SHIMBA HILLS; Kenya. Anyone know much about it?. Looking to work at an orphanage there,wondered about safety?

Question

Any info., advice in relation to this area.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Good step you have taken,
The Project.
This project is based at the beautiful Nairobi National Park/Animal Orphanage .During your placement you may have the opportunity to work as far a field as the spectacular Aberdares National Park or in the tranquility of Shimba Hills.

Their Aims and Objectives .
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was established in 1989 to protect, maintain and develop Kenya’s natural environment and heritage

Veterinary Service
The goal of the veterinary unit is to offer wildlife veterinary service nationally to ensure stable/growing healthy populations of wildlife within Kenya, assist prevent habitat destruction by wildlife, and reduce human-wildlife conflict. Also to prevent extinction of rare species by establishing viable breeding groups.

About your work
Surveying and routine checks on sick animals: There are various shift patterns where volunteers will be able to assist, when this work is available. This may be early morning, evening or late at night.
Hive Mortality inspections: This will be participated on when there are many deaths within a certain group of animals, within a certain area. You and the team will have to check on diseases and how they are being spread.
Elective Disease Scanning: Teams will go out on different occasions to survey and monitor chances of diseases spreading through certain groups of animals.
Animal Translocation: This can range from Rhino to Elephant capture and translocation.
Darting of sick animals with antibiotics: To alleviate the unnecessary suffering of wildlife in the area. If there is a reported sighting of a snared or injured animal you will have the opportunity to observe or assist with these practical wildlife immobilization exercises.
Written reports for the Veterinary team and the KWS: This will continually be done through out the year.
To help update and improve the new database: If you have any computer skills then this would be advantageous.
Training and Learning: You will be given advice by a qualified warden as you go along your placement. This will be in the form of on the job training, so you will need to use a lot of initiative.
Miscellaneous Work: Any other work which will be a benefit to the KWS and its Veterinary Team. This could be anything from pushing paper in the office to building a fence, or digging a waterhole. Your work will generally depend on what is needed at the time you're there

Accommodation
The headquarters for the Veterinary team is based in Nairobi. Accommodation in Nairobi will be in a house for volunteers, located a comfortable 5 minute drive to the headquarters and 10 minutes from the exciting city centre. The house has all the usual facilities and is located in Langata, a surburb of Nairobi. The house can accommodate up to 8 people, has 2 bathrooms and comes with all of the basic amenities. You will most likely share a room with other volunteers. There is a house help who will clean the communal areas, they will also prepare meals for you as well. All the shops you need are 5 minutes around the corner, including a launderette. A large super market is also 5 minutes down the road, in case you are missing any home comforts such as chocolate!

Although the Nairobi accommodation will be your base, the majority of your time will be stationed within the parks where the Veterinary team will be working. When you're working in the Parks, your accommodation can vary and you could stay for varying lengths of time in either guest accommodation, hotels, camping sites, and even KWS Bandas (see photo), until the mission is completed. The standard of accommodation is basic African and will give you a true African experience.
The duration of your time away from the Nairobi base will be decided by the KWS, depending on how long they would like you to be on the specific project. This could be for a few days or even up to one month.
Your food will be provided and again will vary, depending on where you're living. Meals could be very basic and at time you may only have two meals a day (a hearty breakfast and dinner), with snacks and biscuits during the day.

Safety
It is safe in Kenya although general safety rules must be applied anywhere in the world

Best wishes .

Answer 2

Hi there, The Shimba Hills is a very nice little reserve south of Mombasa. The orphanage must be relatevely new as I do not know of one in shimba, there is an anex to Shimba called Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary. I am from Kenya and lived directly below Shimba on the coast for 28 years! Shimba is safe and obviously any security precautions should be adhered to as the local community are VERY poor and unemployment is high so do NOT flash valuables, money, etc. around and respect the local culture. You should have a lot of fun there and also visit other bigger game parks for different experiences. The one main attraction with Shimba is that you will only find the Sable Antelope in this park and one other (Can't remember the name of the other!), so look out for them.

I envy you going there, as I have only been home once in the last 10 years!

Safari Njema (Safe trip!)

Answer 3

The Shimba Hills which has a game sanctuary is south of Mombasa. It is a very nice place to stay, but I do not know of the orphanage, whether it is a childrens or animal orphanage, so can't help you there with what the set up will be. Kenya is usually a quite safe place to be, although usual precautions have to be taken when going out at night, as there is or can be muggers about.(same as anywhere these days) You will really enjoy it there as the people are very friendly and english is widely spoken so communicating with the local people is not a problem. I hope that this helps. If you get the chance try to visit" Haller Park" at Baburi just north of Mombasa, You will not be disapointed. Have fun and enjoy the experience.

Answer 4

It depends on whether you are working with kids or animals obv...but as long as you're sensible and obey any rules the guys who run the place set you should be fine.
[I know one orphanage thats relocated down there that I worked with near Athi River]
The rules where I was boiled down to dont go of the compound after dark, and always carry a flashlight