Happy Easter!
Since my last blog post I have been very busy and without access to internet so I have a lot of catching up to do! After we returned from Pemba, we had a week-long independent study period. One of my four courses is my independent study (which begins tomorrow), so we were given a week to prepare our plans for our independent study and begin our research. I stayed in our home base in Stone Town and interviewed hotels about their waste management practices. Waste is a huge issue around all of Zanzibar, but especially in Stone Town where there are a lot of locals and tourists in a small area. For my month-long independent study, I am going to Uzi island to study the effects of tourism on the island. It's a little bit different than what I did during my mini independent study but the Uzi tourism commission actually requested that the study be completed by an SIT student! I'm really excited, but Uzi is rural so I'm going to be without internet access for the next three weeks.
That's enough of the boring stuff. Now I need to tell you about the fun thing's I've done since my last blog post. We spent ten days at the university of Dar Es Salaam and two nights at Mikumi National Park. We were lucky enough to stay in the dorms, but we stayed in the spare post-graduate house so we were secluded from the rest of the students. We had separate lectures as a group taught by professors from the university. Some of the topics included nature conservation, alternative energy sources, and environmental policy in Tanzania. Sadly, my favorite part of Dar was the grocery store! I hadn't been to a grocery store since January and I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of food. I had to buy a can of pringles just to get a little taste of America.
None of the excitement in the big city of Dar Es Salaam can compare to the awesome two days we spent on safari at Mikumi! We saw elephants, lions, zebras, monkeys, giraffes, impalas, water buffalo, wildebeests, warthogs, and more. The coolest thing was when I stood ten feet away from an elephant at our campsite. While these pictures may not do it justice, here's a little flavor of what I experienced on safari.
Since my last blog post I have been very busy and without access to internet so I have a lot of catching up to do! After we returned from Pemba, we had a week-long independent study period. One of my four courses is my independent study (which begins tomorrow), so we were given a week to prepare our plans for our independent study and begin our research. I stayed in our home base in Stone Town and interviewed hotels about their waste management practices. Waste is a huge issue around all of Zanzibar, but especially in Stone Town where there are a lot of locals and tourists in a small area. For my month-long independent study, I am going to Uzi island to study the effects of tourism on the island. It's a little bit different than what I did during my mini independent study but the Uzi tourism commission actually requested that the study be completed by an SIT student! I'm really excited, but Uzi is rural so I'm going to be without internet access for the next three weeks.
That's enough of the boring stuff. Now I need to tell you about the fun thing's I've done since my last blog post. We spent ten days at the university of Dar Es Salaam and two nights at Mikumi National Park. We were lucky enough to stay in the dorms, but we stayed in the spare post-graduate house so we were secluded from the rest of the students. We had separate lectures as a group taught by professors from the university. Some of the topics included nature conservation, alternative energy sources, and environmental policy in Tanzania. Sadly, my favorite part of Dar was the grocery store! I hadn't been to a grocery store since January and I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of food. I had to buy a can of pringles just to get a little taste of America.
None of the excitement in the big city of Dar Es Salaam can compare to the awesome two days we spent on safari at Mikumi! We saw elephants, lions, zebras, monkeys, giraffes, impalas, water buffalo, wildebeests, warthogs, and more. The coolest thing was when I stood ten feet away from an elephant at our campsite. While these pictures may not do it justice, here's a little flavor of what I experienced on safari.
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| Welcome to Mikumi Watch out for Wild Animals! |
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| My group on our safari van |
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| We saw lions, but no tigers or bears. Oh my! |
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| Lots of baby elephants |
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| I never realized how weird giraffes look... |
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| Hippos cooling off in the hot sun |
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| Impala near our campsite |
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| Sassy zebras |
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| Here's the elephant that spent an hour eating the grass off of the lawn in front of our cabin! |
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| More pictures of the university to come, but here's a peek into one of the dining halls. |
Great pictures!
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