Semester Program | Tanzania

Wildlife Management Studies

About This Program

No Fences. Hard Questions.

Wildebeest herds darken the Serengeti plains as lions flatten into the tall grass ahead. Hyenas call from the crater rim at dusk. In Rhotia, between the Tarangire-Manyara and Ngorongoro-Serengeti ecosystems, the SFS center sits at the intersection of Africa's most iconic wildlife populations and the pastoral communities that share their corridors.

From open-topped vehicles, students age elephant clans by morphology in Tarangire and watch lions work a wildebeest herd in the Serengeti. In a Maasai boma, a herder describes the lion that killed cattle the week before, and the compensation fund that kept him from retaliating. Then the semester drops onto the Ngorongoro Crater floor, face to face with black rhinos and the decisions that keep them alive.

A Maasai guide and students gaze toward a distant volcano across green Tanzanian grassland

In the Field

What You'll Do

A majestic elephant strides across the sun-drenched African savanna dotted with wildflowers

Tarangire & Serengeti Expeditions

Multi-day camping expeditions to Tarangire and the Serengeti, observing elephant clan behavior, predator-prey dynamics, and baobab woodland ecosystems from safari vehicles.

A majestic herd of elephants roams across the golden Tanzanian savanna beneath towering mountains and dramatic clouds

Large Mammal Counts & ID

Conduct road-count transects of large mammals, recording age, sex, and behavior, then analyze the data back at the center and present your findings in a scientific poster.

A Zanzibar red colobus monkey grips a branch in leafy forest

Primate Behavioral Studies

Observe baboon activity patterns and time budgets using behavioral observation techniques and ethograms.

A majestic lion roars across the golden savanna during sunset

Ngorongoro Crater Descent

Drop onto the floor of the world's largest intact volcanic caldera to study its closed ecosystem, endangered black rhinos, and dense lion populations.

A Maasai woman in beaded jewelry smiles warmly

Maasai & Iraqw Homestays

Spend full days with Maasai and Iraqw families studying natural resource use, traditional culture, and the tensions between pastoralism and conservation.

Students hike through banana groves toward a forested Tanzanian mountain

Small Mammal Trapping & Home Ranges

Set Sherman and Havahart live traps to sample small mammal communities, then build and analyze lion home ranges in QGIS from Tarangire Lion Project data.

Beyond the Center

Field Sites

Field sites span the Ngorongoro Highlands, from the iconic crater floor to Maasai community rangelands and Serengeti migration corridors.

Acacia trees silhouette against a blazing golden Tanzanian sunset

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

A UNESCO World Heritage Site where Maasai pastoralists coexist with dense wildlife populations.

A shaft of rainbow drops from a stormy sky onto a lone silhouetted acacia tree

Ngorongoro-Serengeti Ecosystem

The Serengeti expedition crosses these short-grass plains amid the migration's wildebeest and zebra.

A diverse group of students and Maasai community members stand together smiling under a vast African sky, their traditional beaded jewelry glinting in the bright sunlight

Rhotia Community Lands

Villages and rangeland around the SFS center, where students study human-wildlife coexistence.

Experience Tanzania

Two Million Wildebeest. No Fences. Hard Questions.

In the Ngorongoro Crater, twenty-five thousand large mammals share a caldera floor. In Tarangire, elephant herds thread through baobab woodlands along corridors that settlements are narrowing by the year. In the Serengeti, the migration moves through territory where Maasai pastoralists graze cattle alongside the herds, negotiating coexistence without fences and without the luxury of waiting for better data.

Academics

A Curriculum Shaped by the Savanna

Five courses weave wildlife ecology, survey techniques, and conservation politics into a field-driven semester across northern Tanzania. Students run road transects, build baboon ethograms through behavioral observation, and spend full days with Maasai and Iraqw families, all converging in Directed Research that informs wildlife management across the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem.

Wildlife Ecology Conservation Rangeland Science Community Engagement

Courses

5 courses · 18 credits · 15 weeks

SFS 3720 Wildlife Ecology 4 Credits

Tarangire and Serengeti expeditions with Lake Manyara field days, studying predator-prey dynamics, primate behavior, and small mammal live trapping.

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SFS 3710 Techniques in Wildlife Management 4 Credits

Road-count transects and large mammal identification, rangeland health assessments on the plains near Lake Natron, and visits to Manyara Ranch studying pastoralism-wildlife coexistence.

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SFS 3023 Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values 4 Credits

Participatory mapping in the Lake Manyara catchment, village conservation assessments, and analysis of human-wildlife conflict among agro-pastoralists.

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SFS 2060 Introduction to Swahili Language and East African Tribal Communities 2 Credits

Beginner Swahili with Maasai and Iraqw cultural immersion through a day-long homestay, school visits, and analysis of cultural tourism at Manyatta bomas.

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SFS 4910 Directed Research – Tanzania 4 Credits

Faculty-led research: past projects include mesopredator activity patterns in the Ndutu area, carbon-trade impacts on communities around Lake Eyasi, and roadkill across the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem.

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