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Common Enemy, Trash.

On the 15th of July the Mentors and YATZ met again for the second of our workshops post lock down at the picturesque Brighton beach. After a few warm ups and energizers, we met up with the wonderful people of…

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Rainforests and their Birds

On the 10th of July, the YATZ group were reunited at Adelaide Zoo for the first workshop after quarantine. Todays workshop’s theme was Rainforests and their birds. We started by being sorted into groups, by being given different animal sounds…

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The Unicorn of Vietnam

Since the YATZ program has gone online, the Mentor team have been developing conservation-based activities for us to engage with at home. Last month, we had the opportunity to get creative and learn about a particular endangered animal that interested…

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YATZ Online: Endangered Animal Activity

The activity that I created for YATZ Online was Endangered Animal Artwork! In this activity, the YATZ were tasked with researching and writing about an endangered animal that they didn’t know much information on and then creating an art piece…

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YATZ : The Move Online

The temporary closure of the zoo and the country going into lock down proved to be a challenge for the mentor team. We had to come up with ways to bring the ‘At The Zoo’ from ‘Youth At The Zoo’…

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YATZ Going Online

The idea began during a Skype call in late March, involving our mentor team and the coordinator. We are all passionate about conservation and agreed that we wanted to continue educating and inspiring the YATZ throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Together…

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Beach Clean Up Workshop

The beach cleaning workshop overall was a very enjoyable day! We walked from the Brighton railway station to the Brighton jetty and started of playing a game to divide us into 4 groups – which involved mimicking the sounds of…

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My first year as a Mentor

On Friday the 20th of December, the first YATZ cohort in the discovery program, newly named achinyamata ku zoo, had its final workshop for the year.  For me this was a full circle moment as I can remember being named…

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Soaked In Knowledge

It was my first official day of volunteering at Adelaide Zoo’s within the Natives department, as a part of the YATZ Discovery Program. Despite the heat and sweat I was provided with that day, all I could think of was…

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Twilight Zoo

Twilight zoo was held Wednesday the 27th of November and was run from 5:30pm to 8:00pm with three thousand people attending! A twilight zoo event is held at night and the zoo is hired by an organisation for a private…

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Monarto Zoo Elective

Today I had my first zoo elective with the natives at Monarto Zoo, there is four YATZ in total within this elective. When we arrived, we were sent out to collect salt bush for the suck nest rats. Once we…

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YATZ contribution to Bat Camp

On the 9th and 10th of October YATZ members had the opportunity to volunteer at a bat camp held at Botanic Park. Children and parents who attended bat camp had the opportunity to participate in 5 activities; Bat Flight, which…

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Pygmy Blue Tongues

Through the Natives Elective at Monarto, I had a really cool opportunity to set up new, larger enclosures for the Pygmy Blue Tongue Lizards. The first thing we had to do was build the enclosures out of some sheets of…

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Adelaide City Council Bat Camp

On the 9th and 10th of October a collection of YATZ, Grem (a fellow mentor) and I partnered together to represent the zoo at the popular school holiday event – Bat Camp! Run by Adelaide City Council, Bat Camp is…

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Morialta Falls Offsite Workshop

When we arrived the zoo, we didn’t know where we would be going for the day, only knowing what to bring and wear. The mystery and excitement created an enthusiastic atmosphere, helping everybody get in the mood for some hard…

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Birds Elective at Adelaide Zoo

As an additional perk of being a part of YATZ, we were allowed to partake in two electives involved with Adelaide and/or Monarto Zoo. One of the electives involves working within the bird department at Adelaide Zoo. I was lucky…

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Education Elective

In the discovery program this year, one of my electives was education. On the training day we followed along one of the Zoocation programs. We started the day by meeting outside Gate 3 with the kids and then got a…

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Being a YATZ Member

So far as a part of YATZ, I have experienced many new things in and out of the zoo. The camp allowed me as a new member to get to know a lot of people and create many new friendships….

