My name is Meghan and I am a Senior in NRES with a concentration in Fish and Wildlife conservation. Over winter break in 2018-2019, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Tanzania. This trip was guided by Wildtrax’s explorations and they focused on human-wildlife conservation management. I chose this program because I wanted to see and explore Africa. I also wanted to learn more about their human-wildlife dynamics as they differ greatly from the wildlife conflicts we have here in the United States, as well as how they manage them. 

After arriving in Tanzania, we moved out of the city areas into the bush. My favorite aspect of this trip is that we were 100 percent immersed in the environment. We arrived at Tarangire National Park where we set up our camp. On our first night in the park, we had a few visitors while we were eating dinner! A herd of elephants stopped to graze along our campsite. Our campsite was our classroom as many of our discussions took place around a campfire or dinner table. 

However, we did most of our learning on the move, guided through each park in the safety of safari vehicles. We were able to get up close to elephants, giraffes, zebras, and much more. We learned about each animal's preferences from grazing sites to mating areas, as well as how humans impact their movements. Each species interacts and impacts humans differently, and in Tanzania this could be life or death situations for both. 

One interaction we learned about was between lion populations and Masai villages throughout the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. This was taught to us by lion researcher, Ingela Jansson. Her project within the crater is called Kope Lion. She works alongside the Masai in the crater to create a sustainable human-lion coexistence. She taught us about her research, community engagement, and educational programs. 

While we may have spent most of our days in trucks touring each national park, we had opportunities to get out and stretch out legs. These opportunities took place towards the end of our trip in Enashiva Nature Refuge. The opportunities were walking transects, camera trapping, and scat/track identification. Walking transects were used to estimate species population within the nature refuge area. The information we collected was then given to Enashiva to use to monitor their species populations. Camera trapping and scat/track identification also helped us identify species that may not have been present while we were doing our transect lines. 

I am grateful for my experiences and all the knowledge I gained from this study abroad trip. If you love being outside, camping, and experiencing nature firsthand, this trip is for you! You will never have a classroom environment quite like this one. This trip was filled with many lessons from wildlife management to cultural awareness. After this trip, I went on to learn swahili (the native language) and I hope to go back to Tanzania to work on future research projects on human-wildlife interactions.