ISA ECOLOGY IN KENYA REFLECTIONS

8. ISA Ecology in Kenya

Reflections

The third annual Ecology and Conservation in Kenya Individual Study Abroad program took place this July after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our faculty leads, Professor Stewart Thompson and Dr. Sharon Kahara were thrilled to be back in Kenya collaborating on what has always been a successful and much loved program.

The 2022 program exceeded expectations in many ways including intercultural collaboration, professional development, and ecosystem advocacy.

This year’s student cohort was an international collaboration between students from Belmont University (United States) and two local Kenyan students from Karatina University and the University of Nairobi. Author Cioré Taylor writes, “Differences simply act as a yarn of curiosity unraveling until we get to the other side,” and this intercultural group of students proved this to be true. The Belmont University students followed their curiosity to Kenya as they aimed to learn about new ecosystems and a new culture. The Kenyan students let their passion for conservation lead them to this new experience in their own country. Together they met at Brackenhurst Learning Centre to embark on this journey together. Named as a highlight by all participants, this intercultural collaboration among students was an opportunity to share academic knowledge and cultural experiences across borders. The shared lessons, private jokes, and countless stories at the farewell dinner were an indication of the power of shared intercultural experience.

The academic background of this cohort of students was equally diverse. Students were studying Geography, Range Management, Conservation Ecology, Music Management, and Videography. The layout of the program with a balance of lectures, practical field skill development, presentations, and extracurricular activities, lends itself to the flexibility of content dissemination depending on individual experience and requirements. Students filled out our EDU Africa Transformation Questionnaires and showed a 16.2% average growth in Professional Development. 24.

This showed the professional application of skills learned in this program across a wide range of discipline areas.

Regardless of the students’ country of origin or academic background, each student reported a newly found passion for conservation both locally and globally. With Columbus monkeys swinging on the trees while you hike through a newly restored forest, seeing the impact of wetland health on local communities, or learning about the livelihoods of the Maasai communities as you walk through their community-owned conservancy savanna, the reality of the beauty and the interdependence of global ecosystems awakens the conservation advocate in every participant.

With the connections formed between cultures and disciplines and ecosystems, the participants of the 2022 Ecology and Conservation in Kenya Study Abroad Program went back to their communities changed. New friendships and new global perspectives are an inspiration as they continue on their future career paths.

The Ecology and Conservation in Kenya Individual Study Abroad Faculty Leads, Professor Stewart Thompson and Dr. Sharon Kahara shared their own insights on this program.

Professor Stewart Thompson

Oxford Brookes University

This year the Ecology and Conservation in Kenya program welcomed a multi-national group of staff and students with current interests in a range of academic subjects. Rewilding is on everyone’s radar at the moment and in the forest ecology component of the course, we were able to see first-hand the challenges this aspect of environmental management faces at our pioneering reforestation project in the foothills of the Aberdares mountains. This unique project introduced both staff and students to the technical and socio-ecological hurdles to reinstating indigenous forests at a meaningful scale. In particular, the project highlighted to everyone the importance of community, and particularly, women’s involvement in the numerous rewilding initiatives currently being managed by our partners at the Centre for Ecological Research - Kenya. This was a truly inspirational applied element of the program, thoroughly enjoyed by all. Our study location in the wildlife conservancy network of the Greater Mara Ecosystem once again came up trumps in revealing all the challenges and triumphs of studying in this unique landscape. Wildlife conservancies in the Mara now sit firmly at the hub of conservation and environmental management in Kenya. They are the perfect setting to explore the wealth of the interlinked challenges that modern-day conservationists face. The program itself is purposefully multi-disciplinary and interactive, with much of our time spent in the field where

we were able to reinforce the topics covered in the support materials and lectures that underpin the program, bringing us up close and personal with the amazing variety of wildlife savanna Africa has to offer. As always, we were not disappointed - cats big and small, elephants, giraffes, buffalos, and of course, wildebeest, impala, and zebras by the bag-full! An important element of our time, as always, was spent with the local communities. This provided us with the opportunity for an informative and lively exchange with the custodians of the Mara, helping us develop our appreciation of the importance of coexistence between people and wildlife. For me personally, it is always a pleasure to introduce students and staff to the wonders of the Mara and its wildlife.

Once again, the program and the Mara did not disappoint, and whilst it is always a sad time when we bid farewell to the outgoing cohort of students and faculty, I cannot wait to do it all over again!

Dr. Sharon Kahara

University of New Haven

After almost two years of travel restrictions and educational disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was thrilled to learn that the 2022 Ecology and Conservation in Kenya ISA program was going to go ahead. I led the Wetlands Ecology module of the course and was excited to meet a diverse group of enthusiastic students from the U.S. and Kenya, ready to engage in the course content. This year, I included discussions about Fortress Conservation and what it means for wetlands and other ecosystems in Kenya. Fortress Conservation may be described as a suite of practices based on the belief that biodiversity is best protected through isolation from humans. The goal was to have students compare and contrast how natural ecosystems are used or are present in the daily lives of people in western society versus in Kenya. It soon became apparent that habitats such as wetlands provide ecosystem services to local people on a daily basis and the application of traditional indigenous practices is a key component of conservation.

Unlike forests and savanna ecosystems, wetlands are poorly understood for many reasons, making them highly susceptible to disturbance. The students appreciated learning about these “mysterious” habitats as they had never had the opportunity to visit them in the past. Our visits to local wetlands such as Manguo Swamp, a frequent birdwatcher stopover, expanded our bird life lists. This year we were joined by researchers from the National Museums of Kenya - Dr. Jane Macharia and Chris Chesire, who spent a full day with us seeking out and identifying wetland plants. Fortunately, one of the resident staff at Brackenhurst, Tobin Mutiso, is an expert on wetland plants and his insights were very welcome. Together with Brackenhurst, we will continue to maintain and add to our plant list in the coming years and hopefully include composition surveys to assess changes. The trip to Lake Naivasha shed light on human impacts on this important Ramsar Site, starting with a 26.

guided tour of a large multinational flower farm that draws water from the lake and discharges its wastewater back into the aquifer. We learned about how water uptake and discharges are regulated by the government and local agencies as well as community groups. This and our drive through the town really put the precariousness of the lake’s hydrology at the forefront. Despite this, we were able to witness the ecosystem’s resilience during our one-hour boat excursion which included close-up views of lounging hippos, and a wide variety of waterfowl and waterbirds.

The highlight of the module was a unique tour of Ondiri Swamp in Kikuyu township led by graduate student Howard Atubwa who is currently evaluating amphibian diversity, and the director of The Friends of Ondiri Swamp Community Conservation Organization, Lydia Kalekye. Both are young Kenyans who related well to our group of students, and it was incredibly inspiring to learn how these young activists were working to restore and conserve the wetland. Ondiri Swamp is the largest quaking bog in the region. Lydia and Howard then led us on an exciting walk over the bouncing peat through well-known short-cuts that have been used by locals for decades if not more, an activity which I’m certain none of the students had ever thought they would experience.

All in all, I would say the course in 2022 was a triumph, especially given what we had all gone through in the past two years. I’m very excited about the coming session.