Senior Lori Jacquemin just got back from South Africa, where she camped in game reserves, worked with natives and saw African wildlife firsthand.
She earned three credits during this 17-day ecology and wildlife management class. Jacquemin was one of the first students ever to participate in the class, which had not been offered at Ball State until this summer.
"I want to be a doctor, but I want to be someone who has done a little bit of everything," Jacquemin said. "The trip was to gain a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and this was definitely eye-opening."
Jacquemin traveled with 10 other Ball State students and a professor. She said they spent most of their time in the wilderness.
"The whole time we were there, we were out in the bush," Jacquemin said. "The camps were rough, and most didn't have electricity or hot water heaters. We took quite a few cold showers."
While camping in the game reserves and national parks, Jacquemin said she learned more than she thought she would.
"I expected we'd just see giraffes, elephants, lions and hippos, but that's not the way we started," Jacquemin said. "We learned from the ground up."
The group learned about rock formations, vegetation, insects and types of geological features. Then, they studied wildlife through the food chain.
The students also learned how to find their way around in the reserves.
"We learned navigation skills in the bush. They call it 'orienteering' down there," Jacquemin said. "They took us into the middle of a game reserve and told us to get the group back to camp on our own. We even learned how to navigate at night by telling directions from the constellations."
The students also learned helpful hints about lifestyle in the wild.
"If we left our shoes outside at night, the hyenas would take them because, to a hyena, they smelled like dead meat," Jacquemin said.
Jacquemin said her favorite part of the trip was visiting the wildlife rehabilitation center. The center, complete with a tame warthog as a mascot, helped wild animals recover from wounds or illness.
"They had eagles, lions, badgers, hyenas, wild dogs, impalas; a little bit of everything," Jacquemin said. "A lot of the animals had been rescued from snares or traps, and some had been hit on the road."
Jacquemin said the people in South Africa were very friendly toward Americans.
"A lot of people we were around down there were rural natives or indigenous people," Jacquemin said. "They don't really know about international problems or the U.S. government. American music blares everywhere down there, and everyone speaks English."
Jacquemin said she would like to return to South Africa some day and spend more time learning about city life.
"I'd like to spend more time with the wildlife and see the rest of the country," Jacquemin said, "But South Africa has some great cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg, and we didn't get to see a lot of them. I'd like to spend time there."
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