Science • Community Education • Impact

Mission

Wild places are important in and of themselves. Round River is dedicated to the conservation of those increasingly rare vast landscapes, their inherent wildness and the ecological complexity that sustains them and inspires us. We employ the principles of conservation biology to provide our partners well-founded scientific basis for their long-term conservation efforts. The edict of Aldo Leopold’s Round River, in the face of global climate challenges, today rings ever truer. Fundamental to our work is the vitality of local cultures and communities requiring comprehensive approaches to capture the ecologies that sustain these systems. We also believe wild landscapes are powerful educators, and our environmental study abroad programs involve small groups of students in finding and implementing solutions to wildlife conservation and sustainability challenges.

News

Round River vehicle, "Lucy," stuck in the mud. Photo by C. Murphy.

Botswana Spring 2026: Pula – Bring it on!

This semester has been full of surprises, with heavy rains and more water than the Okavango Delta has seen in over 20 years. This has brought its own set of challenges — nearly swimming through roads, getting stuck in the mud, everything perpetually wet — and the need to adapt our plans to the conditions. Yet, it has also colored the landscape with the most vibrant green…

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Sofia Mancebo, Botswana ’23

I am super excited to report that the time in Botswana really solidified for me how much I love field work! At the time, I was definitely on the fence between vet school and grad school, and I’m happy to say that I am now pursuing my Master’s at the University of Siena, in Siena, Italy!

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Student Programs

Round River Student programs offer semester long, immersive, on site experience that is not only educational, it changes lives. The lives of the communities and lands we are working to preserve, as well as the students who enroll in our programs.

Parners and Support