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New Friends and Stories

Rocking up to Adelaide Zoo for the first YATZ session since Tisamale ended was exciting. As a person who was continuing with the program, I was keen to meet and become close friends with the second half of the years…

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Tisamale Family

The trip to Australia was an amazing and so exciting. I met lots of people who were friendly, courteous and they obviously loved what they did. We created a strong relationship with our friends in Australia. Each day whenever I…

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One Big Tisamale Family

The whole of Tisamale we (the Zambian students) were called ‘Dingoes’ as there were 30 in the conservation club at Chipembele and just only 14 spots for the trip to Australia. The remaining students who weren’t able to travel to…

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You + Me = We

We, as a Tisamale family, have really showed the world what determined young individuals can do in the conservation field. ‘Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better’, this is a quote by a man with double…

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Tisamale Event Coordinators (TEC)

Its no secret now that the Tisamale Global Exchange was a phenomenal success. However I believe that is was the preparation and lead up to the three weeks which was the most impressive part of the whole exchange – The…

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Painted stories becoming my reality

My thoughts of Tisamale before meeting the Chipembele students and staff were mainly just painted from stories, campaigning flags and a couple of skype calls. Meeting this bunch of young conservationists was just a dream, it never really felt real…

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Innes National Park, Truly Magical

There is something truly magical about Innes National Park. Whenever we spend time doing conservation work at this amazing part of the world, we all develop a deeper bond and friendship with each other. This time was no different –…

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Presenting outside zoo gates

Parris and I took Jacob, Micara, Benson and Fanny to the Barossa last night to present at Rotary Club. The crowd was super super enthusiastic, joining in some songs and dance and even buying 10 flags (in the patterns of…

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Tisamale Exceeding Expectations

Tisamale has exceeded my expectations time and time again during this amazing exchange. However, like all ambitious and extraordinary things it wasn’t without its challenges. Of course, there was the initial challenge we set for ourselves which was to get…

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Two Families Becoming One

On the 28th of April, the YATZ, MATZ and Dingoes met up at Belair National Park. We formed a giant circle, where we exchanged dance moves and songs. After a Q and A session with the CFS, we split into…

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Tisamale Cultural Experience

MATZ took the Zambians through the city, visiting our some of our iconic locations! It was a day full of firsts – for some their first time in a big city, first time smelling a rose, first time on a…

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MATZ hosting experience

I can honestly say that I was so excited to welcome Brian and Amos into my home. And when they got there, it was awesome. My family were so interested in learning all they could and so were Brian and…

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2 Countries, 1 Cause, 1 Family

Here’s a lil somethin’ somethin’ from me about the bonding that I’ve seen between the dingoes and the YATZ ??? About 25 YATZ. And 14 Dingoes. 2 separate groups connected solely by letters sent and stories told. The night of…

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The beginning of the dream

We all meet at Adelaide airport and everyone was so excited with smiles crosses their faces. It was hard to believe that the Zambians are actually on the other side of that door about to burst through to meet us….

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Quiz Night; MATZ Triumph

We can breathe now. The stress is over. Tisamale Quiz night has finished. But not only did it just ‘finish’, it triumphed. My role on quiz night was to make sure everyone had the chance to buy raffle tickets and…

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Quiz Night Extravaganza

Stress was felt by everyone in the group as the night neared, we needed this night to be a successful, entertaining and memorable for our supporters attending…. We had a rocky start, we had some technical difficulties and our eftpos…

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The power of a team makes a dream

The path to achieving a dream is never straightforward; but its how we respond and work through challenges together which makes the achievement so much more magnificent. Over time in the program, MATZ have learnt through countless occasions that conservation…

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MATZ February MZ Camp

The MATZ piled into the cars and headed for Monarto, keen to get the afternoon started. When we arrived, we started planning for quiz night and made our own pizza’s! Taking down the flags was a little sad, but it…

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YATZ Making a Difference

On the second day of camp YATZ, had the opportunity to pick up rubbish along the barrier of the zoo, our aim was to pick up rubbish and take note of overhanging trees along the barrier and take a photo…

