Two weeks in, we finally made our way south of the equator, this time to Tanzania in East Africa. Later this week, we’ll be traveling out to Tarangire National Park. Fun fact about Tanzania’s geography: Tarangire park is 1,100 square miles, about the same size as Rhode Island, but it’s only the sixth largest national park in Tanzania. (The others are here).

We’re heading to Tarangire to see one of National Geographic’s most classic projects at work. East Africa has an incredibly diverse landscape of large mammals and Laly Lichtenfeld, a Yale researcher and National Geographic grantee, is working to save some of them from disappearing. It’s part of a larger project known as the Big Cat Initiative to