OKAVANGO WILDERNESS PROJECT

Calloused hands. Bruised shoulders. Muddy boots. Muddy teeth. You name it, it can happen on expedition.

Each time the team hits the field, their goal is the same: to gather data. But the way they do it takes many forms. One month they’ll explore the highlands on specially designed fat-tire bikes (fatbikes). In another, they’ll pole down a river in local mokoro canoes. There are camera traps to set up, water sensors to deploy, and communities to talk with.

Making it all safe and possible is their partnership with the HALO Trust, an international organization dedicated to removing landmines from war-torn landscapes, allowing life to return once open conflict has ended.

Season by season, year by year, they are documenting this ecosystem like never before, accumulating vast amounts of data, and making it available online for scientists, policymakers, educators, and anyone else to explore and use for themselves. This data provides an important baseline for this little known area—and is necessary for developing plans for its protection.

The team is also documenting their extraordinary experiences via blogs and social media. Explore each of the Okavango Wilderness Project expeditions below and see what has made each one an adventure to remember.