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My Magical Experience

One evening after a hot day, the bats who call Botanic Park home started to communicate with each other about the journey to find food. Slowly they started getting louder and louder. I was with a group, we started to…

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Face Painting YATZ

Three YATZ Members had their first training session in learning how to be a part of the volunteer face painting. Charlize, Karlie and Jade were very enthusiastic, quick learners and most importantly enjoying themselves in the process, practicing on arms…

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Tisamale Quiz night

Tisamale Quiz Night (click above link to book a ticket) Our Quiz night on 16th February is our final fundraising opportunity to reach our goal. In just a few months, the Zambians arrive, and to accompany their fundraising efforts of…

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Congratulations MATZ

Feedback from Innes National Park The calibre, enthusiasm and conservation ethic of the MATZ, and even the YATZ, are like nothing I have ever seen before – and I have worked with a lot of groups over the past 14…

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Campaigning with Faith

Reminiscing on October’s successful campaigning and on how unbelievably far we have all come in a short amount of time, exhilaration and readiness overcame me – I couldn’t wait to campaign. With a target goal of 75K, we have raised…

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Chipembele stories

We absolutely cant wait for their arrival! only months now. YATZ and MATZ have been campaigning to raise the funds to host the upcoming 3 week adventure. Youth supporting youth on a global scale Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust Your daily…

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Ambassador December Report

The Ambassadors program in December was a time of festivities. It is always an exciting and liberating time when I am able to go to Adelaide Zoo, behind the scenes to help out, but there was something about the month…

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The challenges of different perspectives

I was motivated to write by constantly seeing people’s discussion about animals and zoos in social media. We are all so individual in how we think and act; the world having billions of different perspectives. Sometimes a different perspective from…

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Joining the MATZ team

My heart was racing. I could feel the blood quickly flowing through my veins. I was nervous but excited. This was my first official camp as a MATZ and I was nervous about the hard work, but excited about the…

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MATZ Tribe doubles in 2019

Catching up as we waited for our almighty chariot to arrive to take us to our coastal destination, running around the supermarket collecting supplies, laughing about our secret “talents”, taking snack breaks leant up against the bus in the warm…

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Poetry in motion

Ant like specks appear in the far distance of the windswept wild coast called West Cape Beach. With passing time the specks grow into human form wending tiredly their return from their beach sojourn. Soft sand teases with each step…

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Chopping Down Trees for Nature

When we were told we’d be clearing vegetation at Innes National Park, in the Yorke Peninsula, we were a bit confused. After all, it’s a bit of an oxymoron to be cutting down trees for conservation, in a national park…

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Reflecting on 2018

This year I was grateful to be one of the four original YATZ to return as a YATZ for my senior year at school. As you all know, year 12 is a stressful year. But YATZ allowed me to find…

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A MATZ Adventure Room experience

12 MATZ. Two rooms. One hour. With only half an hour on the clock, two groups of six MATZ competed against each other to escape from their room first at Adelaide’s Adventure Rooms. For those of you that don’t know,…

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Launching our campaign

Our campaign kicked off with a wonderful start, with the first day on the 28th of October resulting in 145 flags sold! The MATZ worked this day, having a great time spreading the message of Tisamale too to anyone interested!…

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Flags that will change lives

A 9am start and a 12 pm finish. 3 hours was all it took, 3 hours of Zambian fun, self made presentations flag preparation and of course snacks throughout. The YATZ have been, and will continue to be an invaluable…

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Flying flags that connect continents

 These beautifully patterned and coloured chitenge flags, have been handmade by a local tailor in Mfuwe, named Esnart, supporting fair trade and the surrounding community. To celebrate the union of young global conservationists and Tisamale Part one, MATZ, Conservation…

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Ripples from Zambia

Zambia provided experiences which I could only have dreamed of before this exchange. From tracking lions to dancing with local Zambians in parades, every day was something different. However, there was one day that I will never forget. Just as…

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Ambassador September Report #2

Being part of the Ambassador program is one of the best experiences in my life because not every 15, 16 or 17-year old gets to volunteer in a well know zoo and work right along side the professionals who guide us…

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Ambassador September Report

I arrived at the zoo nice and early, and the sun was actually shining which contrasted to the rest of my wintry shifts. Always a highlight of mine is working at animal encounters and see the delight and fear of…

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Inside the world of Cheetah

Scrambling off the bus, YATZ eagerly awaited their upcoming task. Greeting them were the soft canary calls of the fastest land predator on earth, echoing out across the Australian ‘savannah’. Marching forwards we distributed amongst ourselves buckets, rakes and gloves….

