Animal Management students at BCA recently enjoyed a 15-day trip to The Gambia as part of the Government’s Turing Scheme.
As part of the trip, 25 students worked closely with local tribes people, villagers and guides, building on the conservation skills they have gained at college as well as experience a welcoming West African Culture.
They spent a week in the Kudang area, visiting the tribes in the small villages of Missira and Kerewan Samba Sira. Whilst they were there, they took wildlife surveys with the C4RC (Conservation for Red Colobus) teams, planting pineapples and trees used to feed the village, and seeing how the local branches of The Gambia Horse and Donkey Sanctuary work.
Students then went cotton farming with the Fula Tribe, experiencing village life, seeing how materials and feeds are produced, before a boat trip down the Gambia River to Baboon Island to see the only breeding population of chimpanzees in the country – seeing hippos and crocodiles too.
They were invited to experience livestock farming with the Mandinka and Fula tribes, including milking cows, providing water and tending to the babies, as well as a trip to some rice fields to see the process of feeding their family from start to finish.
In their second week, the group travelled to the coast where they observed how wildlife fits into a modern Gambia. Here they visited the horse and donkey sanctuaries’ main animal hospital, kayaked through the Tanji Mangroves for bird watching, and visited Gunjur’s Sea Turtle Protection Site alongside a traditional fishing village.
They observed how crocodiles, Red Colobus monkeys, Vervet monkeys and Baboons are treated by the local people, as well as visiting a livestock market and a local school.
Amy Jones, Animal Management Lecturer at BCA, said: “The students and staff all had a brilliant time in The Gambia. Not only will they remember all of the animals that they have seen and worked with, but they have all been changed by the welcoming people of Gambia.
It was an invaluable chance for them all to see how the skills they have learnt at college can be applied to a real-world setting, that they may never have experienced otherwise.”
The Animal Management team would like to say a huge thank you to the teams they worked with whilst in West Africa – My Gambia, Volunteer Trials, International Student Experiences, The Gambia Horse and Donkey Sanctuary, Gunjur Conservationists & Ecotourism Association, as well as the people working on the Turing Scheme who helped to organise the trip.
