It's so strange... In a way the amazingness of this country has worn off. I'm just comfortable here... Most people are leaving Tuesday. I'm really glad I don't have to say goodbye yet but I have to admit I'm a little jealous of them. I want normal food, my good friends, and my mom.
Today we had one of Tanzania's leading lion experts, Dr. Bernard Kissui, come to camp and talk to us. Did you know that out of the approximately 30,000 lions that are in Africa an estimated 17,000 of them live in Tanzania? That's means over half of Africa's lions live in Tanzania! I'm so glad I came here: it's hard enough to spot a lion here, I can't imagine how difficult it is in other places. Haha. Dr. Kissui explained to us how they track and observe lions, what the main threats to lions are, and the research being done to reduce conflicts between people and lions. Human-lion conflicts kill 18% of the lion population on average yearly. Isn't that crazy? I was shocked that such a large percentage of lion moralities were caused by illegal human activities alone.
I thought that the most interesting thing that Dr. Kissui discussed was the measures that are being taken to protect lions. The method that he went into the most detail on was having people build predator-proof fences to keep their livestock in. He explained that currently most people only kill lions in retaliation to livestock deaths; they don't just go out hunting lions for sport. He said that, while putting up proper fencing pretty much eliminates livestock deaths from lions, it has been extremely difficult to convince people to invest in such methods. The cost of putting up a corral with chain link fence for most people is $500-1000. This means that to get a fence the owner must be convinced to sell a cow or two. Selling cow, their livelihood, for some wood and metal makes no sense to the people here. Over 3 years Dr. Kissui only convinced 2 families to invest in predator-proof fencing. ONLY TWO!! Since that time the researches have set up a system in which private donations are used to pay for half of the cost of fencing and more people have been convinced to invest in the fencing but they still have only gotten about 140 families to get better fencing. Private donations are not a sustainable method to fund their project so they are looking for other ways to receive funding and/or convince families to install the fencing without financial aid. My goal, when I get back home, is to see what I can do to convince organizations like Heifer International, which sends animals to needy families and teaches sustainable methods of living around the world, to invest in supporting a fencing program. I don't know if anyone will listen but if they would support fencing projects it would help feed people and prevent human-wildlife conflicts that are detrimental to both humans and animals.
Dr. Kissui's lecture was about 40 minutes longer than it was supposed to be because he engaged us so much and kept stopping to discuss issues. It was awesome.
After the lecture was dinner and after dinner every night is RAP. RAP is reflection, announcements and presentation. Every night a different student is in charge of the reflection and presentation part. Tonight the student in charge had the staff preform traditional dances from their tribes. The staff came dancing into the dining hall singing, stomping and waving bush and tree branches (apparently the branches give you good luck and a long life). It was very funny and interesting. They grabbed a girl whose birthday was today and made her join them. They did two different dances (one Iraqwe and one Maasai) I have to get a video of it from someone else who had a camera because it was one of the best RAPs we've had. By the time it was over my mouth hurt from smiling and laughing.
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