SIT Study Abroad: Tanzania: Zanzibar Coastal Ecology

Studying Coastal Ecology and Natural Resource Management with SIT was the best decision I could have made when looking at abroad programs. This program cares about each and every one of its students and introduces you to the most exquisite places, people, and animals. Getting to stay with a homestay family was an amazing opportunity for language immersion and creating that close-knit family bond in your home away from home. This program has incredible staff, my cohort became our own little family by the end of the semester, and you'll never forget the beautiful places you visit while being here. I cannot recommend this program more; I would do it all again in a heartbeat. A piece of my heart will always be in Zanzibar!

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SIT Zanzibar is the perfect study abroad program for students looking to experience a completely different culture and way of life, all while seeing the best nature of your life. Some of the highlights of my experience include swimming with dolphins, exploring the amazing creatures of intertidal zones across the island, being welcomed into a Swahili home, and conducting a month-long research project on Chumbe Island! Moreover, the academic director and staff of the program are wonderful and will go to any length to ensure students are safe, happy, and engaged. I would choose SIT Zanzibar again in a heartbeat.

Most beautiful place, people, language and vibes ever. 🥭🥭🥭 the SIT staff is so friendly and helpful. The community is tight knit and the program will take you to the most beautiful tropical locations of your life

I would recommend the SIT Tanzania program to anyone. It is a perfect mix of having interesting lectures, often with guest speakers, learning how to do your own research project, cultural immersion, and just having an amazing time with so many new friends!

This program has left me with amazing relationships and memories I will cherish forever. The program was incredibly impactful in my academic and personal life. After returning to my home country, the USA, I feel a profound connection to a country and set of people outside my original circle.

I seriously cannot recommend this program more. From this experience, you will be better equipped for the world, the job market, applying to grad school, or whatever else lies ahead more than anyone else who didn't do this program. This program is extremely intense, not only the time commitment but it is long hours during the hot tropical days. Some will appreciate the academic rigor in this program, but if you're looking for a vacation (despite it being in one of the most beautiful vacation spots in the world!) this program might not be for you. That being said, anyone doing this program will get the absolute most out of it. The academics were interactive, field based, usually based on doing hands on research that you're physically doing, then writing reports, having discussions, presenting, and doing analysis with the data. You learn through field trips, snorkeling, learning Swahili interactively, working with animals, people, doing interviews, and all the while you don't even know how much everything has built up piece by piece so that you can finally do a month long research project, speaking a language you didn't know when starting the program: A project that means something to the people of Zanzibar. And you can walk away knowing that you can ask better questions, you can know what its really like doing a field based research project and what's not included in every scientific methods section, how ingenuitive people in the developing world when managing resources with little economic means to do so can be, as well as doing it through an amazing cultural learning process in one of the most beautiful countries on Earth.

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I got to experience a whole other culture that was neat to me, and SIT does a good job of merging social & environmental issues into the program. SIT is really good at coordinating big programs because they do a lot of these. And once you're there there's a specific program coordinator to help with things.