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The Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Reports from African Expeditions

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For further information and details of available documentation about any expedition listed below please click on the appropriate line: -

Expeditions supported by RSGS are indicated by an asterisk at the right-hand end of the heading *

Tenerife Expedition - University of Glasgow, 2001 *

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report (1p) / by Gordon B. Curry

Chamaeleonidae 2001, Madagascar - University of Edinburgh *

Aim

  • To contribute to the understanding of how deforestation is affecting the chameleon population of Madagascar

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report (3pp)

Mozambique Reef Expedition (MORE) - University of Edinburgh, 2001

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report (2pp)
  • Final Report (57pp) / by UK Members: Sherifa Smiyan, Nick Hill, Fredrik Edlund

Kinabalu 2001, Sabah - University of Aberdeen

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report (7pp)

Edinburgh University Coral Awareness & Research Expedition (EUCARE), Madagascar 2001 *

Documentation

  • Final Report (57pp) / written by Alasdair Harris
  • Web-site

Oxford University Expedition to Kasokwa, Uganda - 2001

Object

  • To investigate the conflict between a troop of chimpanzees, which had become isolated in a small forest-patch, and the communities who live around that forest

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report (18pp) / Ella Chase, Expedition Leader

Zahamena 2000/2001 - University of Edinburgh *

Project Sections

  • A plant survey, following CI's Rapid Assessment Programme for comparison with other areas;
  • A community survey, looking into the local attitudes towards the park, and CI's conservation and development projects in the area, including the soon-to-be-opened ecotourism trail through the park and nearby villages;
  • A study of the diurnal lemurs in the area, for comparison with data collected by Lemur Search Zahamena 1999 (University of Edinburgh), Zahamena 1999, and Zahamena 2000 (University of East Anglia), And CI;
  • A study of the nocturnal lemurs in the Northeast of the park, which was, to our knowledge, the first of its kind in the area, and included the first 2 sightings of the rare Aye aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis IUCN category endangered) in the park.

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report, May 2001 (21pp);
  • Web-site.

Kenya 2000 : Woodard Schools Millennium Maji Mazuri Project - Team 1 : Glenalmond College

Aims

  • To undertake a major project for the Maji Mazuri Trust;
  • To complete a camel trek north of Nanyuki;
  • To observe and learn something about the customs and culture of Kenya, its people and wildlife;
  • To compile an expedition journal.

Documentation

  • Report (22pp)

Namibia 2000 : Bush Encroachment - University of Aberdeen *

Documentation

  • Report (11pp) on projects of 4 honours students

Pump Aid 2000 *

Aim

  • To explore the potential, and generate the necessary background of research, for Pump Aid to expand into Mozambique

Documentation

  • Expedition Report : Researching Pump Aid's Future Expansion , Manica Province, Mozambique (34pp)

Durham University Soil Erosion and Development (DUST) Project, Tanzania - 1999 *

Objective

  • To investigate the impact which a rural development programme has had on local farming practices in the West Usambara Mountains of north east Tanzania.

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report (2pp) and Final Report (33pp)

Malawi Expedition - Fortrose Academy, 1999

Studies

  • Primary health care
  • Safe water provision
  • Food security

Documentation

  • Preliminary Report 30/10/99 (1p)

Bia Forest 99 - University of Aberdeen, 1999 *

Objectives

  • To examine how differing management strategies affect various Red Data List mammal, bird, and tree species in two forest sites in the Western Region of Ghana;
  • To strengthen existing links between Aberdeen and Ghana;
  • To work with Ghanaian counterpart students;
  • To respond to the stated needs and requirements of the Ghanaian forest authorities in order to provide them with useful and practical information.

Documentation

  • Final Report (55pp)

Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve Primate Survey, Ghana - Universities of Newcastle and Aberdeen, 1999

Documentation

  • Final Report (27pp + appendices) by Hazel White and Fiona Berry

Mulanje 98 - University of Newcastle, 1998

Objectives

  1. Quantifying the effects of habitat depletion on the population and distribution of Blue Monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis nyasae) on the Mulanje massif;
  2. Monitoting the success of the introduction of the Pauesia Wasp (Pauesia juniperorum) as a biological control against the Cypress aphid - part of the International Institute of Biological control aphid project, on the Mulanje massif.

