The African savannah, so often depicted as a total wilderness preserved untouched, had surprisingly more human connections than I realized. Reading about how locals interact with the ecology of Tanzania did not give me the full picture I got from actually seeing it in person. One thing that stuck out to me was that the exotic nature of the animals as we see them is a construction on our part; the locals, like our drivers and the Maasai guides we had, were completely used to the native wildlife and the problems that come with them. Though we might tremble at the thought of lions or hyenas attacking livestock, or gasp in wonder when we see gazelles feeding at the side of the road, what makes these so different from the predator and large fauna interactions we have at home? I think the outside perspective gives us a distance from the wildlife in Africa that doesn’t exist for the people that live there. Is this good or bad? For one, it certainly helps the tourism industry thrive, which improves the economy in Tanzania. But it also brings the negative attention of trophy hunters and poachers, who use the interest in western cultures of the exotic for their own profit. In the end, I think trying to separate humans from the environment and market a place as “untouched” isn’t an accurate understanding of the community. Humans and animals live in tandem with each other, pretending otherwise is a bit silly at this point. The issue now is to work out how to live together without pushing each other out, which is a problem we will all have to work on together.
Before the reading I did for the trip, I didn’t realize how much the changing climate had influenced the evolution of fauna in Africa. Now I know that it wasn’t always as arid as it is today, and that has given me some new perspective. I paid closer attention to how wildlife interacted with more static features of the environment. The few times we saw giraffes feeding, I thought about their adaptations to reach higher leaves and weave their tongues around thorns, and I considered their evolution into a niche apart from other browsers. When we drove around in our safari vehicles at the height of the day and saw lions napping in the sun, I considered how the heat makes almost every predator in the savannah a nocturnal or crepuscular hunter. And as we climbed the sides of the Ngorongoro crater, I pondered how ancient geologic events have shaped entire ecosystems. The influences of every part of nature, both biotic and abiotic, create connections in a vast web of cause-and-effect that is almost impossible to untangle in one go. The past shapes the future, and the changes of evolution echo forward in time to the present day, where we are still learning new things about the ancient environment and the one we see now.
One thing I found unexpectedly fascinating (as someone who mainly took this class for the ecology aspect) was what I learned about human origins in relation to the environment. I had known that our species originated in Africa, but I hadn’t realized the reasons for this. The ways in which both climate changes and faunal evolution affected our own path to growth fascinated me. Knowing now that factors such as the abundance of prey and the capability to sweat were so vital to mankind’s development, I believe that looking into the past is one of our most interesting and important charges at this point in human history. We have the capability now to know things about past environments, through the development of technology and research techniques, that will surely be able to tell us more about our origins. I look forward to learning more in the future; this is one area of study that I plan to keep up with.
It’s hard for me to write something about the trip as a whole without sounding like a broken record. Words I have previously used as description—like magical, unreal, amazing—just seem to fall short. This journey both rose to my expectations and broke every single molded thought I’d had beforehand. It isn’t often you get to do something that you know will change your life; this is one situation where not being life-changing is the stranger outcome. The ups and downs, highs and lows alike had profound effects on me. While I can’t say I loved becoming ill on basically every flight we took or getting miniscule amounts of sleep half the time, these experiences added themselves to the adventure as a whole and made it all the more real to me. Obviously, the good moments go for granted: seeing wildlife in action (Lions! Hyenas! Wildcats! Oh my!), eating delicious food, experiencing new and amazing cultures; heck, I even kind of liked getting to sleep in a tent. If I had to pick three things I will remember five years from now, they would be:
- There is life everywhere in Africa. No matter what you think your chances are of seeing something incredible, take that and double it. As long as you have the eyes to see (and maybe a few other pairs with you to help out), you can observe some of the most interesting sights there are.
- Nothing is static, not even knowledge. The archaeological discovery of the footprints at Olduvai was first considered a sign of a large male and smaller female: they were actually a group walking in each other’s steps. Preserving those prints was something of a botched plan too, as they neglected to consider how plants might grow under the coverings. Everything changes and holding on to the old isn’t always the correct course of action. As some military guy once said, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” This goes for a lot more than just plans; testing theories and current understandings is a vital part of science, and it is a lesson every researcher must internalize before beginning their careers.
- This too shall pass. It took me a while to get there, but I eventually understood that no amount of nausea, sleep deprivation, or bumpy roads was actually going to kill me. Though I might be miserable for a while, there was always something cool or exciting just around the corner to lift my spirits. When things look tough in the moment, don’t ever forget that it is just a moment.
And with that, my reflection (and blog in general) is concluded. I hope the people who are reading these now and everyone who reads them in the future get a little hint of the magic from this trip out of all this. Signing off for now,
Vivian Lehmann
Proud Rice Student
Archaeologist/Ecologist-In-Training
Forever Hype About Africa!
