Veterinary student, Mia, booked a three-week veterinary intern experience at our wildlife sanctuary in Malawi and had the most enriching and wonderful time!

If you’re looking for university credit or a working veterinary holiday and you are studying Veterinary Medicine, our internship will give you a huge range of exotic and everyday wildlife experiences.

Here’s what Mia had to say about her time in Malawi:

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My ratings:
Overall volunteer experience: 10
Programme Administration: 10
Living Situation: 10
Impact on wildlife and communities: 8

Why did you decide to join the Veterinary Intern Experience in Malawi?
I wanted to gain some experience in wildlife veterinary medicine, do some kind of volunteer project and travel to unique parts of Africa. While researching on the internet I found the Malawi vet internship programme and it sounded very appealing to me.

What was your overall impression of the internship?
I had so much fun during my stay in Malawi. All the other volunteers and staff members were so kind and made every day a great day. It was very well organized, the local vet included us vet students in every procedure he had planned and we got to learn a lot about caring for animals in general. Apart from working there is also enough time to go on trips and experience more of Malawi.

What activities did you enjoy the most?
Working with the vet and off-work activities with the other volunteers.

What was your most memorable experience?
Hyena capturing at night with wild hyenas, and being able to release animals back into the wild after treatment and hospitalisation.

Tell us about your experience with the project staff and other volunteers:
All the staff members were so kind and friendly and I felt like I was “home” after just one day. They always made sure we were having a good time and enjoying ourselves during our stay and in case of any problems somebody was always there to talk to. The other volunteers I met during my time in Malawi quickly became good friends. We always had fun while working, we had fun game and movie nights, we went on trips together and they made my time more than perfect.

Tell us about the accommodation and food:
2-3 people share a bedroom (boys and girls separately) with single beds, and a big cupboard each. The general volunteer house, which is basically a big dining and living room, provides space to spend time with all the volunteers and there are lots of games, books as well as a beamer for great movie nights. The cook prepared lunch and dinner from Monday to Saturday for us and usually he also prepared something for Sunday, although this was his day off. There was only vegetarian food and it was really very delicious. For breakfast everybody just helped themselves and the kitchen is always open if you want to have a snack, water, tea or coffee.

Do you have any advice for future Veterinary Interns?
Working with wildlife is always very unpredictable and you never know which animals you are going to be treating. Maybe you will have to deal with lions, elephants, cheetahs or rhinos, but most likely you will be treating monkeys, birds, antelopes, pangolins, hedgehogs or hyenas. Of course, that’s great too!

And another thing..

I went on a Safari in South Luangwa National Park with Misuku Expeditions. I would just like to add, that this safari was also just perfect and I would definitely recommend going there if you are somewhere nearby.

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If you are a student already on a veterinary pathway or a fully qualified vet, our Veterinary Intern Experience is definitely something to consider to further your studies or expand your skills and knowledge. University credits are available and you can also conduct thesis research.

Vet Interns will work under the guidance of one of the wildlife vets on a mixture of activities including:

• Diagnostics
• Preventative health checks under sedation
• Parasite management
• Other treatment plans
• Basic husbandry (providing correct nutrition and safe, stimulating environments for a range of species),
• Enrichment (ensuring the mental and physical health of our animals)
• Integrations (ensuring good social health, particularly in primates)

You will also learn vital skills in the rehabilitation and care of wildlife. Learning how to care for wildlife is vital for wildlife vets to ensure that they can identify baseline health parameters for a range of species, identify behavioural change and pick up on sick and injured animals quickly.

All of these tasks will help build important skills for Interns. There is also the time during the afternoons for interns to work on personal projects as stipulated by their universities.

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Orphan season Vet Intern special offer!!

All veterinary interns joining the sanctuary between October 2023 and January 2024 will save 10% on stays of 2 or 3 weeks, and 15% on stays of 4 weeks or longer. 

Pricing for the project is as follows:

2 weeks: £1,370 (October – January projects: £1,233, save £137!)
3 weeks: £1,775 (October – January projects: £1,598, save £177!)
4 weeks: £2,235 (October – January projects: £1,900, save £335!)
5 weeks: £2,575 less 15%
6 weeks: £2,885 less 15%
8 weeks: £3,450 less 15%
10 weeks: £3,930 less 15%
12 weeks: £4,350 less 15%

All prices are in GBP.
Fees exclude admin fee of £40 per booking.

Prices are valid for projects of any duration, starting from 2nd October 2023 until 30th January 2024. For terms and conditions, please see below.

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** Special offer terms and conditions:

• Special offer applies to projects with a start date between Tuesday 2nd October 2023 – Tuesday 30th January 2024.
• The discount cannot be combined with any other promotional offer or discount.
• Offer applies to Malawi Wildlife Sanctuary Programme and Veterinary Internship bookings only.

If you’d like to join the vet team in Malawi, please click the link below! If you have any questions about the Veterinary Intern Experience or any of our other volunteer projects, please get in touch!

Click for project details

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