Living Lands

Placement organization

Name of organization: Living Lands
Town/city: Kouga Dam, Patensie, Eastern Cape
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://livinglands.co.za/

Name of student: Joost van Heiningen

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: NGO
Organization’s activities: Living Lands is a not-for-profit organization for conserving and restoring living landscapes. A living landscape consists of a variety of healthy ecosystems and land uses, and is home to ecological, agricultural, and social systems which are managed so as to function sustainably. This ensures that natural and cultural resources are available for future generations and that the system is resilient for adaptation to climate change.
Target group of the organization: Dependent on the project
Company culture: The company exists out of 8 employees who are working on the mission described as above. Since restoring landscapes is a continues process, various people from different fields are needed in order to reach the set targets. In this process they attract many freelancers, Masters/Bachelor/PHD students who are fitting within the job that is needed to be done.
Number of employees: 8
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Tourism development in the Baviaanskloof. The Baviaanskloof is a Mega Reserve in South Africa. Within this canyon there is a lot of landscape degradation. This is a result of longterm unsustainable landusages such as overgrazing by farmers. The farmers living in the Baviaanskloof are aware of this and try to find more sustainable forms of income, such as eco-tourism. Thee students’ role in this company is helping the farmers with setting up a strong tourism prodcut in the Baviaanskloof.
Brief description of your daily activities: Data collection (both desk and field researh). Writing a synthesis out of collected data. Surveys. Mapping attractions, activities, accomodation etc.
Brief description of your company assignment: My company assignment consisted out of conducting a demographic survey of tourist travelling through the Baviaanskloof Nature reserve and write recommendations on how to target different demographic groups in the area in the most efficient way.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Satisfactory. There are two supervisors on location, who know what they are doing and are enthusiastic. It however is the case that it is a small NGO and my supervisors did not have a lot of time to help me due to their workload. Therefore, the supervision is satisfactory, but being able to work independently is a must.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? highly independent, highly flexible, resilient (every day is unpredictable in Africa)
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS office, drivers license. Extras: photgraphic skills and GIS/mapping skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages: All other languages are always an extra

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Accomodation is in the PRECENSE Learning Village, it will be arranged by the company
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? yes: Exchange or Research visa
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Embassy in the Hague (Start early, an exchange visa has a lot of requirements!!)
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1.5 months
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 1 month

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? English/Afrikaans (it is nice to understand the local language, it is quite easy to learn as a Dutch person)

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1000
Accommodation (monthly): € 200
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 200
Costs of visa: € 50
Costs of work permit: € 0
What did the company pay for/to you? The company is only paying for transportation for work related trips. The costs of living are extremely low since students are living in a deserted landlocked area (you can not really spend cash except of when you are going to do groceries). Students should keep into account that travelling in South Africa is cheaper than Europe, but still quite expensive for a third world country.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Reading news articles. Experiencing the country itself before starting with working.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes, the working pace is way lower here than in the Netherlands. There are many external factors which are influencing a students’ work in the PRECENSE Learning Village. (African kids, power cuts, internet cuts, helping others, baboons, etc)

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 123198@nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Apply for this internship! If you are accepted, make sure you have a clear idea of what you are going to do prior to your arrival. Talk with your supervisor about what your daily activities will be and how you could tackle it.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Hiking, discovering nature, surfing (Jeffrey’s Bay), Diving (Port Elizabeth), discovering the beautifull South African coastline.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link