Dr Joel Alves is a wildlife veterinarian with some WILD stories to tell. You can be sure to see him throughout the Greater Kruger region where he races between numerous rhino dehorning operations and performs life-saving treatments in the field on all sorts of animals, from small antelope species to elephants. He has flown in planes with sedated lions (or not so sedated...) and African wild dogs en route to their new home, and he has had the enormous privilege of working on forest elephants in the Wild West of Africa - the Congo. We spent a few weeks trying to pin him down purely because of his fast-paced lifestyle, which is fuelled equally by passion and his superhuman energy levels, so a big thank you to Joel for joining us for a beer and a chat! 

Mike Grover is back for more on this episode, adding insight and perspective from his field of expertise in human-wildlife conflict and environmental health. An invaluable member of this conversation, thank you Mike!

As always, this episode is mingled with a bit PG 13 humour, but most of all we hope it entertains our listeners and stokes that little fire for Africa in our hearts.

Thank you, too, to Katherine Kuntz and John Dixon (guests on episode 4) for joining us again, and a special mention to JD for leading us in song at the end! 

Be sure to follow Joel on Instagram and see some of the crazy stuff he gets up to, saving wildlife alongside a team of excellent ground-based and aerial conservationists: https://www.instagram.com/the_conservation_vet/