By Ronica Stromberg
The School of Natural Resources plans to host its biennial study abroad to Namibia May 12 to June 4, 2026, but with a new addition this year. Professors Chris and Lindsey Chizinski will host the student trip while professors Larkin and Kelly Powell host a concurrent trip for 12 alumni and friends of the School of Natural Resources.
The alumni and friends trip has reached capacity, but students can still apply for the student trip until February 15, 2026, 11:59 p.m.
Students on the 1- to 3-credit study abroad can explore Etosha National Park, home of elephants, lions, rhinos and giraffes; watch cheetahs close up at the Cheetah Conservation Fund site; fish for sharks on the Atlantic Coast near Swakopmund; scale and surf some of the world's oldest dunes in the Namib Desert; sample local foods in Namibian cities and rural areas; camp in tents in the wild; and experience local cultures, like those of the Ovahimba and Damara people.
Christopher Chizinski, a professor of Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management, said the student trip will follow the same basic itinerary as the previous trip. It will start at the capital, Windhoek, in the center of Namibia and move south before circling back over the three weeks.
The alumni and friends trip will be shorter and meet up with the student trip for two to three days in the north, possibly at the Cheetah Conservation Fund site or the campsites near Etosha National Park.
Caden Connelly, a senior Fisheries and Wildlife major, took the Namibia trip in 2024 and, previously, had studied abroad in Botswana and South Africa. He said the Namibia trip differed from the other African trips he took because the group traveled and stayed around the country rather than staying in one locale. Connelly said the Namibia trip especially exposed him to other cultures, an important factor in understanding how different people view and carry out conservation.
Read more about these trips and see many pictures from previous trips at https://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/what/newstory.aspx?fid=1297