Proposals

So while Tanzania has been full of crazy adventures and cultural experiences I thought I might write just a bit about what school has been like over here, after all it is the reason I am here. There are three core classes that we take: wildlife management, wildlife ecology, and environmental policy. We are also taking a Kiswahili language and culture class, which has been a lot of fun. While everyday is different from the one before there is a schedule that, for the most part, we stick to. A typical week here at the field station is six days of academics and field exercises and then one off day. This past week for example we started off with a field exercise in Lake Manyara National Park (LMNP) (only about twenty minutes away). For the exercise we drove 2km transects and had to identified all species larger than a mongoose, and record their behavior, their distance to the land cruiser, their response to the land cruiser, flight distance, GPS coordinates and the habitat. We’ve now done this same exercise in three study areas (and SFS has done this for four years now) so we have been able to compare data and look at trends of certain species. The next day we had an environmental policy lecture on campus with a guest lecture and then spent the rest of the day doing community service, I went back down to the local primary school to continue working on the bathroom we have been building. The next day was spent working on assignments and I used that time to work on our assessment of village councils here in Rhotia (we had a focal group discussion with the council the week before).  The next day we had another field exercise in Mtu wa Mbu where we assessed the habitat of the wildlife corridor and we are now working on habitat management plans which will hopefully be taken to the local government. For the past three days now we have begun our directed research. Yesterday we found out which professor we would be joining and working with for the next month and a half. I got my first choice which was human-elephant conflicts with our wildlife management professor. I was really hoping to do some sort of predator-prey relation project or something to do with lions with our center director but it turns out that wasn’t even an option for a project. I am very happy either way to have gotten the project I did. Most of yesterday and today was spent reading articles and drafting my research proposal. We now have exactly two weeks left of classes. Well, really just three days because on Friday we leave for Serengeti and once we come back we have finals and then the next month is spent doing our directed research. Tomorrow is our only day off for the next two weeks so I plan on sleeping in.

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