At the beginning of September 2025, seven new interns, including Dan, arrived at the UmPhafa Nature Reserve, our supported conservation project based in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.
Getting into their stride, they had a busy few days! With cheetah monitoring, an attempted leopard capture, and helping to load the cheetah food, they topped off the week with a canopy tour which they thoroughly enjoyed!
Their second week was taken up with making plaster casts of tracks, snare sweeps and fence patrol, fixing fences, game count, and then a trip to Nambiti finishing with a night at the Bushcamp!
“During my three-month internship at UmPhafa, I found it to be an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable experience. Every day offered something new to learn. The supportive workers and meaningful conservation work made my time there truly unforgettable.” – Intern, Dan
As well as helping out with the cheetah and getting to stroke him whilst he slept, Dan helped out with painting fence posts as well as all of the interns helping with camera traps, burning the Reserve, and getting the pitfall trap ready in the hope to ID some new species.
Dan also helped out in repopulating some of the Dams with the use of the catch net. Fish were transferred from one of their most successful dams for breeding fish to those which needed a little help to recover their number and maintain an ecological balance.
One afternoon, they spent their time clearing out the Boma and making it nice for new cheetah arrival, Balula. They cut back some over grown tree, cleared away the old bones, and sprayed the fence line so they didn’t trip the electrics! A water bio-diversity study was just what they needed to end a hot day on the Reserve.
Intern Dan had a go using the new machine bought for a large section of bush clearing. He was also kept busy with species monitoring, including setting the camera traps in pairs to capture both sides of the animals!
Dan the man as he is now known on the Reserve, got to experience all the weather during his time spent at UmPhafa. From it being cloudy and dull with rain, to lovely bright sunshine with a temperature of 30 degrees! Being from Ireland, luckily it didn’t bother Dan too much.
After saving a tortoise from being run over on the road and fixing up the bird aviary ready for the release of 2 jackal buzzards from Free Me Wild, he then acted as bait for the cheetah – behind the fence!
On Dan’s final weeks on the Reserve, he was lucky enough to see the release of cheetah Balula, which has been a great achievement for the Intern program. Dan helped in putting the licks out for the animals and supported the Maintenance team as well as using telemetry to find Balula.
Find out more today and book your adventure of a lifetime with an Internship or placement at UmPhafa Nature Reserve!
