 Botswana |
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 November 2011 |
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 Conservation Education and Outreach in Botswana |
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 Erin Stotz |
November 2, 2011
We arrived in Johannesburg after flying all night from Denver! It was great to be able to get off the plane and stretch our legs and take a few laps around the airport before our next flight into Botswana. We took about four hours to drink some coffee and eat some lunch and then we were off to Maun, Botswana! We landed in Botswana mid-afternoon and it was HOT! Stepping off the plane and walking to the small airport
located in Maun, there was a feeling of excitement knowing that the next two weeks would be filled with new adventures, people and places.
At the airport fellow colleagues were waiting with friendly smiles and helped us load up our luggage into a Land Rover, which is a staple in Botswana and the most reliable mode of transportation in a country covered with sand and rough roads. We drove through the town of Maun, passing people standing outside talking, herds of goats crossing the road and children walking home from school wearing their uniforms.
We pulled up to our fellow colleague's home, where we were greeted by his wife, their two lovely children and their three dogs! While in Botswana I would be conducting a needs-assessment of potential conservation education and outreach programs that Denver Zoo could implement in conjunction with the current research already being conducted. In various areas throughout Botswana, research is being done on African wild dogs, cheetahs, lappet-faced vultures, wildebeest, brown hyenas and lions. My job was to assess
