Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
with many large deciduous trees such as Marula and syringa trees. Mopane is usually in either
areas of shrubs with shallow clay soils and underlying sodium subsoil or, if under better
conditions and not destroyed by elephants, mopane can form cathedral ceiling like forests.
Other trees usually do not grow where mopane grows densely and grass may also be restricted
by the bushes and most animals, other than elephants, enter the mopane only for shelter. The
belt also spreads west into the northern parts of Botswana along the Chobe and Linyanti rivers
and the Okavango Delta and up to the Caprivi Strip and across to Northern Namibia, Etosha
and Southern Angola.
Happy to be in Fimbiri after a long start to the trip that now just seemed to have fallen in
place, one cannot help but to wonder about how apparently random events and course changes
in life determine one's fate. Or, are they random? Life does sometimes appear to be random.
For example when we drive we randomly follow other cars and choose routes and lanes to
take. We leave at different times and have varied experiences throughout the day which impact
our decisions. And yet when we have a motor vehicle accident we rarely say “well, if I had
left 5 minutes earlier I might not have had the accident,” when that might actually be the case.
In fact, if we left half an hour earlier for work we probably would have less accidents just on a
statistical basis, as long as we did not all make the same adjustment. As humans we are always
trying to look for patterns and events and divine the future; that is what economic analysts and
pollsters specialize in. Many hunter-gatherers used to sit down around a fire the night before a
hunt to try to decide in which direction to hunt the next day. As mentioned, this usually
involved throwing a stick, long bone or scapula in the air and the direction it pointed when it
landed was the way to go. A while ago in South Africa there were apparently random riots
across the country targeting illegal black immigrants from other African countries that were
supposedly taking jobs away from South African blacks. Although claimed to be random, they
were clearly well coordinated because they broke out at the same time. The paradox was how
the rioters determined who the illegal immigrants were (a modern shibboleth): they were
asked to count to 10 in Afrikaans, which an illegal immigrant would not be able to do, but
which Afrikaans taught African black student would typically know. The irony, of course, is
that what started the 1976 riots in Soweto (SOuth WEstern TOwnships) and other townships
was the reaction against being forced to study Afrikaans at school. This led to the riots that my
friends and I witnessed in 1976. It is reasonable to say that these riots were the beginnings of
the downfall and the end of the apartheid regime. We seem sometimes to live in a world of
random events that influence our course in life but maybe it is not always random when we
look back at it.
Well, it will be interesting to see what random and unusual events occur during the next
week and an half. We will probably see more rhinos based on Brent's comments; buffalos in
the long grass; leopards; giraffe should be plentiful; an abundance of trees, like mopane, acacia
and baobabs; plenty of zebras and wildebeest; maybe some hyenas; maybe cheetah; birds
should be of a broad range in this area; large and small antelope like steenbok; and perhaps
some of the rare grysbok. With some luck we will see some well-behaved lions with good
manes and some lion/other animal interaction. Security should not be an issue. The food should
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