The “field studies” part of this program really kicked into high gear this week. I went on my first trip to the African
savanna to identify animal scat and learn about stratification between
different animal groups. I also went to Lake Manyara National Park for the
first time and experienced a game drive as well as taking observations out in
the field. And for policy, my whole class got to take some of the PRA
(Participatory Rural Appraisal) techniques we learned and conduct our own
interviews and transect walks.
The
highlight was definitely driving around Lake Manyara National Park. We went on
Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, and our professors gave us pretty simple
assignments—probably because they knew we wouldn’t be able to concentrate too
well when there was the possibility of seeing an elephant at every turn. For
Thursday, we only had to make detailed observations of animals we saw in
preparation for a short research paper, and on Friday we had to spend at least
two hours with several different baboon troops observing their behavior. When
we’re out in the field taking notes or driving around, I keep thinking about
how these classes are pretty much like Field Natural History African Edition.
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| Blue monkeys |
The way we
drive around the parks is part of what makes the whole experience really fun.
The tops of the cars come off (some come all of the way off and others come up
enough for you to stand but still have a roof) and you stand on the seats with
your upper body out of the car. Then you drive around looking for animals. It
is incredibly exhilarating, especially when you’re scanning the grassland or
forest for anything that moves. I suppose you could sit while you weren’t
observing anything, but that’s boring. You also can’t get out of the cars in
the park, but that’s fine because being up higher gives you a better vantage
point.
On
Thursday, we drove around pretty aimlessly, looking for anything to observe. My
car saw a lot of creatures: hornbills, blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, baboons,
zebras, wildebeest, impala, warthogs, cape buffalo, ostriches, giraffes,
elephants, and hippos. I decided to write my research paper on the grouping patterns
of warthogs because I saw a lot of them. I think seeing the zebras, elephants,
warthogs, giraffes, and ostriches were the coolest, but having the chance to
get to know a bit about all of the things we saw through observation definitely
made the experience more enjoyable and purposeful than just sitting and
watching.
On Friday,
I was lucky enough to be in the car Kioko, our Wildlife Ecology professor, was
driving. I got an incredible amount of information from him about baboons and
the species of plants they were eating. After knocking out our two hours of
observations, Kioko took us on a short game drive, where we saw more ostriches,
giraffes, zebras, and our first national park kill, which was a dead frog that
a bird had just caught. This bird was pretty dumb, though, and couldn’t figure
out how to swallow the whole frog. We watched for about 10 minutes without him
making any progress, and then had to drive back to the park entrance.
We’re going
back to Lake Manyara (just the outskirts and not the park itself) on Tuesday
for another Wildlife Ecology class, which I am really excited for. We also have
our first paper for WE due on Friday, which I am less excited for, but so far it’s
been going well. All of the academics are really interesting and engaging. We
had a good discussion in Policy about the pros and cons of building a highway
through the Serengeti, and after birding for Ecology, Kioko and I had a
discussion about population growth and living sustainably in Africa.
For my next
post, I hope to write about the experience I had with my practice PRA project.
I won’t call it a highlight, but it was certainly a learning experience. This
past week, I have become more and more happy to be here studying in Tanzania.
I’ve always felt quite comfortable and at home in Moyo Hill, but I’ve really
been caught up in a wave of excitement for what I’m doing!
Until next time,
Savanna
Savanna
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