Zvaka-naka Wild Vets is committed to excellence in provision of wildlife veterinary services and other support services to conservation in Africa. As part of a multi-disciplinary management team we offer holistic, practical solutions to a wide range of conservation problems on all levels.

Dr Chap Masterson is a full time wildlife veterinarian with considerable practical knowledge & experience in capture, managament, natural history & medical care of a wide range of african wildlife species. His family- wife Lisa and two sons, Huntley & Reilly- are partners in a personable, practical approach to conservation with value attached to ethics, commitment, compassion, pragmatism and lasting relationships. Always looking to improve his skills base, Chap is enroled to study a Masters Degree as a specialist Wildlife Veterinarian as well as participating in various national forums to better the conservation industry in Southern Africa.

As of january 2010 Chap and his family have relocated from Zululand, South Africa back to his homeland- Zimbabwe to assist with the considerable challenges facing conservation in the country. Chap is now a full-time employee of the Lowveld Rhino Trust (a local affiliate of the International Rhino Foundation) which is the lead NGO providing major financial, logistical, monitoring, veterinary and management assistance to the major portion of Zimbabwe's beleaguered national rhino population. Rhino populations throughout Africa are currently under serious poaching pressure and in many regions their numbers are in free-fall as conservation authorities battle to cope with a relentless and ruthless poaching onslaught.

Although our efforts are very much focused on support of rhino conservation we recognise that rhino populations cannot exist in a vacuum and so we continue to be involved in many aspects of African wildlife conservation including:

• Veterinary services & care for all wildlife species in support of public and private game reserves & conservation initiatives.
  

• Special interest tourism packages: aimed at giving a behind-the-scenes participatory experience of the realities of rhino conservation and management;
  

• Volunteer & student experiential education:
  As part of our commitment to education in conservation we have been running a student & volunteer program since 2007. We invite any interested person from gap-year students to veterinary students, or anybody else, who wants to experience conservation in action - behind the scenes, up close-&-personal - to join us on an experience of a lifetime.

  
  

• Zimbabwe dangerous drugs course: we are priviledged to be involved in and contribute to this world renowned course providing up-to-date theoretical and practical training in the use of drugs in chemical immobilisation of African wildlife;

• Conservation-community partnerships: we are dedicated to the promotion of proactive business-like partnerships between conservation initiatives and local communities to enhance understanding of, good-will towards and active participation in conservation initiatives by community members so as to promote long term sustainability of conservation efforts in the region. To this end we are investigating and involved in various initiatives ranging from community education and endowment schemes, sustainable protein production from wildlife through to full-partnership involvement of communities in conservation projects and businesses;

• Animal disease control: we see limitation of disease transmission at the wildlife-human-livestock interface as being of cruicial importance and so actively participate in the surveillance and quantification of disease risk as well as formulation of risk mitigation strategies to control diseases with serious potential impact on human health or livestock & wildlife health and production.
   
  
  

• Wildlife research projects: we are involved in several valuable research projects - click on the link to find out more.