by Jacob Ney, of College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University
05:30- Your watch goes off and you arise to prepare for a transect, careful not to awake your tentmate as you dress and shine around your headlamp. You make your way to the kitchen tent and groggily prepare a quick bowl of cereal, yogurt, or oatmeal and watch the Eastern sky lighten as the birds begin to chirp.
Sunrise over Phuduhudu, NG49, as vehicles prepare to leave for transect. Photo by Jacob Ney.
06:00- Grab all the data sheets and utensils necessary for a successful transect and hop in a vehicle. You are joined by another student, a Round River instructor, and a community escort guide. On transect, you collect data mostly on herbivores, as well as any carnivores and birds of prey and birds of concern as they opportunistically present themselves. Collecting this data in conjunction with communities is the reason for Round River’s presence in Botswana.
10:30- Around this time, you arrive back from transect and may try to catch a quick nap before it gets too hot. Maybe you do some laundry by hand and hang it out to dry. Maybe you take some time for yourself and do some pleasure reading in a hammock. In a group of seven students, four will typically go on transect, two will be assigned to kitchen duty, and one will have the day off.
11:30- Time to start preparing lunch! Meal ingredients may include something fresh and cold while supplies last—a refrigerator in the back of Lucy, one of Round River’s vehicles, makes this possible. These prized items include cheese and fresh fruit and vegetables. Otherwise, the can box has various canned vegetables and soup mixes. For a filling meal, check the kitchen tent for a base staple like beans, potatoes, pasta, rice, or pap (an African maize meal). There’s plenty of spices and possible combinations, so getting creative is key! Plan portions and timing correctly, by 12:30 everyone is hungry!
Allison (left) and Charlotte (right) preparing a meal. Photo by Jacob Ney.
13:00- Now is the time to prepare for a class for one of your five courses. Typically, a class reading is two scientific papers relating to the topic at hand. Once you have finished reading, turn off the kindle, put away your notes, and grab a soccer ball or volleyball to pass around with whoever else feels like a bit of a workout.
15:00- Time for class! Gather with a Round River instructor and your fellow students somewhere comfortable. Did you understand the papers—what are the main arguments? Class is a rather informal discussion, which typically lasts around an hour and will naturally follow the course of conversation with the most interesting and confusing topics being discussed. As a student, you will be able to lead a few of these discussions as well.
A Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) class discussion. Pictured left to right: Colleen (discussion leader), Charlotte, Samara (Round River instructor), Natalie, Mary, Eleanor, Allison. Photo by Jacob Ney.
18:30- Dinnertime! Meat is often a special treat and may be prepared on the stove or over the fire. Homemade bread, prepared on coals, is always a big hit as well. Take advantage of the opportunity to talk with escort guides, who will often join you for meals.
19:30- As the sun begins to set, you bring out your headlamp. Perhaps you will sit around a cooler which serves as a table for a game of cards or dominos. Perhaps you sit around a campfire instead and will play games and share stories.
20:30- Once the sun has fully set, look up and enjoy the stars and the milky-way—no light pollution in the bush! Looking down can be quite interesting too though, grab a blacklight and go looking for scorpions.
A granulated thick-tailed scorpion (Parabuthus granulatus) consuming a fungus growing termite (Family Hodotermitidae). P. granulatus has small pincers and so relies more on its powerful venom—in fact, it is considered to be one of the most dangerous scorpions in Southern Africa! Photo by Jacob Ney.
21:30- You are likely tired from the heat, may have an early morning, and are following the natural rhythms of the bush, so it’s time to head to bed. Once you are all settled in, the sound of lions roaring in the distance will lull you off to sleep.