My 17yo DD wants to go to Africa to do wildlife conservation - how safe is it?

[Pickleperkins]

My DD is 17 and really wants to pursue a career in conservation. She has secured a travel award from school (a small amount - we need to cough up the remainder!) and wants to travel to Africa to spend 2 weeks on a wildlife conservation programme. I have read many mixed reviews about different companies and I am frankly scared for her safety. She isn't enormously streetwise (despite what she thinks) and the thought of what might go wrong is filling me with dread. Has anyone any positive experience of these type of programmes (particularly for under 18s) that they could recommend we look into? Thanks!

Africa is a continent with many different countries each with it's own political stability.

As PP said, Africa is a continent. It may be helpful to actually say which country she's going to because they are vastly different.

That's a bit like an American saying their kid is going to "Yoo-rop" and they're worried it might not be safe. Errmm, you mean Sweden? Or Albania? UK perhaps?

Apologies - at the moment the programme she is considering is in Zimbabwe. My point was not just about the area but the level of safety and support given to under 18 first time volunteers. I'm just trying to find a programme that offers a higher level of support - a lot of them seem to be targeted at experienced independent travellers.

Namibia or Zambia? Sure!
Angola or DRC? Nope.
Kenya? If she's with a reputable company such as the Sheldrake Trust and she doesn't go wondering off on her own.

I feel mildly uncomfortable about these trips. It's a bit "white Europeans coming to save the poor Africans from themselves". As long as she understands it's an experience that is enjoyable and not really as useful as donating the money to a that-country-based animal conservation charity.

Zimbabwe is okay. Some dodgy areas but as long as she’s with local guides she should be okay. She’s being taken through school with a tour company, presumably?

The more pressing issue should be how much the grant is, how much the remainder is and how she will pay you back

Sorry, cross posted.
Zimbabwe is pretty safe if she's sensible and it's an established reputable agency.

HI @mummytoonetryingfortwo - no... this is my point... she would be travelling independently (albeit being collected at the airport having changed - hopefully - in Jo.burg) but no....not with school. I'm going grey just thinking about it!!!

The fact you’re having these doubts is enough, then. She’s not mature enough to cope with Zimbabwe at age 18, there is no way.

Feel free to pm me op. I know of a great place in South Africa where teens can go and it’s safe

It's a conservation programme not building a school!

Unless she is well travelled, id try and find a programme that doesn’t require changing planes and definitely not in the Middle East, not had good experiences there dealing with transfers.

Look into operation Wallacea, OpWall. Uk based company and work with both schools and unis so used managing younger ages abroad. Lots of Canadian 17 year old join the college/uni trips because their school system is different. Trips are purpusefully designed for buddy conservationists, based around field skills, with lecturers from the conservationist in the evenings and well regarded by unis.

I work in wildlife conservation and have worked with lots of aspiring young people. A 2 week trip to on a random "conservation" project or animal sanctuary is a holiday, not work experience. It will be poor value and not do much for her cv/career prospects, so its worth her weighing up the purpose of the experience. Plenty of safe and enjoyable options (Namibia, Kenya and SA have lots of well worn projects) but she should be thinking about the usefulness of the experience for furthering her career if that's what she's serious about.

Nope.

I've travelled solo in Malawi & Tanzania Africa & wandered around their big cities, in daytime, on my own. It helps me that I'm old (the convenient Dervla Murphy effect...) You depend a lot on the people you know giving you good advice and go with what they recommend. West Africa (eg Liberia, Sierra Leone) is a lot dodgier than East or South African countries.

In Tanzania or Malawi it's normal to see children age 6-7yo taking selves to-from school. In busy cities with traffic, yet parents see that as safe thing to do, that's a good metric for me to realise how little physical crime there is. There are people everywhere because people have to walk, and street justice will be dispensed if anyone sees a crime & can catch the culprit. Obvious foreigners get approached a lot in case they would like to purchase any service: people hustle for a living, they are just trying to earn an honest crust.

Why not post it here where everyone can read about it?

As someone else said, Zimbabwe is ok so long as she is sensible.
I would want to know more about the project/work before committing to paying for it and sending her off. There are many genuine conservation and volunteer projects around the world. Then there are plenty who just want your money.
Does she know exactly what work she will be doing? What about accommodation, meals, who will she be working with, is it group work or individual. Will someone be her employer, will someone be responsible for her welfare? Or is it a just “turn up and do what you want” arrangement. All sorts of things to understand before signing up.
I wouldn’t let the fact that she is 17 be the sole reason not to go, but you’d want to ensure it’s a reputable job. It could turn out to be the best experience of her life.

Depends where. I had a uni friend who was murdered in CAR. I have a South African colleague who swears she'll never go back. I've been to Morocco as a teenager on an organised tour and felt mostly safe when with the group leaders, but when let loose in the souks of marrakesh I felt quite uncomfortable.

I'm keen to do a safari at some point and colleague has recommended Botswana (but still to do an organised tour).

I think in a properly organised group she'd be fine, but would still have to be very sensible and aware of her surroundings.

She can do conservation volunteering in her own country, it would be much cheaper. I bet this trip you have in mind is one of those 3k+ for 2 weeks, organizer by a tour company.

What's her budget and is she restricted to two weeks? I have travelled and worked across Africa - like any continent, safety varies from city to city and country to country.

This. It's impossible to generalise.

What special skills and expertise in conservation will she bring to the project that the locals can't offer?

To be honest I don't really want her to go for too long on this first trip. I suspect that alot of these companies are less about actual conservation tasks and more about using the money to fund programmes, which is understandable. For me the priority is her safety

Hi @nocoolnamesleft I dont think thats what the majority of these programmes - particularly for younger volunteers are about. I think they help out but, I suspect, it's primarily a way of bringing funding in....

I literally have not read a more suspicious sounding post on mumsnet and i read a fair bit of scams on here.