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Fencing in Wild Africa

It was time for our first big hands on job for the weekend. We split into two groups and loaded onto the buses, one bus stopped at the edge of Wild Africa while the other one continued on. Our bus…

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Night magic

As I stepped off the bus my heart pounded with excitement and a touch of fear. The moon glowed brightly down upon everyone who looked up at it. With every intake of cool fresh air, my fears faded away. There…

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Story telling about Zambia

After a 48 day hiatus, the YATZ and MATZ were reunited to hear the wonderful and fascinating stories that the MATZ were to share about their inspirational African journey. Aided by a masterfully designed presentation with lots of exciting photographs…

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Ambassador August Report

Ambassador to me is so great! Most Saturdays I come in and also for most of the holidays, you will find me here. For me, the zoo is a safe place. I love seeing children laugh and families creating memories….

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Pen Pals in Zambia

Before our dedicated MATZ embarked on their journey to Zambia, the YATZ took to writing letters for the members of the conservation club. We each took a clipboard with a name on it and started writing. I loved seeing everyone…

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MATZ return from Zambia

Back with inspired, grown, lessons learnt, resilience built and totally culturally immersed young people filled with authentic stories, the MATZ have returned from 3 weeks in Zambia having made an enormous impact that is still rippling through the village of Mfuwe in…

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Ambassador July Report

I had an incredible time in my first Ambassador shift, where I was thrown in to awesome hands on work in the Nursery. The first task we tackled was cleaning out the goat’s behind the scene rest area, which involved…

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Returning Home DAY 23

The day we left was filled with so many emotions, it was hard to say whether I was happy or sad. I was keen to get home and see my family, but it meant saying goodbye to an amazing group…

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Hey, that’s not your meal! Day 18

The Zambian Carnivore Project (ZCP) is an amazing organization that researches carnivorous species within Zambia – observing their social structures, interactions and abundance. We had an amazing opportunity to go on a field trip with ZCP, specifically to conduct lion…

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The colours of Zambia EVERYDAY

Driving down the main street everyday, I admired the colourful ‘chitenge’ fabrics that the women wore. They were all bright and unique, and made the dusty roadsides so vibrant. The fabric was so normal to the Zambians, but so exciting…

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Zambian Village life Day 4

It was officially our fourth day in Zambia and MATZ was heading back to high school to experience “A Day in the Life” of a Zambian Student. School starts bright and early at 7am and finishes at 1.20pm with a…

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Hosted in a Mfuwe Village DAY 4

I had the opportunity to visit Brian Banda’s school and family. After attending school with him and participating in lessons I walked with Brian, back to his house and meet his family.  His mother was a lovely person, and she…

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Eating like a Zambian DAY 3

A huge part of Zambian culture that was so different to Australian was the staple food – Nshima. Made of ground maize called mielie meal, it is mixed with water over coals and served piping hot alongside “relishes” made of…

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Arriving in Mfuwe DAY 1

As we walked the tarmac from our last plane to the airport, each of us buzzing with equal part excitement and nervousness, we entered the airport and were somewhat dumbfounded as the huge group of people we were told would…

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Gifts from YATZ for Zambia

Hands were coloured, socks were dyed, letters were written – Team YATZ were participating in as much of Tisamale Part 1 as they could by preparing hand made gifts for the MATZ to hand deliver to the Zambian students. Great…

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Ambassador June Report

Waking up early, a rush of excitement washes over me because it’s the day. It’s the day I will yet again walk up the paths of greenery and take the quiet bus of the morning. The fresh cool and thin…

