Farisayi Dakwa

BSc Hons (NUST)

Farisayi, born 20 km away from Hwange National Park, grew up with an inbuilt passion for wildlife and nature, experiencing all the rich biodiversity Hwange has to offer everyday going to school and on trips to Victoria Falls, just 80km away. This influenced his decision to take up a four-year Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Forest Resources and Wildlife Management at the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe in 2014. One lecture on Research Methods and Statistics solidified his love for numbers and research. In 2016 during his BSc he was offered an internship working for CNRS-Hwange a long term socio-ecological research site under Herve Fritz, hosting a lot of researchers and focusing on different ecological problem around Hwange National Park. It was during this time that he was exposed to the world of ornithology when he worked with a PhD student focussing on waterbirds and raptors, setting up mist nets, tagging, measuring and identifying birds. From there on the decision was made that Ornithology is what he wanted to do. Farisayi joined the Birdlife Zimbabwe youth team shortly after finishing his internship, doing volunteer work. For his BSc project he focussed on the response to disturbance of waterbirds around selected waterpoints within Hwange National Park  Main camp.

One of his BSc lecturers told him that since he loved statistics, research work and birds that Fitzpatrick institute is the place to be. This is were he stumbled upon an advertised MSc opportunity on Penguins on the Fitz website and did not hesitate to apply. 

Thesis: Influence of ecosystem variability on the demography and reproductive performance of two Eudyptes penguins, Macaroni and Eastern Rockhopper Penguins, at sub-Antarctic Marion Island, 1994–2019. (Supervisors: Peter Ryan, Azwianewi Makhado)