Documentation

  • Interim Report (5pp)

Reefs of Massawa Expedition, Eritrea - University of Newcastle, 1997 *

Aims

  • to assist the development of Eritrean marine research and the management of the Massawa coastal zone through the provision of information on the status of coral reefs, including: -
    1. baseline information on coral reefs organisms present,
    2. the existence of anthropogenic impacts,
    3. any resultant or potential ecological effects from human impacts.

Kasanka River Survey, Uganda - University of Edinburgh, 1997 *

Aims

  • to investigate local fishing practices and their impact on the health of the rivers.   This work was divided into three categories;  an invertebrate survey, a fish survey, and a community study.

Documentation

  • Final Report (44p + appendices) - 2 copies

Project Elgon, Uganda - University of Aberdeen, 1997 *

Objectives

  • Continue the working relationship with Makere University, Kampala, established in 1996, to exchange both academic and practical knowledge;
  • Establish current trends in the development of tourism in the Mount Elgon National Park, and assess their impact on the environmental and socio-economic situation;
  • Identify possible ways of overcoming present and potential human-related problems;
  • Identify the typeologies of tourists using the reserve, and their motivations and perceptions, in order to allow them to be better managed in line with the aims of the Park;
  • Take a "sustainable tourism" approach to attempting to reconcile various issues between local people, the National Park Authority, Government, and the natural resource base;
  • Evaluate the potential for diversifying the "tourism product" offered by the National Park, in terms of more ecologically benign activities, such as hill-walking, mountaineering, bird-watching, or wildlife tours;
  • Conduct a survey of bird-species richness and distribution, with reference to different habitat-types within the area;
  • Continue the mammal-survey work conducted by the Project Elgon '96 team;
  • Climb to the summit of the mountain, Wagagai Peak (4321m);
  • Assess the conservation status of the Black and White Monkey Colobus guereza;
  • Adopt an open approach to learning from local people, Park staff, and between students alike, with the aim of creating a two-way learning process between all concerned.

Documentation

  • Final Report (86pp)

Expedition to Malawi - University of Aberdeen, 1997

Main Aim

  • To make an ecological study of silviculturally-managed and unmanaged indigenous miombo woodlands

Documentation

  • Expedition Report etc. (50pp)

Kenya '97 - Borders Exploration Group, 1997

Documentation

  • Expedition Report (110pp)

Taarifa Kuhusu Ziara Ya Mawenzi, Tanzania - Buckie Community High School, 1996

Documentation

  • Report on an exchange visit.

Life in a modern African community, Tanzania - Buckie Community High School, 1996 *

Aims

  1. to obtain information on the daily activities of the children to assess the significance of children in the economy and social life of the community,
  2. to assess the education service of Tanzania,
  3. to obtain information on the living standards within an urban setting,
  4. to identify the effects of tourism on the landscape of Mt. Kilimanjaro,
  5. to establish what roles women take in Tanzania and if these roles are linked to development issues.

Morocco Expedition - Portree High School, 1996 *

Aims

  1. to improve geographical awareness - to look at both the physical and human aspects of Morocco in both urban and rural settings;
  2. to recognize cultural and heritage differences (and in some aspects, similarities), especially between Skye and Morocco, between urban and rural Morocco, and between Arab and Berber cultures;
  3. personal and social development [of participants].

Documentation

  • Report (13pp + xxiii)

Project Elgon, Uganda - University of Aberdeen, 1996 *

Aims

  • The project assessed human activities in the park and in adjacent parishes by examining the sustainability of current land use practices, and attitudes towards sustainable land use practices, as well as assessing the use of and attitudes towards family planning.

