The School for Field Studies

This program was awesome. As a zoology major, I was floored by the amazing wildlife around me. The food was amazing and the beds were comfortable. It was cool at night so we slept well and all of our health needs were taken care of immediately. Safety is the top priority for this program so sometimes rules felt a bit restrictive for experienced travellers but it was just to ensure no one got hurt. I made local friends but I did so on my own time, time I took advantage of when presented. We worked with the community's children, teaching them about environmental issues and we got a well-rounded understanding of the culture, history, language and environmental aspects of the Peruvian Amazon and Andes Mountains.

I chose this program because I am a Biology Major--a chance to do field studies abroad. My memorable experience was searching for the endangered cassowary bird.

Mt. Kilimanjaro served as the backdrop for many of our field drives in Amboseli National Park. The timing of our trips, an early beginning to the wet season as it were, obscured many carnivores from being found. For those who are unaware, an unfenced park such as Amboseli may serve as a dry-season refuge for the wildlife. When the rains return, the animals migrate out and into the community areas. We were lucky to be in the park on the day of one of the most famous of these migrations: the elephant migration. Cars idling, the air hot and humid, and our breaths shallow we watched hundreds of elephants cross just meters ahead of us. Behind us, Kilimanjaro stood proudly, not a cloud for kilometers to block its view. We were literally living the moment shown in postcards (be wary though, if you see a postcard in Tanzania with Kilimanjaro and elephants, it was actually taken in Amboseli National Park, Kenya), and if for one day the beauty of the largest of land herbivores reigned dominant over all others. I chose it for the location, the immerse home-stay aspect, the language (Swahili) classes, and the research opportunity.