in South Africa. Participants should have a deep interest in wildlife conservation and the capacity to work in a zoo in challenging conditions. Interns should be aware that they will be working with wild animals, which may present harm to them or expose them to zoonotic disease.
If you and a friend are applying together and would like to intern together and be housed together, please contact us at [email protected] to assist you. Must be 18+ to apply.
This is a practical externship that will be focused on helping to do work throughout the zoo and learn from the staff there. Interns assist in veterinary work, hand-rearing of black-footed cats and bird species, husbandry, and other zoo upkeep. When there are veterinary procedures, you will be able to observe, which may include helping the staff to take animals in for off-site veterinary care when applicable. The zoo does not have a full-time vet, so most of your hours will be animal experience hours, though some may be veterinary or research hours.
You’ll be trained to do most of the functions that a zookeeper performs, and this is a great place to learn it! Lory Park is one of only six institutions in Africa to be accredited by the Pan African Association of Zoos and Aquaria, which is indicative of their high standards of safety, veterinary care, animal diets, and enrichment practices, and overall welfare of the animals in their care.
Additionally, the park is one of four African institutions granted membership to the International Zoological Educators. Loop Abroad is the only way that American students or participants can intern at Lory Park Zoo.
Lory Park is home primarily to cats, birds, primates, and reptiles. Some of the species on site include: white and tawny lions, tigers, cheetahs, serval, jaguars, leopards, lynx, caracals, ocelot, puma, black-footed cat, owls, eagles, hornbills, lorikeets, flamingos, gibbons, meerkats, lemurs, boa constrictors, pythons, chameleons, tortoises, and bearded dragons.
This internship will give interns a deeper understanding of the role of zoos and zookeepers in not only animal management but also in conservation and research.
Lory Park Zoo is one of the very best places to learn how to care for a large variety of wild animals, mainly carnivores such as lions, tigers, jaguars, servals, and also primates and reptiles. Training will also involve birds of prey and parrots.
Interns who prove themselves to be capable, eager, responsible, and able to take training and direction will be able to assist with cubs and with the hand-rearing of black-footed cats, vultures, and other animals (subject to time of year and necessity) and may be given more responsibilities in caring for animals, which can include health checks, assisting the vet during operations, and handling beyond day-to-day care.
The duration of the internship will be at least 4 weeks and a maximum of 12 weeks.
The cost of the internship is $850 USD per week. Some tuition costs are calculated below, but any time frame between 4 and 12 weeks can be accommodated. Please email [email protected] with any questions!
4-weeks $3,400
6-weeks $5,100
8-weeks $6,800
10-weeks $8,500
12-weeks $10,200
Included: Airport transfer, housing, training, internship placement, 24/7 support, and 24/7 on-site staff (you will live at the zoo).
Not included: Travel expenses, medical insurance, entertainment expenses, meals, and activities for two days off per week. Zoo staff will take you shopping at least twice a week for food so that you can prepare your meals.
Please note: You will need to be accompanied by a staff member to go off-grounds, unless you are going on an organized tour.
The Gilman Scholarship could fund $5000 of your tuition plus there is an additional STEM Supplemental Award of $1000 you an apply for. The next round of applications opens mid-August and the deadline is March 5, 2026, at 11:59pm Pacific Time.
If you are a US citizen receiving a Pell Grant and currently enrolled in college or university, we encourage you to apply for this scholarship! See the official website for the latest details and read about Loop Abroad students who have received this scholarship.
The accommodation may be shared with other interns in a large house on-site at the zoo. There are bunk beds in the rooms upstairs and downstairs, and a full kitchen with a fridge and microwave. There are two shared bathrooms with a shower in each. Blankets, bedding, cutlery, cooking equipment, and a washing machine are all supplied at no additional cost. Free wifi is available on-site.
Trips to town are available on a regular basis (twice a week) to replenish your groceries. While groceries will be your responsibility, the transport and staff to accompany you are provided.
Please note that travelers to South Africa are asked to conserve water in consideration of drought conditions, and that it is possible to lose power or wifi for short periods of time due to weather.
You can receive one credit hour from Culver-Stockton College for every 40 internship hours for this program. (Optional. Additional fee applies.)
Midrand’s Lory Park Animal and Owl Sanctuary is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Johannesburg is the start and end point of our South Africa Veterinary Service program, which makes these programs very easy to join into a one-month adventure.) Lory Park is one of only six institutions in Africa to be accredited by the Pan African Association of Zoos and Aquaria, which is indicative of their high standards of safety, veterinary care, animal diets and enrichment practices, and overall welfare of the animals in their care.
Additionally, the park is one of four African institutions granted membership to the International Zoological Educators.
Lory Park opened in the year 2000 as a bird park, but quickly began accepting injured and trapped animals and has grown to be a sanctuary that is home to the following animals:
White and tawny lions
CaracalAs you can see, cats, birds, primates, and reptiles make up the majority of the animals that you will work with at Lory Park. The park has a focus on education and conservation, and you will get the chance to visit two schools in the community to help teach about the importance of animals and conservation.
Lory Park is involved in researching and breeding black-footed cats, and students will get to observe and participate in this research. Black-footed cats are difficult to breed in captivity, so their successful breeding pair is an important contribution to the survival of this vulnerable animal whose population is decreasing in the wild.
You will notice that other than cats and primates, the park does not have many of the large “zoo animals” you might expect, such as elephants, giraffes, hippos. Fortunately, it is affordable and easy to arrange a safari trip from the zoo during your off-time to see African wildlife in the wild.
During your internship, you will be living on-site at the Lory Park Zoo. There is a lot to do every day, and the more you are able to manage tasks responsibly, dependably, and safely, the more you’ll learn and the more responsibility and access you may be given.
As an intern, you will be expected to work five days a week for the full day, and you will have two days a week off. On your days off, you can either stay at the zoo and relax, or you can leave the zoo either on a guided tour that you arrange or with a staff member accompanying you.
This is an example schedule of a typical day, although every day can be different:
