Botswana: Conservation in Southern Africa

Audra McCaslin Author

12/21/2015 Added

69 Plays

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Check out what these students are up to in Botswana every summer with UNL Professor, John Carroll.

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[00:00:02.190](tribal music)
[00:00:05.367]There's a jump, now.
[00:00:06.837](laughter)
[00:00:34.827]I chose this study abroad to Botswana
[00:00:37.664]because I've always wanted to come to Africa,
[00:00:41.701]and I don't really know too much about
[00:00:45.479]wildlife conservation and management,
[00:00:47.525]but I figured it would be really cool to
[00:00:49.485]learn more about, so what better way to do that
[00:00:51.861]than come to a country I've always wanted to
[00:00:54.078]come to and learn more about
[00:00:57.486]something I find interesting.
[00:01:00.072]I chose this study abroad program
[00:01:01.777]to Botswana because in my orientation class
[00:01:04.824]last semester, two semesters ago, John came in
[00:01:08.583]and he told us about this trip.
[00:01:10.415]He just kind of gave a sort of overview,
[00:01:13.061]introduced himself and everything.
[00:01:14.501]Later in that class, Jazmin came in and she
[00:01:18.263]talked to us about the trip and by that time I
[00:01:20.793]was like "Ooh this looks cool maybe I'll
[00:01:22.604]do it when I'm a junior or a senior or whatever".
[00:01:26.319]And they had an info meeting to just tell us
[00:01:29.222]more about it and I was like "Well it wouldn't hurt
[00:01:31.435]to go to it" and I went to it and after it I was like
[00:01:33.842]shoot, I'm in. I had to do it.
[00:01:37.056]I called my mom and I was like "Hey Mom,
[00:01:38.927]you know I might go to Africa this summer,"
[00:01:40.530]and she's like, "Tsss, right" and then I ended up going
[00:01:43.664]but especially here because this is, I think this is
[00:01:46.830]a lot more unique than some of the other places
[00:01:49.074]that there are programs, because a lot of people
[00:01:52.367]go to Europe and even South America but
[00:01:55.018]not a ton of people go to Africa.
[00:01:57.131]So, I think it would be a really unique experience,
[00:01:59.707]which it has been. That was probably
[00:02:01.836]the main reason.
[00:02:03.479]I chose to participate in study abroad
[00:02:05.142]because I've always wanted to travel,
[00:02:07.115]specifically Africa. That's always been my
[00:02:11.109]dream since I was little is to go to Africa so
[00:02:16.128]when I heard, when I had John come into my class
[00:02:19.805]in Natural Resources 101 my first semester
[00:02:23.782]freshman year, he was talking about lions
[00:02:27.444]and how they do darting with Andre
[00:02:30.450]and all this cool stuff. I remember after
[00:02:32.790]the class, I went straight to Sarah
[00:02:34.003]and I was like "I need to go on this trip,
[00:02:36.227]I don't care when. I want to go."
[00:02:38.318]So, yeah I've always wanted to go to Africa
[00:02:41.270]so after John came I was like, this is it.
[00:02:43.582]This is the one I want to go on.
[00:02:46.539]My mom thought I was joking
[00:02:47.506]and then she's like, "Yeah there's no way"
[00:02:49.456]and pretty much the same thing with my dad.
[00:02:51.644]All my friends were like "Oh yeah, that'd be cool"
[00:02:53.623]but it didn't really register you know?
[00:02:55.725]Until I was like "Oh, I'm signed up"
[00:02:58.203]and they're like "What, wait you're going to Africa"
[00:03:02.346]So, I don't know it has been kind of across
[00:03:04.340]the board, my mom was freaking out before I
[00:03:06.220]came here, but I don't know.
[00:03:08.612]Everybody kind of accepted it after a while.
[00:03:12.251]Although there are some of those people
[00:03:13.674]that are like "Why would you go there?"
[00:03:16.018]Why not?
[00:03:21.081](tribal music)
[00:03:39.625](quiet discussion)
[00:03:57.947](tribal music)
[00:05:14.303](laughing)
[00:05:19.225](bird calling)
[00:05:24.774]She's not happy at all
[00:05:35.130]Look at how he's just like, tapping the table
