Hi everyone! My name is Milton Nguyen, and I am an incoming Junior at Wiess College at Rice University and welcome to my blog! Over the next two weeks, I will be traveling to Tanzania as part of my BIOS/ANTH 323 course where I will get the chance to learn about ecology and paleontology while in the field. I am very excited to be able to share my experiences during the trip through this blog.
Currently, it is one day before our departure from Houston. For this trip, I am very excited to be immersed in a new environment and to witness the beautiful wildlife in Tanzania. However, I do have some nerves since we will be camping at some locations and I have limited camping experience. Additionally, the travel to Tanzania will be the furthest I have ever traveled in my life (a 12 and 7 hour flight!).
I believe that this course and trip will be a challenging and fulfilling experience. I have done lots of preparation beforehand including the two course readings (Only in Africa by Norman Owen-Smith and The Biology of African Savannas by Bryan Shorrocks and William Bates) as well as presentations on my assigned taxon and research method. My assigned taxon are Suids, Rhinocerotids (attached photo), and Herpestids and my assigned research method is isotopes.
Eastern Black Rhino, Credit: markus lilje, iNaturalist
For this course, I am looking forward to gaining experience with identifying species in new environments such as the tropics which I have never been to before. Most of the aspects of this course are very new to me, so I look forward to treating each opportunity as a learning experience. I am most excited to be able to spot and observe different animals I have been studying and reading up on these past few weeks.
-Milton
