Go Ahead, Ask!
Sawubona! Muraho! Habari! Supa! Muli Shani! Dumela! Mbote!
In any language, Hello! Welcome to AWF’s newest blog, Ask Erin. The above phrases are a few ways of saying ‘HELLO, WORLD!’ in just a few African dialects from some of the countries in which the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) works to conserve and protect the wildlife and wild lands of Africa. The specific dialects are (from right to left) IsiZulu (South Africa), Kinyarwanda (Rwanda), Kiswahili (Tanzania, Kenya), Maa (Kenya, Tanzania), Bemba (Zambia), Tswana (Botswana) and Lingala (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
My favorite wildlife species -- the African wild dog
My name is Erin Keyes and I am the Membership Services Assistant for AWF. This blog will differ from my esteemed blogging brethren as this blog is not about my program work in Africa (although that would be beyond awesome) or about me trekking wildlife through the savannas and rainforests of Africa (again-that would be awesome) but instead, this blog is all about YOU. What are YOUR questions? What wildlife are YOU curious about? What questions regarding the wildlife of Africa or AWF have you always wondered about but never asked? Well, now is the time to ask and don’t be shy in asking: I am a firm believer in the old adage that there is no such thing as a stupid question-there is only information that has not yet been found.
Maasai jewelry, like that pictured on this lovely girl, is a personal favorite of mine.
As a member of AWF’s Membership Team for the past five years, I have been asked every kind of wildlife question imaginable-everything from Do hippos swim? to Can cheetahs get chicken pox? As you can imagine, in researching the answers to these questions I have amassed quite a bit of knowledge about African wildlife. I do not claim to know everything but what I do not know, I will find out and share with you. So, if there are any answers to questions about African wildlife that you want to know or have ever wanted to know but were too afraid to ask, Ask Erin.
Help us ensure that the wildlife and wild lands of Africa will endure forever with your monthly donation.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:14 am
Awesome! Didn’t know you were now blogging for AWF Erin, so welcome to the club! And I hope mountain gorillas are up there on your favorite species list as well! Good luck….
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
Erin, I have a lot of fun reading the AWF blogs and twitters and learn so much so welcome to the bloggoshere and I look forward to reading your news. First question; I know the Big Five animals of Africa, but what are the Little Five?
May 26th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Yes, good question — what are the Little Five? And I hope you will answer all the other interesting questions you cite in your first entry. (People wonder the funniest things!)
May 26th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hello, Babu!
Congratulations! You have the honor of asking the very first question to Ask Erin. Aren’t you excited? :0)
As I know there are many, many people in the world who would love to know the answer to your question, your question will be the first to go up on Ask Erin. Look for the post very soon!
May 30th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Erin
Good luck and just a quick Q – will you post your answers openly so we can all see them ~ that way we can all learn and not ask you the same questions all the time.
Best wishes and happy spotting
May 30th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Habari yako Erin? Habari za blog?
I was curious: Are there any internship opportunities, volunteer positions in the field, or employment options for a recently graduated college student from the U.S. with your foundation?
Thanks for your help!
June 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Supa, Paula and Maggie!
Thanks so much for writing in!
To answer your question, Paula, yes- I will absolutely openly post the answers to questions. In fact, the first post regarding Africa’s Little Five is already up!
Maggie- To view all internship and employment positions within AWF, please feel free to visit us at
http://awf.org/section/about/jobs. Here you can find listings for positions within all AWF offices.
Thank you all again for the Good Luck wishes and for your questions! I look forward to helping you all with all African wildlife or AWF related questions.
Ashe Oleng!
Erin
June 12th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Hi Erin,
Just wondering if you can actually have any interactions with the chimpanzees when you go to one of the reserves where they are being rehabilitated? I probably know the answer, but it’s been a life long dream
Thanks and thanks for your blog
June 16th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Hi, Kelly!
Being able to interact with chimpanzees who are being rehabilitated is an animal lovers dream! However, an answer of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ completely depends on the facility in which you are visiting. Some may say ‘yes,’ as the chimps have been habituated to human beings and are great with human interaction and still other facilities will say ‘no’ as the chimps may pose a danger to those visiting the facility.
If you do happen to find a chimpanzee rehabilition facility that allows people to interact with humans, please let us know!
Thank you for your question, Kelly, and happy travels!
Ashe Oleng!
Erin
July 25th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Hi, Erin!
I love Rhinos. Is it possible that AWF will release an all-Rhino wall calendar as you did this year for Mountain Gorillas?
Thanks!
Ron,
Norfolk, VA
August 11th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Hi, Ron!
Our brand new 2009-2010 wall calendar focused on Mountain Gorillas as 2009 has been declared Year of the Gorilla. To help celebrate and bring attention to these magnificent Great Apes, we focused our calendar on this single species instead of the usual multiple species for which we have become known.
We love rhinos as much as you do (good to see some rhino love on here!) and given the rhinos’ status as endangered, we do not doubt that sometime in the future we will also see a Year of the Rhino. In which case, AWF would be more than happy to shine the spotlight on this extraordinary species via our wall calendar and other rhino protection action opportunities.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Hi Erin,
I’m really enjoying the Q & A on your blog. Do you have any updates on the Sinohydro quarry in Amboseli? The last blog post was in May, 2009.
Thanks!