By Sara Berry

Over winter break, 24 CCSU Biology students and three professors spent two weeks in South Africa. While in South Africa, students traveled to a number of educational destinations and took part in several unique experiences.

Students visited the Cradle of Mankind in Gaunteng, an active mine containing human fossils dating back to cavemen.

They also visited the area of Soweto in Johannesburg and learned about the history and reality of apartheid in South Africa. “That was crazy, “ said biology major Tom Allison, “It’s hard to remember that it happened so recently, and that the effects of it are still having effects today.” In Cape Town, students toured Robben Island, home to the prison that housed Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners during the apartheid. Giving tours of the prison, now a museum, was a man who was a former prisoner on the island that became employed there after his release.

For the majority of the trip, students stayed at South African Wildlife College. The college, which trains students looking to preserve and protect the wildlife of South Africa, is a private reserve attached to Kruger National Park. Students stayed in tents, where they were visited by lizards in bed and geckos in the shower. The Wildlife College is enclosed by an electrified fence for safety, and students leaving the campus had to take two armed guards in case of attack by wild animals.

At the college, students took walks in the morning and evening looking for wildlife, which they could hear at night. They saw “every type of animal imaginable,” said Allison, including leopards and thousands if impala (deer-like animals). They also attended a poaching seminar where they learned how rangers are trained to combat poaching, much like American soldiers are trained at boot camp. At that point (January 12), five rhinoceroses and five poachers had been killed so far this year. One of the guides was Hannes, a 22 year old professional lion tracker who brought the CCSU group out on game drives and pointed out the different animals that they encountered while in the park. In the park, the wildlife roams free of human interruption.

Students learned to track elephants and about wildlife migration patterns, as well as bovine tuberculosis. Bovine tuberculosis is an animal disease that is believed to have traveled to Africa from Europe in the 18th or 19th centuries. Buffalos, who live in herds are prone to the disease. The high rates of the disease in African buffalo has had serious effects on the lion population. When the lions prey on infected wild buffalo, they in turn become infected with the disease.

While in Cape Town, the group visited Boulders Beach, where they encountered African penguins, known as “jackass penguins.” The penguins roam the beach and sometimes even the streets near the beach.

The 24 students who traveled to South Africa learned things that they could never have learned in a traditional classroom. The shared passion and excitement of the students made their trip that much more enjoyable, and everyone came home with unique experiences that they will have for a lifetime.