Round River Conservation Studies in Namibia: One of the most worthwhile experiences you could do. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Compared to the workload at Middlebury, this was not difficult since there's so much emphasis on fieldwork. Exam week was pretty stressful- a lot of writing all at once, but manageable. Getting our final reports in was also a little stressful since we had limited resources. But overall the field experience I gained was amazing. I learned how to use a GPS, conduct distance sampling using a compass and rangefinder, identify A LOT of species, use ArcVIew GIS, use camera traps and several other field methods.

On-site administration of your program

The two instructors of my program were amazing. Not only were they knowledgeable, but they also cared a lot about the students and were really good people. We all cried when we had to say goodbye to them at the airport.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

We lived in tents the entire time. Mostly in the backpacking tents we brought since we bushcamped. At our basecamp (spent probably a total of 20 days there) we stayed in bigger tents with air mattresses. Safety wasn't a huge issue- yeah there's dangerous wildlife, but we were taught how to take the right precautions. We moved on average every 3 days and camped in some truly beautiful places. Showers were not always available, the longest we went without a shower was about 10 days. When in Windhoek at the beginning and end of the program we stayed at a nice hostel.

Since we were out in the field we ate a lot of canned food (beans, tomatoes, vegetable mixes), bread (that we made every night on the fire- it's delicious), pasta, pap (maize meal stuff they eat there that is delicious!), rice, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, cheese, peanut butter. Whenever we went through a town we got fresh vegetables. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. We were on a cooking schedule with a partner and cooked for everyone that day. I didn't have much cooking experience, but I learned quickly- a lot of improvising. We got pretty good, there were only a few meals that didn't turn out well. We made an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The whole experience was memorable. Everyday we said to ourselves "I can't believe we're here doing this". The whole thing felt like a dream. Seeing so much wildlife everyday was surreal, especially to people who have always dreamt of going to Africa. We got to visit a traditional Himba village, spend 3 days in Etosha National Park, go sandboarding on the dunes, met 2 locally famous people (Flip Stander- Namibia's main lion expert and Garth Owen-Smith- the founder of community-based conservation in Namibia)

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Namibia is one of Africa's safest countries, no political unrest to worry about. Also there's not that many people where we were since we were out in the bush. The main concern is wildlife. We weren't allowed to run because animals such as rhinos, lions, cheetahs, leopard, hyenas, elephants etc. posed a real threat. But our instructors were well-prepared and kept us safe.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Other

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• Other

• Place- Namibia is beautiful with amazing people and wildlife
• Being outdoors all the time
• Instructors- they were knowledgeable and cared about the students

• pre-departure packing info