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Careers Insights

On the 26th of May our YATZ group had a careers workshop during which we a few guests spoke to us about their jobs in conservation. These are some who’s jobs really opened my eyes when it comes to the…

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Ambassador MAY Report

I’d like to take this time to thank you again for the given opportunity of being a part of the Ambassador Training Program because every time I’m at the zoo working I feel the happiest and most passionately driven to…

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The dream career paths ahead

What an amazing inspiring career path we were privileged to gain insight into on our Careers Day. Thank you to internal and external panel of experts in the field of conservation who volunteered their time to make a difference and inspire our…

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Joey Spam

MORE JOEY SPAM Recently, my favourite part of my ambassador shifts have been working with the two joeys located in the Children’s Zoo. Winnie is an 18 month old joey and  looks huge against Scarlet who is still very young and dependant on  the…

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I’m nearly there…

Wow, I’ve almost completed ambassador training in the Envirodome, and it already feels amazing. This means I have completed each of the required tasks four times and I now understand the purpose and steps to complete each task. My Working…

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From a MATZ point of view

The most rewarding part of being one of the Mentors at the Zoo is being able to meet all of the Youth at the Zoo members, and seeing how well they interact with both each other and the program. As…

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The storytelling process

Just a lil somethin somethin about the prep we have been doing for our MATZ presentations in front of the Monarto volunteers on Saturday. A late night or two, a tonne of photos for an epic powerpoint, plenty of ideas and bunch…

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MATZ Intensives

Over the period of two intensive overnights; MATZ have been busy planning and preparing for our life changing adventure to Zambia. Our overnight spent at Monarto Safari Park, on the 24th to 25th of March, consisted of MATZ getting an…

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Ambassador April Report

Quokkas have always been my favourite native Australian animal, and with the Ambassador program, I get to hang out with these gorgeous creatures every time I volunteer at the zoo. During my shift on the 20th, Lucas and I were…

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WOW the CFS

Our last YATZ workshop was based in Belair National Park, and after a few games, we had the CFS come and tell us about what they do. We learnt about the truck that carried 3000 litres of water, which would only last for…

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Australia Bound!

A note from Anna Tolan, Director of Chipembele…. It has been a gruelling three months for our Saturday Conservation Club students undertaking the “Australia Challenge” to earn one of 14 coveted spots on the upcoming Tisamale Global Exchange! During Term…

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The final 14 revealed

Chipembele’s own Cinematographer Samson Moyo has created this video about our Conservation Education Exchange program between two countries, Zambia and Australia. This program is a conservation partnership between Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust and Zoos South Australia. MATZ head over in just…

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Camp reflections

Boy oh boy! What an incredible couple of days we have had as a family! After doing my own personal reflection on the last couple of days, I came to the conclusion that this camp has been my favourite by…

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REAL beach impact at Innes

After an exhausting morning of walking after we popped a bus tyre, the group dug deep to head out to the beaches and keep making a difference. Our beach walks were both to enjoy leisure time as well as completing…

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Fencing removal to save animals

It was the second day at the gorgeous Innes National Park, early start but calm and relaxing morning. After breakfast, I was in the group that went with Mark (the Park Ranger) to remove old rusty fencing to stop the animals from…

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What makes us cheer!

On the 15th of April, the YATZ crew woke up nice and early on day 2 of our Innes National Park camp. After having breakfast, we were split into two groups. One of these groups loaded onto the bus to go…

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Time to go…..Polygala!

