Since last time you have heard from me quite a bit has occured. So my time since early early April has been spent at Mazumbai Forest Reserve (20 days for ISP data collection), then in Arusha (2 weeks writing and presenting my final project).
So rewinding to early April, the trip to Mazumbai was once again a bumpy ride to say the least. We began our journey with a 6 hour crowded bus ride at 7 am, followed by an additional 2 hour car ride through the West Usambara mountains near the east coast of Tanzania to our new home for the next 20 days. We arrived around 3 pm and said hello to the entire Mazumbai staff while getting settled into our rooms. All of the 9 students' data collection methods have been previously set and were ready for data collection to begin the following morning. My methods called for an early morning start at 5:45am daily in order to have adequate time to eat a small breakfast, meet up with my guide Saidi Mtali, and then walk through the forest in search of my troop of Angolan black and white colobus monkeys.
I would spend around 30 minutes walking bushwhacking through the forest before I was able to hear or see my troop jumping around. I would then spend 3 hours with them collecting data using behavioral scans. The scans would last 5 minutes each and would be further compiled in order to analyze overall activity budgets of my troop. The following blurb is the abstract which I wrote for my project, and I don’t know how interested anyone is with Tanzanias black and white colobus, but feel free to email me if you would like a copy of my report to read (Glickman.samuel@gmail.com).
ABSTRACT
For 16 days in April 2011, I observed two troops of Colobus angolensis palliates located within Mazumbai Forest Reserve, and East Sagara Village Forest, which are montane forests within the West Usambara Mountains of Northeast Tanzania. This study compares the behavior of two troops of C. angolensis in an attempt to determine if differences in habitats affect C. angolensis behavior. As practiced within previous studies I used the instantaneous focal method during two daily observation periods to create time activity budgets of my two troops. In addition I recorded tree species inhabited, vertical position of the focal animal, and position in respect to edges including the road and farms. I used data from the E. Myers Fall 2010 study on the East Sagara Village Forest troop in order to use comparative time-series data. My data displayed that C. angolensis within the preserved Mazumbai Forest Reserve being more active, feeding more, and resting less than the East Sagara Village Forest troop. The behavioral data from the Fall 2010 study by E. Myers on C. angolensis was then compared with the collected Spring 2011 data. This comparison showed that this troop was changing considerably from last year’s data by feeding and moving less, while resting more. Data collected throughout the 16 days clearly displays the changing behaviors of these two troops of C. angolensis residing in their substantially different habitats.
I think that describes most of what I studied for the final month of my time in Tanzania, but if there are any questions feel free to share. After returning back to Arusha we had about a week for compiling data and writing our 30 pg papers which have been printed out and will stay both at the SIT office in Arusha for future students to read, and at our respective sites of study.
Then for the last week in Tanzania we each gave 30 minute presentations on our projects to the rest of our group and for our Tanzanian friends who have been with us throughout the entire program. Hearing about how all of the various projects, which my friends had invested themselves in, was truly amazing.
Then came May 12th and it was time to leave this beautiful place which I have called home the past three and a half months. If I could rewind and do this entire trip again I would do it in a second. I loved everything about Tanzania as a country, as well as the amazing people who I had the opportunity to meet and share this experience with. I hope to return sometime after graduation next year, and look forward to staying in touch with all of my new SIT group friends, Tanzanian friends, and families who housed me for weeks at a time. Thank you to everyone who has made this experience possible, including my academic director Baba Jack, all of the Tanzanians who I met along the way who welcomed me with open arms and minds. A very special thanks to my family, especially my parents for being so supportive after they realized that they couldn’t talk me out of embarking on this adventure to East Africa. Lastly, I guess I would like to thank everyone for reading this blog, commenting, and spending their time following me on my travels. Thanks once again, and enjoy the last set of pictures which will be posted soon!
Samuel Glickman
