Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Bulawayo showed signs of decay, with the once clearly neat and trimmed gardens now
looking shabby and the buildings decrepit. We passed through some neighborhoods that were
once upscale but no longer are, except for an occasional high wall surrounded compound with
security fence. This used to be a thriving city with a vibrant society. Author Alexander
“Sandy” McCall Smith was born here when is father was a prosecutor and when one hears him
tell live stories there is a certain edge to his excellent humor related to his Rhodesian
experience. The appearance of the local black population has also changed. The Johannesburg
Africans generally looked cheerful, optimistic, and happy to help for a tip, although sulking on
the periphery there appeared some shady gangster like characters, referred to in South Africa
as Tsotsies. In Bulawayo though, the largely Ndebele Africans looked furtive and kept their
eyes more downcast, avoiding eye contact, probably because many have been subjected to
political pressure and persecution. Peter Goodwin and others allege that some 20,000 to
30,000 Ndebele, followers of Joshua Nkomo, were killed in the area after President Mugabe's
Shona tribe took control in 1980.
Drive to Mazunga:
As we set off in the Land cruiser to the southeast entrance to the Mazunga Safari's Bubye
Conservancy to pick up our things Brent tells us “It's a long drive, about three hours and a half
and we'll get there at sunset.” He turns onto the road to Mazunga, leading to Beit Bridge. As is
so often the case in Africa, there are smoldering fires set to eradicate the old tufts of grass and
allow new shoots to form. Instead though, vegetation and compost that may have anchored and
retained water is burnt away, water runs off quickly, and ultimately the top soil is washed
away forming “dongas” (deep sharp edged ditches) in the veld. In addition in the drier areas,
where both woodlands have been destroyed for firewood and grass is poor, wind carries away
much of the topsoil. Indeed, the Sahara is the largest source of mineral dust in the world and
dust can be tracked from the Sahara across the Atlantic to the Amazon basis where it forms an
important part of the ecology of the rainforest. Indeed, Stefan Mulitza found that because of
increasing ocean temperatures and less precipitation and in the last 200 years because of
commercial farming in the Sahel region, atmospheric dust load has increased as more soil has
been blown away from the Sahel. While burning for fresh pastures is a recent African
development for grazing, apart from burning wood for charcoal, the common energy source for
cooking, fire has always been part of the landscape, particularly from lightening, but also being
set by hunters.
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