This program provides an opportunity to conduct hands-on field research while learning about different ecosystems, their conservation status and management options within the Namibian context.  Students experience Namibia’s extraordinary natural beauty by visiting field research stations, reserves, national parks and conservation organizations.

This six-week field program is designed to introduce students to one of the world’s oldest deserts, the Namib, and to arid and semiarid biotopes on the African continent. Participants have the opportunity to earn 6 upper division or graduate units while gaining hands-on field experience in conservation and research. The program consists of three parts:

Introduction and Orientation Seminar - Presentation of student papers on general aspects of Namibian fauna, flora and ecology as well as geography, geology and history. Representatives of the government, the university and conservation Non-government Organizations (NGO) will be invited for seminar presentations or visited at their respective institutions to learn about current issues in research and conservation.

Field Work - Participants will actively engage in research and conservation at one location preferably in co-operation with a major institution, NGO, or the government.

Field trips - Students will visit field research stations, reserves, national parks and conservation projects in various locations of Namibia to learn about different ecosystems, their conservation status and management options.

Namibia is famous for its Namib desert and National Parks, which possess among the most striking African ecosystems on the continent. Charismatic African megafauna can be observed as well as large numbers of birds, reptiles and some amphibians. Botanically, Namibia offers an enormous variety of succulent plants typical for African arid lands.

Participants will visit the true coastal Namib desert and a cline of arid and semiarid habitats which extend from the west (coast) to the east (inland) and experience the change of climate and landscape firsthand. Students will also travel to the enigmatic waterfalls along the Kunene river which are situated in typical Mopane savanna.

Namibia has one of the best developed infrastructures for tourism in Africa and has a large number of campgrounds and good roads. A stable political situation and long established nature conservation programs allow visitors to fully experience African ecosystems, as well as the local people and their cultures.


- See more at: http://global.arizona.edu/study-abroad/program/desert-ecology-and-conservation-biology#sthash.mWqQk7IJ.dpuf