The Kasanka Trust has always relied heavily of the work of volunteers to carry out all its work with the limited budget available. Some of these volunteers have been sponsored by international organisations such a VSO from UK and GDS/DED from Germany and we are very grateful for this support.

Many volunteers have come out to Kasanka to gain scientific research experience and a short report on their work is on the research page. Kasanka provides an excellent environment for such groups as it is a relatively safe wilderness area with good supporting infrastructure.

The integrated management of tourism, park management and development also makes life a lot easier for researchers who only have one organisation to deal with. Research volunteers and given some guidance on what would be useful to study and we hope to be giving more day to day supervision where it is required now that we have a resident biologist acting as research co-ordinator. When moving in the field the Trust provides an escort scout for safety and local experts can also be very helpful with interpretation and identification. In return for this the Trust charges these volunteers a much reduced rate from tourists. They have to buy their own food and transport but we help where we can with both of  these. 

Most research volunteers stay from 4-12 weeks and to stay longer than 3 months requires an expensive temporary immigration permit. It works out best to team up into small groups either before arriving or to arrange to be in Kasanka at the same time and work on the same project together. It is often best to come during the low tourism season (January-May) as the research possibilities and wide open in the “green” season when everything comes to life and the lodges and other facilities are not too busy. If you are interested in visiting Kasanka as  a research volunteer, have a good look through this website then CONTACT US for more information.

For those with less time to spend but who would like to visit Kasanka and Bangweulu whilst also making a positive contribution to our work, we are arranging to take paying volunteers to assist for ongoing research project.

For these visitors we would make all the arrangements for their travel in Zambia, accommodation, food and drinks as for other international clients and we could also help with onward travel to visit other destinations before returning home. Please CONTACT US for more information if you wold like to contribute to one of these programs.

Kasanka Trust is also keen to host larger groups such as GAP year students and can arrange programs for them inside Kasanka, around Bangweulu and also doing development work in the local community. We plan to build a conservation center near the entrance of the park as a base for these groups as well as to provide facilities for researchers and the community project. Building this center could itself be a task for a volunteer group!

The Trust also takes a limited number of working volunteers who come to help with all aspects of the Trust’s work. These are usually GAP year students between school and university or recent graduates. In order to make themselves useful they nee to plan to stay for a minimum of 3 months and preferably longer as it takes a while to get to know your way around fully integrate.

These volunteers work in many areas including: Daily administration, supervision of local staff, driving, engineering tasks such as mending cars, maintaining roads and bridges, helping to look after tourists, catering and shopping. No-one with have the skills needed for all the tasks mentioned but it gives an idea of the type of work. There is not a lot of active wildlife management work nor much time for them to do research of their choice. Most of the volunteers we have had over the past few years have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, but there is a lot of work to do and it doesn’t suit everybody.

These volunteers will have to cover the cost of their living, but apart from that do not pay anything to the Trust. They have to find their own way to Lusaka but from there we arrange all their transport, accommodation and food. Money is needed only for luxuries and any travelling they plan to do before returning home.