With our boat trip from northern Zanzibar to the coast of Tanzania we said goodbye to intructors David Sperling and Rose Wandia. Course work in Swahili, cultural studies and history were wrapped as the curriculum shifted to a focus on regional biology and contemporary issues (10/3-10/10)

The reefs off the coast of Tanzania provide a rich laboratory for investigating biodiversity

Breakfast in Kendwa before departing for the coast

Transportation was basic, but safe and reliable

We were accompanied by dolphins for part of the trip

On the beach in Pembe Abwe

Learning more about mangroves

Chasing ghost crabs

Natalie identifies the gender of a crab

Heading out for a day of work on the reef

Time to get wet

Each monitoring team was focused on a different component of the reef community

Miles assessing benthic community structure

Lila running a transect

Working with the transect tapes was sometimes like playing with spaghetti!

Can you see the octopus that Michael has found?

Hillary reeling in a tape

Anton looking for butterflyfish

There were lots of interesting fish to get to know

A giant moray (in deeper water... out of the study zone)

Enthusiasm for the work was not an issue (Rachel R.)

Kim

Heather working on her fish

Figuring out those fish IDs on the way back in

Back to dry land

Working up the data in camp

Important Note: We are heading out on safari for the next three weeks (until early November) and will be out of internet contact for much of that time. This site will be updated when we return to Arusha.