Earth Expeditions: 2007 News<title> <link href="../styles/news.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link href="../../style/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="header"> <div id="logoid-sub"><a href="../index.php"><img src="../../images/logotrans.gif" alt="" border=1></a ></div> </div>  <div id="sidebar"><img src="../../images/zoo_on_top.gif" alt="" width="170" height="61" /> <ul> <li><a href="../../zoo_expeditions/plants/index.php">Plants & People</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../zoo_expeditions/primates/index.php">Primate Behavior & Conservation</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../zoo_expeditions/habitats/index.php">Habitats, Adaptations, & Evolution</a></li> </ul> <p><a href="../../eeupdates/subscribe.php"><img src="../../images/signup_for_eeupdates.gif" alt="Sign up for EE-updates" width="170" border="0" height="26" /></a><br /> <img src="../../images/field_in_middle.gif" alt="" width="170" height="56" /></p> <ul> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/mongolia/index.php">Mongolia</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/trinidad/index.php">Trinidad</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/kenya/index.php">Kenya</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/thailand/index.php">Thailand</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/belize/index.php">Belize</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/namibia/index.php">Namibia</a></li> <li> <hr /> </li> <li><a href="../../field_expeditions/costa_rica/index.php">Costa Rica</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="logos"><img src="../../images/logos.gif" alt="" /></div><div id="content"><p><meta http-equiv="content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <a class="tempmenu" href="../../aboutus/index.php">About</a> <a class="tempmenu" href="../../admissions/index.php">Admissions</a> <a class="tempmenu" href="../../faculty/index.php">Faculty</a> <a class="tempmenu" href="../2008/index.php">News</a> <a class="tempmenu" href="../../faqs/index.php">FAQs</a> <a href="../../application/index.php" class="tempmenu style1 c1">Apply</a> <a class="tempmenu" href="../../EEcards/index.php?act=browse_cat">Send EE-card</a></p><p> <h1>2007 Earth Expeditions News</h1> <h3>African adventure</h3> <p> Posted: Sunday, August 26, 2007 ; Updated: 6:32 PM on Sunday, August 26, 2007<br/> STORY PHOTOS</p><p><strong>Editor's Note</strong>: Terran Rosenberg, 35, of St. Augustine, just returned from Namibia where she spent two weeks at the Cheetah Conservation Fund property.</p><p>She is the education director at the Dolphin Conservation Center at Marineland and has lived in St. Augustine for six years. She is a native of northern California and describes herself as a flower child.</p><p>This is her story:<br/> </p><p>People keep asking me if my trip to Africa was life changing; if I'm going to move there. "I don't know yet," is the answer to both of those questions. "I sure hope so" is what I'm thinking.</p><p>It was the most amazing two weeks I've ever spent, in the most stunning part of the world with incredible animals and wonderful people. Those two weeks were pure joy for me.</p><p>I left Florida on a hot, humid Sunday morning and really looking forward to being in the southern hemisphere where it's winter right now.</p><p>At the Atlanta airport I started seeing other folks from my group. We all had bright yellow tags saying "Earth Expeditions" on our backpacks, so we were easy to spot in the airport.</p><p>Earth Expeditions is an organization that takes educators to environmentally fragile, pivotal or just fascinating parts of the world to increase their knowledge of these areas and bring this knowledge back to their students. In our group of 20 educators, one-third of us were zoo and aquarium educators and two-thirds were classroom teachers.</p><p>At this point we were all strangers. That would change quickly.</p><p>We boarded the plane for an 8-hour flight to Dakar, Senegal, where we would stop to refuel and then continue on to South Africa and then to Namibia.</p><p>On a two-hour flight to Namibia, I found myself sitting next to Dr. Laurie Marker, co-founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund where I would be spending much of the next two weeks. For me, this was a major celebrity sighting. I introduced myself and she could not have been nicer.</p><h3>Making friends in Namibia</h3> <p>At about 7 p.m. we landed in Windhoek, Namibia, 25 hours after leaving Jacksonville. The evening was crisp and dry. It was wonderful, even though no luggage arrived for any of us. It was still wonderful.</p><p>The more things went wrong, the more fun I had. The more bonded I felt to the group. And the more I laughed.</p><p>Anyway, with no luggage, we drove to our hotel. A shower, a good meal and a soft bed were all waiting for me. I was hoping to catch some exotic African TV, but all I could find was Oprah, Dr. Phil and CNN, all in English.</p><p>The next morning we went back to the airport, hoping to find the rest of our luggage. I found one of my bags. For the record, I still have not received the other bag. I am now the proud owner of Namibian undergarments.</p><p>Back in the bus, 21 educators were on their way north to the Etosha National Park.</p><p>The first part of the drive went through towns, many of which looked no different from Florida towns, and others that looked like my every stereotype of Africa.</p><p>The further we drove, the wilder the lands became and soon we started seeing animals. My first sighting was a hornbill. "Zazu!" My next sighting was a warthog. "Pumba!" If only I'd known what else I was going to see in the upcoming days.</p><p>We finally arrived at Etosha just as the sun was setting. Everything you've heard about an African sunset is true.</p><h3>Jackals at the waterhole</h3> <p>In the dark we set up tents and then raced up to the waterhole. Each campground within the National Park is fenced in and along the edge it has a waterhole that is floodlit at night.</p><p>We spent every night watching that waterhole and over the course of two nights we saw elephants, a rhino, a jackal, hoofstock and more -- all from the comfort of our very own campground!</p><p>But it was the days that were amazing. Every day we were on the road by 6:30 a.m. to see the early birds, literally.