2025 Field Course

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CARTA Office, UC San Diego, United States ‐ Jun 28, 2025

An Adventure of a Lifetime Begins!

CARTA welcomes you to the 2025 Anthropogeny Field Course Travel Map. Within these posts are narrations of the extraordinary journey shared by ten UC San Diego graduate students* (representing five aca...
Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia ‐ Jun 29, 2025

A Long Haul

We made it! The official start to the 2025 Field Course began at the San Diego International Airport where the students assembled and boarded for the long flights to Addis Ababa Bole International Air...
Addis Ababa, Gambella Hotel

A City Evolving

Arriving at night in Addis Ababa revealed the dramatic transformation the city has undergone since the first Anthropogeny Field Course in 2011. What was once a large but comparatively modest city 2,35...
National Museum ‐ Jun 30, 2025

+9

A Day at the Museum

After a well-deserved but brief night's rest, the day began with an early morning run through the cool, damp streets of the city. We've found that these early morning jaunts are the best way to see an...
Addis Ababa Bole International Airport ‐ Jul 1, 2025

Off We Go Again

With the museum session completed and a night of rest under our belts, we navigated our way back to the Addis Ababa Bole International airport for our flight to Arusha, Tanzania. The experience at the...
Kilimanjaro International Airport, Tanzania

Welcome to Tanzania!

We touched down at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) at 1:30 PM; however cloudy skies prevented us from seeing the famous mountain for which the airport is named (thankfully, Pascal snapped...
Arusha

+4

Organized Chaos

The first thing one experiences in Arusha—and Tanzania in general—is organized chaos. Things simply work, though the mechanics remain mysterious. It's prudent to just sit back and enjoy the flow of li...
Ngorongoro Crater ‐ Jul 2, 2025

+14

Prepare to be Awed: Ngorongoro Crater

We departed at 6 AM for the three-hour drive from Arusha to our first safari destination: the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its spectacular wildlife and vib...
Simba A Camp

It Will Be Cold: The First Night of Safari Camping

Back in early June when the students were attending their pre-trip meetings with Pascal and Jesse, they were given stern warnings to pack down jackets and warm layers for this night of the course. "It...
Olduvai Gorge and Museum ‐ Jul 3, 2025

Dry as a Bone: Olduvai Gorge and Museum

The trek down the western face of the Ngorongoro highlands offered yet another example of Tanzania's striking environmental diversity. The cool, grassy highlands, dotted with Maasai bomas and herds of...
Nasera Rock

+2

The Isle in the Plain: Nasera Rock

Nasera Rock rises 50 meters (165 feet) above the surrounding plains with herds of giraffes and is a dramatic inselberg (an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain) located 20 kilometers nor...
Magnetic Shifting Sands

The Sands of Time: Magnetic Shifting Sands

A short drive from Nasera Rock and just north of Olduvai Gorge, lie the Magnetic Shifting Sands, a rare natural phenomenon formed from iron-rich volcanic ash deposited during eruptions roughly 3,000 y...
Karatu Camp

+2

Honey Chicken and Hot Showers: Doffa Safari Campsite

Our home for the night was the secluded Doffa Safari Campsite on the western outskirts of Karatu. The campsite featured a small grassy lawn for our tents with hedging surrounding the perimeter. A cent...
Karatu Market ‐ Jul 4, 2025

How to Haggle: The Karatu Market

Tanzania's economy is primarily centered around tourism and, as such, tourists are seen as vital opportunities for income. On this morning, we visited the lively Karatu Market, a vibrant mix of everyd...
Snake Stop/Lesson Session

+2

How to Become Infamous: Snake Stop 1

Imagine heading to your job on the coffee plantation and stumbling across a group of tourists depositing a venomous snake right next to the rows of plants you tend. You probably wouldn't feel too grea...
Maji Moto

A Picnic Among Deadly Flowers: Maji Moto

We descended the last slope of the Ngorongoro highlands and motored past sprawling onion fields that perfumed the air with that unmistakable onion smell. In the baking sun, laborers tended to the rows...
Snake Stop 2

Goodbye, Lucy: Snake Stop 2

After lunch at Maji Moto, we continued southward along the eastern shore of Lake Eyasi. The landscape here felt almost lunar. It is flat, it is dry, it is desolate, it is dry as bone. It seemed imposs...
Hadza Camp 1

+6

Prepare Your Minds for Maximum Amazement: Hadza Campsite 1

With Lucy safely re-homed, we pressed on toward our destination in the eastern ridges of Yaeda Valley. Our home for the next two nights would be a campsite in the wilderness near the village of Yaeda...
Hadza Camp 2 ‐ Jul 6, 2025

+21

The Great Gideru Ridge: Hadza Camp 2

We awoke to a glorious morning in Hadzaland, the air cool but the sky promised heat later in the day. After a quick breakfast, we dismantled our camp and gathered to discuss the hike ahead. The plan w...
Tarangire Park ‐ Jul 8, 2025

