Summer School is in Session at CCF

The US and European Summer is our winter in Namibia and a very popular time for students to travel to CCF. This year is no exception. Some will stay a few days, sometimes a week. Some older students working on university-level projects may stay for several weeks or more. We have so many groups coming over the next few months, the place is already buzzing with excitement. In addition we have many Namibian school groups visiting and our younger learners have a natural curiosity. Students young and older are always fascinated by the cheetahs, goats, dogs and the wildlife at CCF. Their energy and enthusiasm infuses all of us, like a burst of fresh air.

This year we will host several international students and groups, many from U.S. colleges, like University Nebraska, Rhodes College, and SUNY (State University of New York). CCF has a partnership with SUNY, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (in Israel), and the Namibian Museums to work on a special project focused on biodiversity. We have 5 schools – and 25 students – from the US with us right now. This is an important program and we have worked very hard for a couple years to get this first group to CCF.

Also exciting to report, our own Dr. Ezequiel Fabiano, CCF’s former Senior Researcher, is now a professor at the University of Namibia, and he has brought his conservation biology students here to train them on how to use camera traps, how to conduct radio telemetry tracking, and how to mitigate human-wildlife conflict issues. One of our hopes has always been to train the next generation of African biologists, conservationists and geneticists so that the continent becomes self-sustaining, and we are so pleased (and proud) to see this goal realized through the work of Dr. Fabiano.