Jane Wathika (2021)
Alumni Diploma Students
I am a conservation biologist from Kenya with a BSc in National Resource Management from Chuka University, Kenya. After completing my course I trained in GIS at Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development.
I have worked as a volunteer at the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in Kenya. I was involved in projects such as nurturing tree seedling ahead of their distribution to different re-afforestation sites. In 2017 I got an opportunity to work for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in the species conservation department. At KWS, I participated in lion collaring, mounting of camera traps at Nairobi National Park and triannual aerial total count of big mammals. During the aerial census in Tsavo, I got to interact with a staff from Save the Elephants and learned more about their work, which excited me: GPS tracking of elephants and other large mammals for their conservation. In 2019 I got an opportunity to work as a research assistant at Save the Elephants. I participated in several activities supporting various researchers. These include mapping the human footprint in the rangelands and digitizing nomadic peoples’ settlements from satellite imagery. My main accomplishment was preparing a volume of high-quality thematic maps for each of the over 200 elephants tracked in Northern Kenya since 1998. The thematic volume, otherwise referred to as the “Digital Map Book”, is being used as a guide in planning of future collaring by the organization.
Getting a chance to undertake a Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice at WildCRU it’s a dream come true. It will equip me with the required knowledge and skills to undertake actual research. This course shall expand my knowledge of wildlife conservation and enhance my technical competence in the field.