Four Weeks. Wild Africa.
Northern Tanzania holds some of Africa's greatest wildlife concentrations. In four weeks, you learn the methods used to count, monitor, and protect them across the parks and rangelands around the Ngorongoro Highlands.
Based in Rhotia, you'll conduct vehicle-based transects through savanna and woodland, age and sex elephants in Tarangire, and meet with Maasai pastoralists who manage daily coexistence with lions and elephants.
What You'll Do
Wildlife Population Surveys
Conduct vehicle-based transect counts of large mammals at Manyara Ranch, using distance sampling to estimate populations across savanna and woodland.
African Elephant Lab
In Tarangire National Park, determine the age and sex of elephants from morphology and behavior, building a picture of herd structure.
Community Engagement Workshops
Meet with Maasai pastoralists and conservation leaders to record how livestock losses, grazing access, and compensation shape support for wildlife protection.
Field Sites
Field sites range from Manyara Ranch and Lake Manyara to Tarangire National Park and the Serengeti plains.
Manyara Ranch
A wildlife-and-livestock ranch where students run road-transect counts of large mammals.
Tarangire National Park
Baobab-studded parkland where students determine the age and sex of elephants.
Lake Manyara National Park
A lake-and-woodland park for studying baboon behavior and surveying flamingos.
Africa's Great Herds. Count Them Across the Open Serengeti.
Northern Tanzania is the classroom. Students learn distance sampling and large-mammal identification from open-topped vehicles at Manyara Ranch, the foundational methods used to count and monitor wildlife across East African savannas. In Tarangire, elephant herds move through the woodlands, and students learn to age and sex them. A Serengeti expedition puts those methods to work on the open plains. Four weeks teaches wildlife management where the animals and the people share the same land.
Wildlife Science in Practice
This 4-credit field course covers population ecology, survey methods, and the social context of wildlife management in East Africa. You'll collect real data in the field and present your findings at the end of the session.
Course
1 course · 4 credits · 4 weeks
Exposes students to community wildlife management and the complexity of sustainable wildlife conservation in Tanzania.
View Syllabus (PDF)Experience Tanzania This Summer
Now enrolling for Summer 2027.
Dates & Costs
4 weeks, 4 credits. Financial aid and SFS scholarships available.
