Hiring Organization:
Wildlife Conservation Society - Congo Program
Date Posted:
2010-08-17
Position Description:
We are searching a field assistant for an ongoing study on the demography and visiting patterns of western lowland gorillas at Mbeli Bai, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).
Responsibilities include the daily monitoring (around 10hours) of gorillas and other large mammals (forest elephants, sitatungas, forest buffaloes,…) visiting the Mbeli Bai forest clearing. Further responsibilities include camp logistics, food orders, helping in training of Congolese research assistants.
There is also the possibility to participate in our conservation education program Club Ebobo in the primary schools around the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
Qualifications/Experience:
Essential requirements are high resistance to working for a long period in a remote rain forest, experiences in collecting behavioral data, and the ability to work in a small team (2-3 Congolese research assistants and 2-4 local assistants). This also means living on basic food and having limited email access (no internet and no telephone calls). Field-work requires a lot of patience because in contrary to following a habituated group we wait for the animals to come to visit the clearing which means that there can be hours and sometimes days without gorillas in the bai (but there will always be many flies!!!). Therefore the work demands high motivation and patience. Previous experience in individual identification of primates is of high advantage and applicants have to be prepared of a 3-month learning period of the large visiting population of more than 130 gorillas. This also means that applicants are expected to spend at least 1 year at the site.
Practical and technical skills required to maintain the camps technical infrastructure (eg. solar electricity, satphone, sw-radio) are of advantage. For communication with local assistants (Bangombe pygmies), basic skills in French or African languages such as Lingala are required and candidates with such skills will be preferred.
Salary/funding:
no salary provided but ALL costs associated with the successful completion of the position will be covered
Support provided for internship/volunteer positions (travel, meals, lodging):
The project will cover costs for visa and the expenses for domestic and international flights. This money will be reimbursed only AFTER SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION of a 12-month term of appointment.
The project provides food and offers lodging (in wooden houses) at the field site. Also expenses for food and lodging during the stay in Brazzaville will be covered by the project. Expenses for private field equipment, vaccinations, medical supplies and can NOT be covered by the project.
Term of Appointment:
12 months (starting between September and November 2010)
Application Deadline:
End of September, 2010
Comments:
For additional information on the study site, please have a look at:
http://wcs-congo.org/04science/03mbeli/index.html
Contact Information:
WCS-Congo
Avenue Charles de Gaule 151
Brazzaville, none BP 14537
Congo
Website:
http://www.wcs-congo.org
E-mail Address:
tbreuer@wcs.org