[00:05:41.329]Definitely seeing large elephant herds
[00:05:43.628]like, almost everyday is probably one of my
[00:05:45.392]favorite things.
[00:05:46.925]It was really awesome when we went into
[00:05:48.612]the neighboring village to the reserve.
[00:05:54.097]It was really interesting to see what a typical
[00:05:56.223]village was like and the sorts of people that
[00:05:59.592]are there and also we got to see the spaying
[00:06:02.466]and neutering and the whole free dog/cat
[00:06:06.011]clinic that was going on.
[00:06:07.729]It makes you just feel super lucky that
[00:06:10.446]you're able to see that from the outside in
[00:06:12.538]and be able to travel, because when you think
[00:06:15.368]about it, it's like you've pretty much won
[00:06:18.758]the lottery of life, being born in the U.S. and
[00:06:21.660]being able to come here and see that
[00:06:23.727]and some people they're going to be in that
[00:06:25.538]village their entire life and that's just where
[00:06:27.535]they're going to be, and you're so lucky to be
[00:06:30.182]able to learn stuff, really important things
[00:06:33.223]from another perspective than your own.
[00:06:35.847]So, that was incredible to me.
[00:06:39.051]That was definitely a highlight.
[00:06:42.049]Obviously seeing all the game here has
[00:06:44.647]been awesome. I've gained an appreciation
[00:06:46.592]for birds that I didn't have before,
[00:06:48.920]but there are so many here it's kind of hard
[00:06:50.664]not to care about them, and also I feel like
[00:06:53.461]my tree and plant identification is better
[00:06:57.023]here than at home so I have to try harder
[00:06:59.252]when I get back for that.
[00:07:01.133]The highlights would be just
[00:07:03.408]the different things, like it's such a wide variety
[00:07:05.475]of things that you learn on this trip.
[00:07:07.612]Not just, getting to, you get to see the
[00:07:11.953]research side of it but you also get to
[00:07:13.650]see the guiding side of it and so you get
[00:07:17.361]the different perspectives from the guides
[00:07:19.232]and what they think of research
[00:07:21.059]and you also get to see hear the
[00:07:23.632]opinions of the locals, what they think of research
[00:07:27.269]So, I think that's the highlight of this trip is
[00:07:29.336]that you get so many perspectives and
[00:07:30.938]you kind of get to get a feel for all that.
[00:07:35.974]My favorite is the hyenas.
[00:07:37.903](laughs)
[00:07:41.095]And then doing the lion, I think it's so cool.
[00:07:45.921]Following them in, and then that whole experience
[00:07:48.282]is really, really awesome.
[00:07:50.397](lion sounds)
[00:08:03.584](laughter)
[00:08:07.554](tribal music)
[00:08:28.846](loud laughter)
[00:08:35.315]It's time to get serious
[00:08:40.165](laughter)
[00:08:51.257]This program has opened my eyes to
[00:08:53.179]how great it is to come abroad and be in
[00:08:57.034]places different than what you're used to and I
[00:09:01.461]definitely see different things that
[00:09:05.783]you would never see back home.
[00:09:08.426]I would absolutely recommend
[00:09:10.178]the study abroad program because you learn
[00:09:12.374]a thousand times faster, working in a field, living
[00:09:16.004]in a field, than you would going to class
[00:09:18.256]three times a week and also you gain
[00:09:21.146]a bunch of different perspectives which
[00:09:22.876]you might not gain if you're in the same place
[00:09:24.702]your entire life, so that's really important.
[00:09:26.754]And, I think everybody should go on a
[00:09:29.153]study abroad trip or at least try to,
[00:09:30.794]because it's so important to gain someone
[00:09:33.022]else's view of things.
[00:09:34.695]I almost feel like the trip kind of
[00:09:36.483]sparked a little fire in me to start traveling more.
[00:09:39.223]It was a good, good choice.
[00:09:41.753](nighttime noises)
[00:09:45.747](quiet chatter)
[00:09:49.369](laughter)

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Botswana: Conservation in Southern Africa

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