Course Life
National Parks Internship Program in South Africa

Intern Involvement

Each intern will be assigned to the resident People & Conservation officer or interpretative officer of the park they are placed in. There are approximately 6 – 10 placements available over the 21 National Parks and interns will be allocated their placement depending on their skills, experience and the needs and requirements of the park at the time. The projects that the interns will be involved in vary in each park, some are more interpretation based, some more culturally orientated. However most of the parks need assistance in the following key areas:

• Environmental Education - Development and implementation of relevant environmental education programmes for a variety of target group and the development of environmental educational resource material.
• Interpretive Services - Data assimilation; handling of conservation enquiries; circulation of information (talks, exhibits, films, video and slide displays, etc.); organising and presenting of environmental interpretation activities for visitors to the park; interpretive displays; specialised inputs in respect of brochure planning; external promotion displays; media guiding in parks; as well as, in some parks, the chance to accompany on interpretative trails and game drives, which include guided walking trails and assisting on self-guided trails.
• Community Facilitation – This is the responsibility of the P & C staff member and involves community involvement and the facilitation of community development, i.e. the establishment and maintenance of sound relations with surrounding communities. As a volunteer you will get exposure to this aspect of P & C, however, it is a very sensitive long-term project and is mainly the staff’s responsibility.