Course Title: TROPICAL ECOLOGY

Instructors:

 Drs. J. Kolasa, and Ben Evans, Department of Biology, McMaster  University, Hamilton, Ont., L8S 4K1 tel: (905) 525 9140 x. 23100, 26973; fax (905) 522 6066

e-mail: Kolasa@McMaster.ca; Evansb@mcmaster.ca

Action: Please let us know if you yould like to travel in a group with other students

Location: Selous Game Park, Tanzania

Course dates: Leave from Dar es Salaam TAZARA train station: Tuesday early afternoon August 16, 2010 and return Sunday afternoon August 28, 2011 . Allow at least two days to get to Dar es Salaam (note that the return train may be a day late and plan accordingly your other activities, including and especially the return flight!).

Costs:   US$ 2200 (Approximately CAD 2200) if 10 students participate. Costs include local transportation, food supplies, park fees, armed rangers but exclude airfare and visa (final costs will not change except if the Selous Game Park changes their rates); we are negotiating for lower rates and if we succeed, the costs will go down.

   Cost breakdown:

• CAD$ 250.00 deposit payable to student's home University
• Cost does not include tuition for the course at student's  home University
• PLUS:

The lowest airfare found on Orbitz was US$ 1260 and about $1500 on Expedia if booked in January.

 Due March 30, 2010:   CAD$ 1950

 (All to be submitted by certified cheque or money order payable to "McMasterUniversity" by the deadline date.  Send to Kathy  McIntosh, Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, L8S 4K1)

 Prerequisites:

Students should normally be entering the 3rd or 4th  year of a Biology Honours (Zoology, Ecology, or Botany) program, have at least  one ecology course beyond the fundamental level and must have taken an  introductory biometry or statistics course.

Course Description:

By analogy to ecotourism, we can call the course ecolearning as it involves 24 hour exposure to African nature and a minimal footprint. The course components will include sightseeing and team projects on ecology of vegetation and wildlife of East Africa. Emphasis will be on linking animal species to their natural environment and will involve observations of behavior, age structure, foraging patterns, impacts on vegetation in typical or frequently used areas, landscape features conducive to high mammal diversity and density, and others (see potential projects). Sightseeing exposes students to an astounding diversity of African animals, including elephants, hippos, crocodiles, lions, wild dogs, leopards, giraffes, wildebeests, and many others, in their natural settings. The course is intended for experienced hikers with experience in international travel, or those who are prepared to gain hiking/camping experience the hard way (two hikes of 25km and many over 10km; sleeping in your own tent, cooking on fire). This course offers an experience that goes well beyond a tour safari or a typical field course.

You can see excerpts from the 2007 trip on: 

Assignments:

Students will submit a two-page research proposal by April 30, 2011 after consultation with the instructors. The instructors will work with students to develop a good proposal. Students will present their proposals during evening seminars if feasible.  Four weeks (deadline adjustable to individual circumstances) after the field module students will submit final reports  in the format of a paper for the journal of ECOLOGY.

Enrollment:

Limited to 10 students, minimum 8 students. 

More information on the field courses can be found at the Biology Undergraduate web pages.

Some facts about Selous Game Park

Bigger than Switzerland and four times the size of the Serengeti, the 50 000km² wilderness area is the most alluring safari prospect on the African continent; it's Africa's Big Secret, and seen as the next top destination for those in the mood for a bit of an adventure.

It's a big park full of big game: the reserve - and proclaimed world heritage site - protects phenomenally large mammal populations. These include upward of 100 000 buffalo, 40 000 hippo, 150 000 wildebeest, 5 000 zebra and 50 000 impala. The local giraffe population is so large that Selous has been nicknamed Giraffic Park.

It's great for birders too: 350 bird species have also been recorded in Selous.

With all this food-on-the-hoof it's not surprising that predators pack themselves into the reserve. The Selous lions (of which there are 4 000) display unique daytime hunting behaviour.

An estimated 1 300 wild dog (the largest concentration in Africa) live in Selous, competing against large numbers of cheetah, leopard and spotted hyena.