</p><p>Because the country is so dry, you can count on seeing all the animals at a waterhole at some point during the day since there were no other places to find water. So we drove from waterhole to waterhole during our two days at Etosha National Park.</p><p>Every day felt more and more like a National Geographic special. We saw herds of giraffes walking through the plains. We saw elephants tearing down trees. We saw a hyena nervously running around a tree and then realized that a leopard's kill was up in the tree and the leopard was on his way back to finish it!</p><p>We saw a cheetah in the distance -- a very rare sighting, indeed. We saw zebras and ostriches and oryx and kudu and springbok and more.</p><p>Regularly I had to tell myself I wasn't watching TV, nor was I at a really well done zoo exhibit. This was Africa.</p><p>While breakfast and lunch was typical camping food, dinners were always at the lodge. A bar with South Africa beer and wine and a buffet with all kinds of exotic roast beast were always ready. Imagine sitting outside looking up at more stars than you've ever seen -- and different ones because it's the southern hemisphere -- while sipping your South African wine in Africa! It was amazing.</p><h3>Working with cheetahs</h3> <p>After two full days in Etosha, it was time to move on. We got back in the bus and drove south toward Otjiwarongo, home of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. After stopping at the Super Spar Grocery Store for replacement items for all of our lost luggage and at the local department store for even more, we were on our way.</p><p>The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) is located on the Waterberg Conservancy land in north central Namibia. They do amazing work there with community education -- mostly with the local farming community who view cheetahs as pests -- as well as with rescue and rehabilitation of trapped cheetahs.</p><p>Driving onto the property felt more like Africa than Etosha did. There were no other cars, the roads were unpaved and animals galloped in herds in front of you.</p><p>Our group stayed at a house called Cheetah View. We had four bedrooms with four to six beds per room. The power came from a generator that turned off at 10 p.m. every night. Hot water was only available if you lit a fire first, and two of the three working bathrooms were outside. It was wonderful.</p><p>I have never laughed so much, felt so peaceful or known such pure joy as while I was there. Every morning we left Cheetah View at 6:30 a.m. and drove in the Cheetah Bus to the main facility at CCF. In the bus we were packed four to a seat, the bus had no shocks and pot holes were everywhere. I never have I had so much fun.</p><p>By 7 a.m. every morning, we ate breakfast on a balcony with a view of cheetahs running. By 7:30 a.m. we were on our way.</p><p>One day we did inquiry studies in a big field amid termite mounds, leopard kills and warthogs. I studied thorns on acacia branches: Why do they grow the way they do and how does this help them avoid predation?</p><p>Another day we hiked to the Waterberg Plateau. Our guide, Matti Nghikembua, told us he'd been to our country earlier this year and that we all needed to get out into nature. We hiked through thorns, up mountains, over animal tracks. Matti took us on the nature hike he'd developed for the local school children. I was jealous of those children.</p><p>One morning we got up at 3:30 a.m. and broke up into pairs along with Namibian art students. Each pair went to a wildlife viewing blind throughout the conservancy to participate in a 12-hour game count. From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. we made observations on the number, species and behavior of all the animals we saw.</p><h3>Eye-to-eye with cheetahs</h3> <p>One day we went with Dr. Marker to take Chewbakka, one of the 12-year-old cheetahs, out for a walk to his playtrees. We also met Kanini, an 18-month-old female who was rescued from someone who found her as a cub and tried to raise her on cat food.</p><p>We even met one of the Anatolian Guard Dogs who are trained at CCF and given to the farmers as an alternative to indiscriminately shooting cheetahs out of fear and misinformation. It turns out that the number of cheetahs who truly prey on livestock is very small. And the number of cheetahs killed by farmers, is very large. CCF is working on changing this.</p><p>One night we went for a night drive in the Cheetah Bus and saw the most amazing stars you've ever seen: shooting stars all around us.</p><p>One night we had a BBQ with the CCF staff, the Earth Watch volunteers and the Namibian students. We taught them about s'mores.</p><h3>A life-changing experience</h3> <p>By the time our stay was done, I had made some of the best friends and had the most inspiring experiences in my life.</p><p>On our way out of town, we stopped at Bellebeno -- one of the enclosures for non-releaseable cheetahs -- where I got to see Solo, a cheetah who had been adopted for me prior to this trip on the CCF web site. Cheetahs as well as guard dogs can be sponsored on line to help support the facility.</p><p>The final night was back at the hotel. Again we had dinner, but it was a whole different group of people than the group who dined together on the first night. We were no longer strangers. And we had just experienced something together that we would never be able to fully explain to anyone who wasn't there. Africa changes you forever. </p><p><strong>Source:</strong> http://staugustine.com/stories/082607/community_4795324.shtml</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>  <div id="footer"> <p><a href="mailto:Put-Your-Friend's-Email-Address-Here?subject=Earth%20Expeditions&body=I%20thought%20you%20might%20like%20to%20hear%20about%20http://earthexpeditions.org!">Email a friend about Earth Expeditions!</a></p> <p><script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[  //]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></p> <p>© 2008 <a href="../../Library/index.php">Earth Expeditions</a> | <a href="http://www.miami.muohio.edu/documents_and_policies/privacy_statement/">Privacy Statement</a></p> </div>  <script type="text/javascript" defer="defer" src="http://server1.opentracker.net/?site=www.earthexpeditions.org"> </script>  <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ _uacct = "UA-2370472-3"; urchinTracker(); //]]> </script></body> </html>