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| Serengeti Migration, Horizon to Horizon |
I’m so excited to guest blog about my trip! My parents are leading lives of blog-worthy interest and
adventure, with added tidbits about Jack and me. My most recent
escapade took me to the place of my childhood dreams, Africa. Kenya and
Tanzania to be exact. My travel partner, Tom (my Masters thesis adviser), and I
had three goals: 1) present our research and host a session at the
biannual Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conference, 2) make contact with federal
agencies and NGOs regarding research opportunities, and 3) go on safari and
experience AFRICA! I have to say, we accomplished all three and then some…
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| Mount Kenya Safari Club Conference Center |
We began our journey at the Human Dimensions Conference in
Nanyuki, Kenya, a picturesque venue conveniently located on the equator with a
view of Mount Kenya, the tallest mountain in the country at 17,000 feet tall. I
asked some locals if they had ever seen snow and they said “Yes, I’ve hiked
Mount Kenya.” During
the conference we had the good fortune to visit a nearby animal sanctuary where
we interacted with ostriches, bongos, monkeys, tortoises, and the highlight for
me…a cheetah!
Following the conference we traveled 2 hours northwest to
spend a few days at the Mpala Research Centre and Wildlife Foundation. This
research facility was my dream come true, a place where great international
minds converge in the African bush to solve ecological conundrums. We set live
traps for small carnivores, tracked GPS-collared African wild dogs to their
den, and (my personal favorite) patrolled the grounds after dark to spotlight
for nocturnal animals. It is immensely thrilling to see a giraffe up close
while hanging out the top of a Land Cruiser with a spotlight in one hand and
bottle of wine in the other!  |
| Maasai Dwellings |
The rest of the trip was a safari adventure across the
iconic landscapes of Tanzania, including stays in Lake Manyara, Tarangire, and
Serengeti National Parks and the Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area. This place
is truly the cradle of humanity, where ancient human cultures and wildlife continue
to coexist at the confluence of forested volcanic calderas and tallgrass
savannah. We arrived in the Serengeti a few weeks into an annual wet season migration—one
of the last remaining mass migrations in the world—where millions of animals
follow seasonal rain storms hundreds of miles in search of green pasture. Driving
through herds of wildebeest, gazelles, zebras, eland, and impala that stretch
from horizon to horizon is a sight to behold, and not one I will soon forget.
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| Radiator Repair "Sweet Tea" |
Our trip was full of adventure and mishap. The Land
Cruiser we rented had seen better days as we were constantly repairing it and
picking up parts that fell off as we rode down the rough dirt roads. I love
tea, and thanks (depending on how you look at it) to British colonization, so
do East Africans. It’s a good thing too, because 8 tea bags and 6 liters of
water saved our Land Cruiser’s over-heated radiator in the middle of the
Serengeti. One of the Safari drivers who stopped to help us exclaimed, “You’re
all good, when you arrive in Seronera you will have sweet tea!"
It was the trip of a lifetime, and a catalyst for
the next stage in my career. Promising post-doctoral research opportunities
include evaluating the population status, genetic integrity, and movement
patterns of lions in Manyara National Park, Tanzania, or assisting local
communities in alleviating human-cheetah conflicts in Namibia. Stay tuned! ZoëSIDEBAR - Deb's Book Review of "The Mystical Backpacker" by Hannah Papp. Bought this book for Zoe and decided to read it while she was in Africa. Highly recommend it for anyone interested in a good true travel story from Dublin to Budapest, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cypress and/or for anyone looking for direction. Its Hannah's journey of self discovery after realizing she was living a life without direction or inspiration. She uses her extensive journals as a younger traveler but writes the book in her 40's infusing ageless wisdom. Chapters end with exercises should you choose to partake or just skip them. Here are some ideas I particularly liked. "When you are removed from your community, you are removed from your ego. No longer worried about what they might think, you are free to explore what you think. When your environment does not mirror, reflect or define you, then you have no one to Be but your true self." "We aren't defined by our life experiences - we are defined by our responses to them." "We are not harnessed or determined by the dictates of others, we are either enslaved or lifted up by our own thoughts." Paraphrasing, she writes: When frightened or stressed we often immerse ourselves in fear-based thoughts, creating scenarios that make us feel even worse. To move focus outside of this fiction of our mind, do something you love like eat ice cream, take photographs, read a book that uplifts you. "Tell your mind to get over its Big Bad Self and just lick an ice cream...you may lick like a person unhinged, but eventually you'll calm down."
