Tanzania: Wildlife Conservation and Political Ecology

Educational Excursions

The program includes excursions to nature reserves and conservation areas such as Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, and Tarangire National Park.

All excursions are designed with the objective of changing scales and locations, providing a variety of lenses and perspectives for students to explore essential questions. At the largest scale, the program travels through the 25,000 square kilometer Serengeti-Ngorongoro ecosystem. This final, 14-day safari provides the material for the final synthesis paper.

The mid-scale experience takes place in the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, where students explore a fragmented ecosystem and the western conservation model of National Parks. The smallest scale safari is to a tropical forest, where the group explores the micro-temporal and micro-spatial aspects that are replicated on the larger scales – an exercise in fractal geometry. These different locations also provide insight into the ways that different ethnic groups interact in their landscapes.

Credits: 16

Duration: 15 weeks

Program Base: Tanzania, Arusha

Language Study: Swahili

Prerequisites: Coursework in environmental studies, biology, sociology, anthropology, or international relations Read more...