OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA - It was 6 a.m. and the campers were quietly preparing for the day. Suddenly, a voice called out from the camp manager’s tent.
“Girls? We’re going to have to wait. I can see a lion from my window.”
It was the start of another ordinary, extraordinary day in Botswana for animal sciences students Katie Campbell and Taylor Damery. The pair were enrolled in a nine-week field course to study wildlife in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Chobe Enclave Region.
Jewel of the Kalahari
Jordana Meyer, an alumna of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, oversees on-the-ground operations for the course in Botswana.
“Botswana has some of the greatest wildlife diversity in Africa,” Meyer said. “The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is home to the densest population of elephants in the world, not to mention hundreds of other mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
“Our programs present students with hands-on experiences in the conservation of natural and cultural resources across wilderness and rural regions of Botswana. Students get to take their classroom training and apply it to projects focused on biodiversity monitoring, adaptive management and human-wildlife interactions.”
Neither Damery, a 21-year-old senior from Blue Mound, Illinois, nor Campbell, a 20-year-old junior from Naperville, Illinois, needed much convincing. Both were already interested in study abroad opportunities, and after they attended Meyer’s information session at the U. of I., they applied right away.
“What really made me decide to go was that it was hands-on research, and we were learning useful research skills,” Damery said. “Also, the information we were collecting and processing was actually being fed back to the government and used. That’s what really sold me on it.”
“I liked that it was so specific to animals, and that there was a conservation aspect to it. There was so much for me to learn. I wanted to go so badly,” Campbell said.
Campbell and Damery were joined by 11 other students from the U. of I. and around the world.
Real research for real solutions
After landing in Botswana, the group spent a week training in Maun. Researchers from all over the world came to give lectures on animal biology, physiology and behavior, and on the environment in the region.
“That first week, almost everything was new to me. Having a strong foundation in animal sciences definitely helped, but I didn’t expect to learn as much as I did,” Damery said. “It was amazing to hear from all these top-of-the-line researchers. I just sat there in awe.”
As the week progressed, the group discovered that animals in the protected areas were forced to traverse through farmers’ properties to get to a major water source. Native herbivores were competing with cattle for forage and eating crops. Predators were killing livestock, and farmers were retaliating. Campbell and Damery were fascinated, so they signed up to conduct research on human-wildlife conflict, along with four other students.
“It was interesting to find out what a big problem this was,” Campbell said. “We met with one of the farmers and he asked us, ‘What are you going to do for me when my cattle are being killed by lions?’ I realized we were there for a reason. We were helping their animals survive, and helping them live out there.”
“We interviewed farmers to see what kind of conflict they were experiencing. Many were having such bad elephant problems that they quit growing crops altogether,” Damery said.
Students paired off to focus on different aspects of the human-wildlife conflict, but everyone helped each other. Campbell and her partner studied herbivore population dynamics. Each day, they would tally the herbivores they observed along a transect. Later, they analyzed their results to determine if the herbivore populations were growing, shrinking or moving.
“We would get in a Jeep and drive a certain distance,” Campbell said. “Within that distance, every time we’d see herbivores, we would stop, count them, and record details like sex, age, GPS coordinates, weather and time. We’d record elephants, impala, waterbuck, buffalo, baboons, giraffes, zebra and cattle. That data helped us keep track of the populations in that area and how close they were to the road, to resorts or to other settlements.”
Damery and her partner looked at how elephants moved across the landscape. They used a similar transect approach, going out early in the morning and looking for elephant footprints along pathways.
“How often were they using the paths? What type of herds were using it? Was it a bachelor herd, a lone bull or a matriarchy? We were able to answer all those questions by analyzing footprints on the road. We got some good data back,” Damery said.
Each group entered observations into a database started by past groups of students using the same methods. These repeated measurements not only allow for a long-term view of wildlife dynamics in the region, they also inform government policies that benefit both farmers and wildlife.
What’s more, the research builds important skills for the students, many of whom had little hands-on research experience prior to the trip. Natural resources and environmental sciences professor and course coordinator Bob Schooley said the students learn general skills like designing experiments and collaborating with other researchers while gaining experience with standard wildlife biology research methods.
“Fortunately, these skills are not restricted to Africa. This knowledge can really help students when they’re applying for jobs,” Schooley said.
Life in Botswana
After their long days collecting data, the students had few creature comforts waiting back at camp.
“I really loved camping, but I wasn’t prepared to be constantly dirty, to cook my own food and to have to heat up my shower bucket over the fire. We made the best of it,” Damery said.
But living in the midst of these iconic creatures was the experience of a lifetime for animal lovers Campbell and Damery. Lions, hyenas and elephants made regular visits to the camp.
“That first night being out there was crazy,” Campbell said. “I barely got any sleep, hearing lions walking around and making noises.”
The group of students grew close quickly – a good thing, since they were working and camping in close quarters for two months.
“We were with these people 24/7,” Campbell said. “I think that was one of the really neat parts of the trip. We were out in the middle of nowhere with no cellphones or internet, nothing to distract us. We just had each other to talk to and tell stories. We got to know each other very well.”
For Campbell and Damery, life in the bush felt slower and richer.
“There were days when we’d be stuck on the roads for two or three hours because the elephants were in the way,” Damery said. “I’d get annoyed, but then I’d think, ‘Why am I annoyed? I’m in Africa. I’m stuck in a traffic jam of elephants!’ It was awe-inspiring, and I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Every day, we’d see a lion or something and I’d say, ‘This is the best day of my life.’ The next day, I’d see something else and think, ‘No, this is even better.’”
Return to reality
Both Damery and Campbell, who hope to go into veterinary medicine, have spent some time reevaluating their paths after coming back to the U. of I. Campbell is pursuing a research opportunity with comparative biosciences professor Prabhakara Reddi in the College of Veterinary Medicine that she hopes will give her more options going forward.
“The trip definitely opened my eyes to all the different opportunities that are out there,” Campbell said. “I found I really liked the research aspect and working with wildlife. I’m hoping that I can apply the skills I’m learning now in Dr. Reddi’s lab to some aspect of conservation in the future.”
Damery is still planning to be a veterinarian, but she’s holding off on her application for a year to get more practical experience.
“If vet school doesn’t work out, I could see myself in a career doing wildlife research,” she said.