Gain professional expertise while you use your skills to help the mission to save rhinos in Namibia.
Join us in a field training project to dehorn up to 10 rhinos in a special, once-in-a-lifetime mission to protect these animals from relentless poaching attacks for their horns.
Only 13 places are available on this 9-day training project – veterinarians, vet techs, veterinary nurses, and vet students (enrolled in vet school) are invited to enroll.
If you do not fit in one of these categories but have significant work experience in conservation or animal welfare and feel that this is the project for you, please contact Jane Stine at [email protected].
Highlights• June 22 – 30, 2025
Program Fee$4,950 USD per person not including international airfare. Your program fee pays for all the supplies, personnel, and other costs necessary to carry out this dehorning mission – thank you!
The program fee includes:
Program fee does not include:
Please note: This is a field project that takes place in a rustic area of Namibia. Housing is limited. Participants may be housed with other participants of the same gender. If you are enrolling with a friend or partner and would like to room together, please advise and we will do our best to accommodate.
No discounts are available for or applicable to this program.
Click “Apply Now”, fill out the form, and pay the $1000 program deposit. Your spot will be held immediately.
Veterinarians, vet techs, veterinary nurses, and veterinary students currently enrolled in vet school may directly enroll. Others interested in participating may email [email protected].
Please note that this is an active, outdoor program that requires participants to be able to walk outdoors, get safely in and out of vehicles, and be safely able to participate in working with animals outdoors for a full day.
Program Airport: Hosea Kutako International Airport
Accommodation:
We will spend the first and last 2 nights in a simple hotel near the airport. The majority of your trip will be spent in a bush camp setting. Rooms have two single beds with en suite bathroom; you will be asked to share a room with another participant of the same gender unless you are traveling as a pair who would like to request to room together. All housing has western-style toilets, hot showers, and swimming pool.
Namibia: At the time of writing, participants traveling on a US passport will need an evisa to enter Namibia, which is $90 and can be obtained online. This fee is not included in your program fee. No vaccines are required for entry into Namibia if traveling from the US, but transit through or time spent in certain countries may require a Yellow Fever vaccine.
Meals:
In Windhoek (3 nights), you can expect:
– Breakfast: buffet with hot and cold options
– Lunch: packed lunch of sandwich, fruit, yogurt, juice or similar
– Dinner: Generally a buffet with one or two meat choices, starch, vegetables and salad
Vegetarian and vegan options are available, the hotel does not guarantee gluten-free or allergen-free options
At rhino project (5 nights):
– Breakfast: cold platter with cereals, bread, cheese, cold meats, fruit, and yogurt
– Lunch: Packed lunch, typically a sandwich, fruit, boiled egg, and cold meat
– Dinner: Guest choice of meal, choice of two mains (meat) along with a starch and vegetables.
Vegetarian, vegan, and food allergies can be accommodated.
Project Itinerary
The days on the reserve will be long and generally start early in the morning. Days will include multiple immobilizations and dehorning procedures as well as hands-on field work with the veterinary and conservation team with whom you’ll work daily.
Your participation will not only provide you with intensive field experience, but you will also learn first-hand techniques in darting, immobilization, capture, anesthesia monitoring, dehorning and other topics related to rhino medicine and conservation – all in the heartland of African wildlife conservation.
In our theoretical classes, we will also explore the complex topics around poaching, including what factors are driving the demand for rhino horn and the challenges we face in addressing and controlling these. We will also examine the current projects involved in the protection of the species – including ways in which you can become involved yourself.
Program Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival and transport to hotel. Welcome dinner and orientation
Day 2: Travel (approx 5 hours) to rhino project, meet with rhino team and vet team.
Day 3: Game capture (likely sable), dart gun theory and practicals, anaesthetics lectures, time with the team and wildlife vet for questions
Day 4: Dehorning project – goal of 5 rhinos dehorned. Lectures on poaching, rhino horn, and anaesthesia.
Day 5: Dehorning project – goal of 5 rhinos dehorned. Lectures on poaching, rhino horn, and anaesthesia.
Day 6: Drive to Ethosha National Park (approx 1.5 hours). Transfer to open game viewer with professional guide, full day safari. Transfer back to camp.
Day 7: Travel back to Windhoek (approx 5 hours). Time to rest, relax, and explore the city.
Day 8: Transfer to community outreach animal clinic (approx 1 hour). Full day of community work with clinic. Return to Windhoek
Day 9: Breakfast. Transfer to airport for departure – two transfer times available.
Exact itinerary subject to change.