We all gathered around to learn from the Park Ranger at Innes National Park the difference between two plants – one a coastal native, the other and the quick-growing, and recasting weed; Polygala. Our job was simple: find and identify the weed and…

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In the beauty of the night

Jackets on and flashlights in hand, the group quietly made their way into the mystery of the cool night. It was dark and unknown but bravery and the support of the group was acquired to be able to lead. The…

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Introducing Tisamale

In just over two months, our seven MATZ (Mentors at the Zoo) will head off for a real, immersive conservation experience in Zambia with one of our Conservation Partnerships – Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust. These seven conservation uni and honours students are part of a two-year…

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Ambassador March Report

It always brightens my day when I cometo the zoo and see all the beautiful animals. This one special day I was doing an Ambassador shift and I was lucky enough to go into the penguin’s enclosure and help clean…

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Value adding to present like a pro

Over the last couple of months MATZ have had the opportunity to work closely alongside Matthew, a TEDX Adelaide Volunteer to build upon our public speaking/ presenting skills. Over three sessions we learnt about our individual strengths and weakness when…

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Having pride in our work!

For workshop 2 on the 18th March, we gathered at Adelaide Zoo, loaded on two buses and headed to Monarto. Our first task was to move logs to make a neat pile we were proud of. It included sorting good from bad…

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Stone wall success

We were then shown the last of the hands on activities for the day, through which we were able to continue building on our knowledge of teamwork, decision making and awareness of the others in the group. We were all…

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Modelling Soft Plastic

During our first workshop at Adelaide Zoo, our final activity for the day was the ‘Soft Plastics Fashion Show’. As all the YATZ members split off into four groups, the task of this activity was to create a beautiful item…

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Sharing the personal side

On our Team Building Workshop day on 18th February, the YATZ crew met for the first time we had all caught up since our induction camp and it was good to see everyone again. We did a lot of group activities…

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Workshop ‘Team building’

The YATZ members gathered together for their first workshop at Adelaide Zoo, slowly arriving at gate 3 in the beautiful weather. The Gibbons of Adelaide zoo calling out to each other and Banks the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo adding to the chorus…

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February Report

As of 2018, the YATZ Ambassador program now runs all week 9:30am to 12pm. For people who do not know what the Ambassador Program is, it is a program that runs similar to work experience, but it is exclusive to…

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GPS and Baiting in Innes

On our three-day resilience camp, the MATZ worked with Jasmine , a ranger who works in Natural Resources for the Northern and Yorke Region. Jaz’s knowledge of the ins and outs of Innes was astounding, and it was clear that…

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Beach clean-up at Innes

As part of the recent MATZ Resilience training camp, us Mentors undertook the park rangers’ duties along the beaches of Innes National Park. These duties were – fox baiting, Hooded Plover surveying, and clearing the beaches of litter. Although the…

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Inside TEAM MATZ

It’s amazing how trusting people can be when they’re suspended 15 metres above the ground and just a little bit stuck. Along with that, the 2 years of workmen together prior may have played a part. Two years ago, the…

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Sleeping under Immersion

After a very fun filled first day of camp, the MATZ crew gathered up their sleeping belongings and headed over to Immersion to swag out next to the Sumatran Tiger and Orangutan. To our fortune, we had the gorgeous Sumatran…

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MATZ MEGA Team Building

On the 31st of January the mentor team visited the ‘Mega Adventure Park’, located at West Beach, and tackled the epic team work challenge. This involved introductory mini games to promote and develop our team work skills, climbing the high…

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Monarto Magic at Night

After a couple of busy days out working hard for conservation and making new friendships, the 2018 YATZ were able to find their calm and reflect on their new/pre-existing connections to nature by venturing on a night walk and by…

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Induction Camp

The YATZ Induction camp overall was amazing. Meeting new people and everyone being so friendly, it was easy to just join in whatever they were doing/talking about. The top stand out, out of all the camp was the team work…

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Porcupine night watch

Porcupine night watch

After a long day of hard work and amazing memories made, many of our YATZ group settled in for the night or stayed up chatting. Some of us, though, had a special job: in groups of three, we signed up…

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About Zoos SA

Zoos SA is a not-for-profit conservation charity that exists to connect people with nature and save species from extinction. Zoos SA acknowledges the Country on which we stand always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land and we pay our deepest respect and gratitude to Kaurna (Adelaide Zoo) and Ngarrindjeri (Monarto Safari Park) Elders, past, present and emerging. We undertake critical conservation work throughout Australia and acknowledge the traditional custodians of these lands.

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