Reese Widowski, University of Vermont
As we near the midpoint of our semester in Botswana, the mornings grow cooler and our daily routine in the bush has become second nature to us. Alarms sound at 5:30am and we all shuffle out of our tents, scarf down some oats, brew coffee, check the vehicles to ensure they’re working properly, and head out for transect by 6:30am. While we’re in the bush we perform herbivore transects to collect data on age, sex, and the location of each individual we encounter. All of our data is given to the communities we are conducting research in to help inform wildlife and land-use decisions.
As we headed out for the first day of transects in Kaziikini, everyone had one thing on their minds: lions! We had completed two concessions already with no luck of seeing any large cats, which is unusual according to our instructor Dix, making everyone all the more anxious to see some. My car returned from transect just after 12, sadly without encountering any cats, however, we were greeted with the exciting news that students Jonathan and Katrina saw a group of 15 lions sleeping on the side of the road! Everyone ate a quick lunch before we all hopped into the cars to try and see the lions. We drove along the main road anxiously looking outside the cars for any sign of a pride near by.
Finally, the cars slowed and we approached a pride of 16 lions snoozing in the shade of Mopane trees! The lions paid no attention to us as we drove closer and initially only moved their tails and paws to swat the flies away. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It felt so surreal seeing these top predators sleeping no more than six feet from us. Dom, another one of our instructors, accidentally pressed her car horn and 16 pairs of eyes swiftly looked up at us. After they assessed the potential threat of the car horn, they laid back down. We watched the pride as they slowly woke up and one by one began to walk in front of our cars deeper into the Mopane woodland, most likely to stay in the shade. Several of the lions yawned before they walked off deeper into the bush. One stretched her legs on the trunk of a tree and another picked up a piece of trash, “teaching us lessons” according to our instructor Pedro. Watching the lions interact with each other and their surroundings was such an incredible experience, a highlight of the semester for sure. After about 45 minutes they all moved out of sight into the thicker vegetation and we headed back to camp beaming with excitement.
A male lion near one of our vehicles, illustrating how close to the pride we were. Photo by Katrina Hardy
Once we got back to camp the reality of hitting the halfway point of the semester hit us and we began studying for midterms. In the following days we would prepare for our various midterms by going on a nature walk to learn about tracks and scat and by repeating the setswana phrases we had learned any chance we got. Luckily, the camp we were staying at had a restaurant area with tables and chairs that made writing and studying for our midterms a bit more comfortable. There is a bore hole in front of the restaurant which attracts elephants and various other species, ensuring that we took plenty of study breaks to admire the elephants stopping by for their afternoon drink of water.
An elephant drinking at the bore hole in front of the restaurant (Photo by Reese Widowski)
As our time in Kaziikini came to an end we finished our midterms, including a walk in the bush for our Natural History exam. We wrapped up our research and said goodbye to our escort guide, Kells, that had been with us for the past two concessions. Our time at Kaziikini, although stressful at times due to exams, will remain a highlight of the semester for me.
From left to right: Ula, Katrina, SB, Reese, Helena, and Dom, in the back of Mowana before our nature walk to help prepare for our Natural History Midterm (Photo by Pedro Reali)
Our cohort on the day we left Kaziikini. Left to right, starting at the top row: Helena, Katrina, Jonathan, Reese, Winnie, SB, Dom, Ula, Arryn, and Pedro (Photo by Pedro Reali)