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By: Colin Lane, University of Vermont
One of the first mornings, about twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off, a group of elephants wandered down the trail they’d made. I laid silent and listened as they walked around the edge of camp, thankfully on the side opposite our tents. They wouldn’t have done anything to our tents of course, but I still would’ve been nervous having an elephant step a few meters from my head.
By: Sierra Rothman-Haji, Colby College
One of the most memorable moments was stumbling upon a male elephant carcass. The experience of getting to see elephant tusks up close, as well as touching the foot pads and skin, was once in a lifetime!
By: Sam Hoving, Carleton College
Less than a minute later, I heard a loud crinkle and vigorous scampering, as a vervet monkey climbed his way out of reach into a tree, my chips in tow.
Then I tilted my head down to see more clearly and saw that a Western Barn Owl was sitting in the car by my feet.
As we headed out for the first day of transects in Kaziikini, everyone had one thing on their minds: lions!
The group traveled down the street for a banging cultural event filled with Bayei games, songs, and dances.
By Helena Karcher, Weber State As I stepped onto the tarmac at Maun International Airport, ears still popping from the quick descent from the sky, I read the sign on the building: “Welcome to Botswana.” Wow! Who would have ever…
The past 12 days we conducted wildlife monitoring at the most recent concession, Khwai Private Reserve (KPR). We saw so much including elephants, hippos, buffalo, hyenas, jackals, leopards, and of course… Lions.
While in Kasane we had the incredible opportunity to go to Caracal Wildlife Sanctuary in Kasane Botswana there we spent the morning looking and interacting with wildlife some of which we hadn’t seen while on the trip.
Being in the middle of nowhere, with no way to contact those I left behind, created a space for growth. I found it both exhilarating and challenging—being disconnected from the world I was used to felt like flipping a coin. On one side was the thrill of living entirely in the moment, unattached to the steady ping of messages or the urgency of news. On the other side was the gnawing awareness that those I loved were still living their lives without me, and I couldn’t instantly be part of their moments or share my own. This experience, however, taught me something profound: there is beauty in this disconnection, a freedom that opens space for the unexpected and the new.
By Ella Hiebert of Colby College As winter begins and May nears, the early transect mornings are growing colder, so I pulled on all of my long-sleeve layers before daring to exit my sleeping bag. After grabbing some fruit, chips,…
By Annabelle South of the University of Vermont “Lion! Lion! Out of tents!” Only a few of us, those sleeping in on our off day, received that unique and somewhat startling wake up call. The rest of our cohort had…
By Hope Sampson of University of Montana The infamous Mopane Camp…16 people, 10 days, 7 packs of baby wipes, 4 rainy days, 3 transects, 1 communal bathroom pit, and not enough cans of peaches. This concession was a real character-building…
By Kiera Cacioppo of the University of Vermont
When we’re little people always ask, “So what do you want to be when you get older?” For some it’s an astronaut, a doctor, a veterinarian, but for me, it was always a paleontologist. I was fascinated by the lives…
By Jodie Tsih of Colby College Remember when you were a child and an adult would pull a coin out of your ear? You might have been just in absolute awe with curiosity as to how they did that. You…
By Aden Ho of Bowdoin College Following a ~5 hour full body percussive massage complete with dust, back-sweat, and Choppies fried chicken, we arrived at Tau Camp, Khwai Private Reserve, NG18, Ngamiland, Botswana. Given our only shade at the last…