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Editor's Note: At the 3rd
Adventure Travel World Summit in Whistler , BC ,
near Vancouver, Canada, two host sites of the 2010
Winter Olympics, we we experienced an outstanding
presentation on Earthwartch. On this page are some
fanscinating projects or missions members are
entitled to participate in:
Traditional Knowledge of African Villages
Visit
villages in South Africa and Mozambique to record
oral knowledge and traditional practices regarding
everything from medicine to metallurgy.
Saving the Tarangire
Migration
Investigate
why migratory zebras, giraffes, and wildebeest are
declining in and around Tarangire National Park to
develop strategies to conserve large mammal
migrations throughout East Africa. Tarangire
National Park, Manyara Ranch, and Simanjiro Plains,
Tanzania - Tanzania's Tarangire National Park is
home to an astonishing array of African mammals and
more than 450 species of birds, all dwelling among
the spectacular scenery of ancient baobabs and
flat-topped acacia trees. Vast numbers of
ungulates, such as wildebeest, zebras, buffalos,
Grant's gazelles, giraffes, oryxes, elands, and
hartebeest, migrate into the park in the dry season
and out in the wet season. While the populations of
some animals are relatively stable, others, such as
wildebeest, hartebeest, and oryxes, have declined
by roughly 90 percent over the last 20 years.
More->
Survey the populations of
giraffes, zebras, elephants, rhinos, and others in
world class South African protected areas.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
National Park, South Africa - This magnificent
landscape of rolling savanna woodland was the last
refuge for white rhinos a century ago. Now the
historic, 900-square-kilometer park harbors a
healthy population of 2068, as well as black
rhinos, giraffes, elephants, kudu, impala,
wildebeest, zebras, and others, a veritable ark of
African biodiversity. All of these large
herbivores, in their teeming numbers, have an
impact on the structure and diversity of the
ecosystem. An overpopulation of any one of them can
mean massive destruction to their habitat and
instability to the other wildlife populations it
supports. You can join Sue van Rensburg in an
ongoing survey of the 15 largest herbivores in the
park, thereby contributing to a long-term database
of population trends and supporting effective
management and decision making. More->
Much more to
come.
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