Blog Archives

Wild Nature Institute Delivers Giraffe Books and Posters to Thousands of Tanzanian Children

3/17/2017

We are excited to report that the distribution of our giraffe-themed environmental education materials in Tanzania has been a resounding success. This month's distribution is a follow-up to the teacher’s workshop we hosted last October, where teachers received advance copies of our giraffe storybooks, activity books, and posters, and learned about lesson plans and activities to accompany the books and posters.

Wild Nature Institute's Lise and MAA's Lais (1st and 2nd from left) deliver books and posters to Mto Wa Mbu primary school.

Thanks to Wild Nature Institute’s educational consultant, award-winning science teacher Lise Levy, and a terrific community organizer from our partner organization Masai Advancement Association (MAA), over the past month we have delivered a Swahili version of our Juma the Giraffe storybook and Juma poster, another poster about the amazing physiology of giraffes, and an activity book Twiga Na Rafiki Zake (Giraffe and Friends) to more than 4,600 children in 14 schools surrounding Tarangire and Lake Manyara national parks! We will be monitoring how the books and lesson plans are being used, and making more visits to the schools to help implement the fun learning activities.

Tanznian schoolchildren receive giraffe books. Wild Nature Institute.

Tanzanian teacher looks at giraffe poster. Wild Nature Institute

Tanzanian children read Juma the Giraffe in Mto wa Mbu. Wild Nature Institute

The goals of our giraffe-themed environmental education project are:

to provide creative, beautiful, high-quality educational materials that use the giraffe to teach ecological and social lessons;
to build local support for community natural resource protection; and
to inspire the next generation of Tanzanians to work for conservation of their magnificent wildlife.

Kigongoni Primary School kids with Lucky the Wildebeest. Wild Nature Institute

Tanzanian primary school children with giraffe and wildebeest books and posters. Wild Nature Institute

Stay tuned for the next phase of our educational efforts—a new campaign called “Celebrating Africa’s Giants!” This project incorporates Africa's other two terrestrial mega-herbivores, elephants and rhinoceros, into our education and outreach work, and we'll be producing books, posters, games, and other materials to inspire kids in Africa and North America to celebrate and protect these magnificent savanna creatures.

Very special thanks to Kayla Harren (for illustrating and designing Juma the Giraffe), David Brown and Chris Barela (for producing the giraffe physiology poster), and Megan Strauss (for producing Giraffe and Friends). Thanks also to PAMS Foundation for helping to print and distribute these materials.

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An On Point Conversation About Where Have All The Giraffes Gone

3/13/2017

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Click This Button To Hear The On Point Giraffes Podcast

Listen into a conversation about giraffes with Alex Shoumatoff, a top naturalist and journalist who recently embedded himself in the world of giraffes in Uganda, and Derek Lee, principal scientist of the Wild Nature Institute, whose research focuses on Masai giraffes in Tanzania, with host Jane Clayson and many callers. A 1-hour discussion originally broadcast on WBUR's On Point radio show.

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