Volunteer Field Assistant
Positions
Role description
The Mandrillus Project is a
non-profit organisation aiming at longitudinally studying wild mandrills in
Southern Gabon. We are currently recruiting Volunteer Field Assistants for our
2018-2019 field season. These positions combine practical research with
training and are entirely field-based. The volunteers are trained by and work
alongside local field assistants, field managers, sometimes students and
researchers, contributing to the research activities of the Mandrillus Project.
Following established protocols, the fieldwork will primarily involve daily
follows of a natural population of mandrills on foot, collecting data on the
behaviour of individually recognisable animals, together with the collection of
non-invasive measurements and samples. Please visit the website of the project
to get an idea of the scientific programs that are currently running
(http://www.projetmandrillus.com/research-and-conservation.html).
Positions available
Two Volunteer Field Assistant
positions are currently available, each running for six months from March to August 2019.
What we cover
Once the volunteers arrive in
the field site, the Mandrillus Project covers all their work-related costs,
including accommodation (private equipped room with air-con and private
bathroom, shared kitchen) and a stipend for meals (about 200€/month). The
association will also cover the costs of the volunteers’ travel insurance. On
the successful completion of fieldwork, we also contribute a minimum of 150€
towards the cost of the volunteers’ travel fees.
Who are we looking for?
These positions are open to
all with an interest in animal behaviour
and ecology. We are particularly keen to hear from applicants who:
- Are friendly, easy-going people, happy to live in small team at a remote field site
- Are strongly motivated, reliable, honest and committed
- Have good levels of physical fitness and stamina - you will be following the mandrills on foot several hours a day, 6 days per week, over mountainous terrain, in heat
- Show good initiative, with a willingness to learn and show attention to detail
- French is a plus but not eliminatory
What do volunteers get out of
it?
- An amazing opportunity to share the lives of wild mandrills in an equatorial forest landscape
- An opportunity to learn new skills and gain experience, especially those relevant to research in behaviour and ecology
- An opportunity to be involved in a long-term project on African wildlife, hosted by an international research institution
- An opportunity to use this field experience with the Mandrillus Project as a stepping stone on to future Masters and PhD degree courses
- Experience a new culture and share knowledge with local assistants
Further information
For further details about
these positions, including the work involved, our living conditions in the
field, preparations prior to departure, and what to bring with you, please see
below (and additional information will be provided to successful candidates).
How to apply
If you would like to apply,
please prepare a CV and a detailed covering letter that should explain why you
would like to work on the project. The CV should include the names of two
referees with e-mail contact details.
Applications must be sent at projetmandrillus@gmail.com by 5:00
pm Sunday 23 December 2018. We will notify successfully shortlisted
candidates few days after this deadline, and interviews will be held in
Montpellier (for local successful candidates) or by skype from Monday 7 January 2019 to Friday 11 January
2019. Applicants should keep this date free for interview, since no other
dates will be available. Telephone/skype interviews will be possible for
overseas applicants.
* * * * * *
The Study Site
Weather
Gabon has an Equatorial
climate with little seasonality. Precipitations are important, almost every day
from October to May, and days may be hot (up to 30°C), although the Lekedi Park
benefits from a cooler weather because of its altitude (600m). The long dry
season, from June to September, is characterized by cool weather (temperatures
can fall below 18°C) with no precipitation.
Landscape
The Lekedi Park is characterized
by a mix of savannas and gallery forests interspersed with rivers and
riverbeds. Equatorial Marantaceae forests are found in the area.
Wildlife
The Lekedi park is home to a
variety of wildlife including forest buffalos, several Apes (chimpazees,
gorillas) and other primates (cephus, nictitans) and, of course, mandrills!
Predators include, occasionally, leopards (but don’t expect any encounter with
them!). Birds and reptiles also abound.
Location
The Lekedi park is located in Southern
Gabon. It is only a 1 hour drive from Moanda, the nearest town that comprises
hotels, petrol stations, banks, basic shops and markets.
Working Conditions
Daily and weekly work
schedules
Data collection requires
full-day follows of the study group. This ensures that the location of the
sleeping sites used by the mandrills each night is known, which in turn
facilitates their pick-up by observers early the next morning. If the day
begins late, or ends early, the mandrills can be lost and may take several days
to relocate. Each day, seven days a week, two teams (at least two persons)
alternate: the morning team leaves the camp at 5:45am and come back around 12:30pm
while the afternoon team starts at noon and come back at 6:30pm. A driver
brings every day the two teams by car the closest to the mandrills. When
mandrills are located with high confidence, the team enters into the forest and
starts following the mandrills. Field assistants work 6 half-days per week and
benefit from one day off per week during the entire stay.
Working with mandrills in the
Lekedi landscape
Observers and local field
assistants spend half the day on foot in the company of the mandrills in the
forest. Forested environments may be physically demanding because there are
often closed and hilly. Field team members travel (with small backpacks) up to
5-8km a day, ascending and descending small hills and slippery, muddy, slopes
as they follow the mandrills. The mandrills are habituated to the presence of
human observers, allowing data to be collected from close proximity without
causing disturbance, but observers must always act carefully and responsibly
when in the company of these wild animals. Data collection is largely conducted
with handheld computers. Faecal and urine samples are also collected on a routine
basis. On-site supervision and detailed guidelines will be provided describing
how to work with the mandrills in the forest.
Living Conditions
Accommodation
The fully-furnished,
air-conditioned rooms are located in a small research complex where the lab and
offices are. It is located at the entrance of the park near other houses: the
house of the managers of the project, the one of the director of the park and
another one for the vet of the park.
Food
Field team members prepare
their own food in the communal, fully-furnished kitchen located in the research
complex. Once every two weeks, the manager brings the field team members to
Moanda to buy food and supplies.
Telephone and e-mail
The Project has access to
wi-fi in the park available to volunteers (skype or facebook are, however, not
allowed as is movie download). The project covers the costs of the wi-fi
service. Field team members are advised to buy a local mobile phone chip when
they arrive in Libreville or in Moanda.
Visitors and vacation
Volunteers cannot make
arrangements to receive visitors during their stay at the Project (including
local visitors). In addition, tourists are not allowed to visit the study group
of mandrills. For vacations, volunteers need to plan to stay additional weeks
following their 6-month commitment to the project. In these cases, a visa
extension will be needed. Volunteers need to make their own arrangements.