Careers in Conservation

Kings Camp is a big supporter of conservation and community, we are involved in numerous projects in and around the reserve and know how important it is to support the local community and get them involved in conservation efforts and understand how lodges and reserves operate.

Recently I was involved in a unique event called ‘’Careers in Conservation’’ arranged by The Global Conservation Corps and the Timbavati Foundation. The aim of the day was to share knowledge on this topic with 600 local school students who will be heading into the working world soon.

In addition to being part of the management team at Kings Camp, I also own a recruitment and consultancy company called Wild Dreams Hospitality so I have an in-depth understanding of how best students can prepare for the working world so I was invited to speak at the event and I offered a presentation and talk on finding your dream job.

The workshop included career direction, what sort of careers are found in hospitality and conservation, where to find work, how to apply for a job, cv advice, social media presence and much more. The students were very interactive, and many were taking notes which was great to see. They were also given a presentation by the Timbavati K9 unit & the state vet.

At the end of the presentations that took place they had the opportunity to go to talk to the experts and many of the students came to speak to me at the end with some really great questions. What was really special to see was how many of them want to do something to help conservation and help animals.

Just some of the jobs that they were interested in was anti-poaching, dog grooming, wildlife rehabilitation. Many are keen to find out more about working in the lodges in the wildlife areas and some of the local Timbavati lodges attended the day to talk to the students about what they can expect from lodge life.

It was so special to interact with the next generation and I went away from the day feeling really hopeful. This is definitely the start of many of these events that we will get involved in, and I shared a recorded version of my workshop for them to refer back to and for the schools to use as a resource which I’m sure will be a big help to their students who are able to look for jobs.

If you want to find out more about Kings Camps community and conservation efforts this can be found on our website here.

Written by Hayley Cooper, Assistant Manager – Kings Camp