Mid-Semester in South Africa
- Damaris Chenoweth, Skidmore College '17
- Apr 7, 2016
- 1 min read
Everyone in the African Ecology and Conservation semester is having a good time basking in the post-Cape Town break glow.
Glencairn was jam-packed with coastal outdoors time. A few people have immersed themselves in the surfing culture here, obtaining surfer-bro nicknames.
Our biodiversity project involved hands-on studying of intertidal species.
Now in Bainskloof, we have just finished fieldwork for our fourth and last Faculty Field Project.
Jasper Slingsby and PhD candidate Nisipi instructed us on ant population diversity as a predictor of fynbos landscape architecture. The team set ant traps, which involved long walks along transects through the scratchy fynbos—fortunately most made it through unharmed. Fieldwork was followed by a day of ant characterizing with the help of the notable Peter Slingsby, who awarded a prize (coffee mug!) to Sam for having the most diverse personal ant collection.
Everyone is working hard to finish papers before exam time, but not forgetting to have fun. Today marks a well-deserved day off, and last night a party celebrating the end of Faculty Field Projects where students and faculty picked each others names out of a hat and came to the party, dressed and acting like their assigned identity swap.
The day off activities include mountain biking, and a hike to fresh water snorkeling pools, but some are keen to take advantage of the extra nap-time in the middle of such a packed semester in the field!
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