Imagine touching snow for the first time. Or seeing your first bear or wolf. That was Tanzanian scientist and conservationist Yamat Lengai’s experience this month when she had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Yellowstone National Park as part of an exchange program. Lengai was hanging out with the Wolf Project’s scientists, including technician Taylor Rabe who will visit Tanzania in October on the other side of the exchange. In Yellowstone, Rabe helped teach Lengai how the Wolf Project uses telemetry to track wolf locations, a tactic Lengai hopes to employ where she works near Tarangire National Park. In her work in a much different ecosystem on the eastern side of Africa, Lengai also works with elephants, lions and zebras. She also works with native Maasai herders whose livestock face attacks from African predators, not unlike what Montana ranchers may face. To learn more about her visit and the exchange program, check out my story at: https://billingsgazette.com/outdoors/yellowstone-national-park-conservation-nation-taylor-rabe-african-people-wildlife/article_31d37500-29d4-11ef-909c-d74a2e02c73c.html

Written by Brett French | Outdoors Editor for Billings Gazette Communications