+13

Just Trust Me, Good Things Are Coming: Tarangire National Park

And so, with heavy hearts, we left Hadzaland behind. Our convoy hugged the lake’s edge, retracing part of the southern shoreline before veering east onto a dirt road that wound its way out of Yaeda Va...
Tumaini Homestay ‐ Jul 9, 2025

It Must Have Been A Simulation: Back to Arusha

The drive back to Arusha felt almost surreal. Had we truly navigated the entirety of Ngorongoro Crater, stood at the very site of important discovery at Olduvai Gorge, or wandered beneath the towering...
Arusha Airport ‐ Jul 10, 2025

The Small Airport Vibe: Arusha Airport

In past Field Courses, our air travel to and from Arusha had always been routed through Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). This year, however, our course took a different path. Instead of naviga...
Abeid Amani Karume International Airport: Zanzibar (ZNZ)

A dark legacy in the shadows of paradise: Zanzibar

Welcome to Zanzibar! Ok, no feet actually touched the ground here as it was a simple stop-and-go while en route to Dar es Salaam. Despite this, the historical significance of this archipelago, compose...
Julius Nyerere International Airport: Dar es Salaam (DAR) ‐ Jul 11, 2025

It's not too far to Dar!

From Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, or just Dar, is literally a hop, skip, and a jump. More precisely, it is roughly 30 miles across the narrow Zanzibar Channel from Zanzibar Island to Dar. By the time our...
Clouds Motel: Dar es Salaam ‐ Jul 10, 2025

Nothing to see here

This post is purposefully scant as little can and should be said about the overnight stay at this motel. Let's all just forget this momentary stop and proceed to the next adventure.
Julius Nyerere International Airport: Dar es Salaam (DAR) ‐ Jul 11, 2025

The gateway to western Tanzania, we presume.

With that, we were back at the Dar airport to board our flight to Kigoma, a lake port city in western Tanzania. Our travel this day was a modern reenactment of Henry Morton Stanley's famous 1869 exped...
Kigoma Airport

Pouring salt on the wound of history

Our touchdown at the quaint Kigoma airport (TKQ), a place imbued with the spirit of the frontier, brought a renewed sense of adventure. Here, the Field Course not only entered new territory but also s...
Greater Mahale Ecosystem Research Centre (GMERC)

+25

Field Primatology: Issa Valley and GMERC

The race against the sun to reach Issa Valley and the GMERC site ended in a draw between the last of the dying rays of light and our arrival at the turnoff that would take us to the camp. As dark sett...
Kigoma Market ‐ Jul 16, 2025

The Kigoma Quest: Ingredients shopping at the market

We retraced our route from Issa Valley back to Kigoma, passing once more through the now bucolic town of Uvinza. Our first stop upon returning to Kigoma was the bustling local market. Since this marke...
Jacobsen’s Beach House

Vervets, Zebrastian, a swim, and dinner with a view

Our lodging for the night was the Jacobsen Beach and Guest House, a small retreat with several cottages, complete with kitchens, and tented accommodations perched just meters above Lake Tanganyika on...
Kigoma Airport ‐ Jul 17, 2025

So began the return home: Kigoma to Dar

With our belongings packed, we departed the Jacobsen Beach and Guest House and made our way to the Kigoma Airport. Each move from here on brought us one step closer to home, which was reflected in our...
Julius Nyerere International Airport: Dar es Salaam (DAR)

One last night in Dar

Due to the inefficiencies of air travel schedules, the next available international flight that connected to the US wasn't until noon the following day. Therefore, the Field Course was forced to overn...
Chapan Bhog

Ravenous appetites

Our now sizable contingent descended upon Chapan Bhog, a subdued Indian restaurant tucked in the Kisutu district of Dar. The staff were clearly overwhelmed by our sudden and rather loud arrival. We fi...
Wistas Inn, Dar es Salaam

The last real sleep for the next 24 hours

With our bellies pleasantly overfilled, we rolled out of Chapan Bhog and made our way to the Wistas Inn, our night's accommodations. Located just across from the University of Dar es Salaam campus, th...
Julius Nyerere International Airport: Dar es Salaam (DAR) ‐ Jul 18, 2025

Departure! (Take two)

And with that, like déjà vu all over again, we found ourselves once more at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. This time, however, marked the true beginning of our long transcontin...
Bole Addis Ababa International Airport: Addis Ababa (ADD), Ethiopia

Just a minor layover

By a stroke of scheduling luck, our connecting flight was at the very first stop of the Field Course: Bole Addis Ababa International Airport in Ethiopia. This visit, however, there were no reunions wi...
San Diego International Airport: San Diego, CA (SAN), United States ‐ Jul 19, 2025

Our bodies and minds are in San Diego but our imaginations are forever in East Africa

With a screech of tires and a plume of rubberized smoke, our landing at San Diego International Airport marked the conclusion of the 2025 Anthropogeny Field Course. The ten Anthropogeny Graduate Speci...

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