Academia
We started our journey visiting the Ngorongoro Crater and its amazing view. We drove around exploring the crater and got to see a variety of wildlife and ecosystems. I hoped to see a wild rhino to complete my “big 5” (Lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo). However, it was difficult because their population is still so low in this region.
Later, we drove a dusty and bumpy road to the Serengeti National Park, where we got to spent 3 nights. We did some game driving and direct research about the harassment to wildlife from tourism, as well as analyzing predator-prey interactions.
It was a bittersweet sensation to know that the same people who pay for the maintenance of the park, the employees and the research on the park, are the same who disrupts their ecosystem, interferes in their daily activities and aggregate in masses disturbing their privacy. However, they are needed. I hope to learn better methods of ecotourism, so we can leave wildlife wild while meeting our expectations as a visitor.
On the other hand, we did not get to see much predator-prey interactions. Most carnivores are crepuscular, however; we only drove around the day. It was not disappointing because we did get to see some chasing and stalking from the big cats, and a lot of cubs.
This was my final week of my first session and I can say that I learned a lot from the culture and Africa conservation. My next adventure should be even more exciting. I will be learning about behavior of carnivores. Hopefully, I get to integrate it with conservation.
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