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The African experience by Jochem Sloothaak
I am one of these students who had a desire for more green in his study. This was a lack in my formal study at the HAS in Den Bosch. Environmental Technology sounds green, but after one ecology subject and plenty of civil technical subjects I went checking the options at Wageningen University. No regrets so far. The Master program Forest and Nature Conservation offered me the opportunity to study nature areas with both their interesting and complex ecological aspects. It was not a coincidence that I did my thesis for the Recourse Ecology Group; the group with the most affinity with ecology and how to save and manage our natural resources. On one hand an exciting feeling but on the other hand a relaxing feeling takes hold of me when I look back at my period in South Africa. Being there, doing my own research on a semi-arid savanna gave me a certain satisfaction. A feeling which is, to my opinion, hard to find when staying in the Netherlands. |
Standing face to face with a leopard, baboons which became so curious to my greenhouse that they tried to get in to them, termites removing my toiletrolls, digging trenches into rocky soil with a couple of locals and horses feeding on my maize plants are some examples of the weird things you experience.
With every setback you become more skilled in finding new solutions to your problems. Only after driving a four wheel drive off the road I found myself forced to ask for help to its true owner. Being away from home but close to nature, trying to reveal a small piece of the giant puzzle called ecology resulted in a better security about what I like to do in the future. Now, almost finished with my research on vegetation development in the Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands I look back on a great time in this small but great city Wageningen. Probably I will hang around here for a little longer………. |