Well, I'm finally back in Africa, on a fellowship in Zambia from August through early December. I've been fascinated with Africa for as long as I can remember. I went for the first time in the winter of 1994 on a family vacation to Kenya. That summer I went back and taught at a secondary school in Monduli, Tanzania, and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with a group of students from my high school in Dusseldorf, Germany. In the spring of 1998 I made it to Botswana, with the School for International Training's study abroad program to learn about Conservation and Ecology in the Kalahari Desert and Okavango Delta. For an independent study project I carried out a vegetation assessment to determine the health of grasses and trees at Mokolodi Nature Reserve outside Gaborone, Botswana, which allowed us to determine carrying capacities of herbivores on the 10,000 hectare fenced preserve. After graduating from Tufts University in 1999 I returned to Mokolodi and ran the vegetation assessment for a second time, teaching the methodology to local rangers which has since allowed them to carry out the annual study without outside help. During this trip I also served as Senior Environmental Educator at the Mokolodi Env. Ed. Center, teaching ecology, conservation, and the importance of Botswana's amazing natural heritage to local students from kindergarten through college. Since that time I've dreamed of doing real conservation work in Southern Africa, which The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have finally made a reality. Thanks for staying posted!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Fellowship

After two and a half years of shameless self-promotion, I finally convinced The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) Africa Program to send me all the way from North Carolina to Zambia to work with the Wildlife Conservation Society . My fellowship is be based out of Lusaka and WCS's research stations in the Nyimba/Luangwa Districts, a few hundred kilometers to the east. Check out the area in google maps. I'll be here from August 7th through early December. Stay tuned for stories, and photos!
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