Kasanka Land and Resource Use Survey - University of Edinburgh, 1995 *

Aims

  1. to interview the local people that lived near the Park to find out about their land use, resource use, their needs and wants,
  2. to look at the vegetation in different places, to assess what sort of impact the people of the area had on the environment that surrounded them.

Project Madagascar - University of Aberdeen, 1994 *

Aims

  1. to study the effects of agricultural encroachment into the Zahamena reserve, concentrating on small animal communities, bat activity and vegetation dynamics in the Moango valley,
  2. to survey the previously unstudied bat and small mammal fauna of the Zahamena Reserve,
  3. to gain essential experience of life and scientific work in the tropics,
  4. to explore the relatively unstudied primary mid-altitude rain forest of the Zahamena Reserve.

Forest Characteristics of Mt. Kupe, Cameroon - 1993

Objective

  • A study of forest characteristics and altitudinal zonation on Mt. Kupe, Cameroon.

Documentation

  • Report

Butterflies of Mt. Kupe, Cameroon - 1993

Objective

  • A summary of the butterflies found on and around Mt. Kupe, Cameroon.

Documentation

  • Preliminary report

Montane Forest Project, Mt. Kupe, Cameroon - 1992 *

Documentation

  • Final Report

Lesotho - Borders Exploration Group, 1993 *

Subject

  • Work and achievements of group of individuals on expedition to Lesotho.

Documentation

  • Report

Luangwa Valley Research Programme, Zambia - University of Stirling, 1992 *

Documentation

  • Reports on: -
    1. Mechanisms of gully initiation, development, and morphological changes over a three year timescale,
    2. Quantification of vegetation species diversity of riparian sandbars and oxbow lagoons,
    3. A baseline study to monitor long term erosion rates from cultivated areas in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia.

Outamba-Kilimi National Park, Sierra Leone - University of Edinburgh, 1992 *

Aims

  1. to systematically collect data on the number and occupance of elephants and other large mammals,
  2. to provide training for game staff in transect censusing and data collection methods,
  3. to donate equipment to the park, to enable long term fieldwork to be conducted.

Tanzania - Glasgow University Exploration Society, 1991

Aim

  • to conduct an analysis of a stretch of coast to the north of Dar es Salaam, including in its remit the causes of any erosion and the resulting physical and socio-economic consequence.

Cambridge Uganda Forest Island Expedition, 1990 *

Aims

  1. to study the uses made of the forest by the local resource users inhabiting the forest-agriculture interface and to determine their attitudes to forest conservation,
  2. to conduct two primate inventories, one in an area of forest previously logged and the other in an area of virgin forest,
  3. to collect insects and soil samples for analysis of bacteria content,
  4. to visit areas in Uganda suitable for future expeditions and collect logistical information and contact names

Luangwa Valley Research Programme, Zambia - University of Stirling, 1990 *

Object

  • Assessment of river channel changes and erosion hazard on the Luangwa River system.

Documentation

  • Report

Ecological expedition to Sierra Leone - University of Strathclyde, 1984 *

Objective

  • To carry out an ecological study of a typical West African rainforest.

British Hoggar Mountains and Bilma Sands Expedition, North-West Africa - 1976 *

Objectives

  • To find a direct route from Nguigmi in Niger northward to Zouar in Chad, or, if politics should not allow this, to attempt a direct route to Seguedine via Bilma in Niger;
  • To explore and climb in the more remote area south-east of Tahifet in the Hoggar Mountains, and to climb both new and classic routes in the Atakor Region of the Hoggar Mountains.

Documentation

  • Technical Report (69pp) on: -
    1. Climbing and exploration of the Atakor and Tahifet regions of the Hoggar Mountains in the Sahara Desert;
    2. Vehicle-crossing of the sand-seas of the Sahara Desert situated to the North of Lake Chad.

Zaire River Expedition - Scientific Exploration Society, 1975 *

Mission

  • To navigate, as far as possible, the Lualaba - Zaire (Congo) carrying out important scientific research en route.
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Latest revision on 14th January 2004 by Kerr Jamieson (RSGS Map and Photograph Curator)