Lectures, Lectures, Lectures

Game drive, breakfast, lecture, lunch, study time, game drive, dinner, study time.
Game drive, breakfast, lecture, lunch, study time, game drive, dinner, study time.  
Game drive, breakfast, test, lunch, study time, game drive, dinner, study time.

My new rhythm, seven days a week.

All topics we had so far are interesting and sometimes even mind-blowing, especially the ones about Astronomy, Geology, and Ecology.

Astronomy is more about stars, planets, and constellations. We shall learn to identify them, tell stories or interesting facts about them, or to use them for orientation. I especially like the stories 😊

Geology is one of the topics I have never been interested in. A rock is a rock, isn´t it? But I got to understand that the geological composition of an area is a crucial factor for the further development of an area.

“Everything we see in the natural environment is determined by the geology of the area. The structures of the rocks determine what type of soils are found there. The type of soils determines the type and growth of plants. This determines which herbivores occur and therefore which predators, too.”

Ecology was most fascinating for me. I mean, the principles of ecology just make so much sense. It is not rocket science and we mainly know all of it already but living in an unnatural urban environment like a village or city may make us ignore the logic. We get rid of trees and grasses and plant concrete instead. We remove wild and native flowers from our gardens and replace them with foreign and exotic plants, or even stones. We take away important food sources for our indigenous insects and therefore our birds as well. It is a vicious circle that slowly expands, and I am not sure where it ends. We interrupt and manipulate natural nutrient cycles, food webs and mainly all parts of the ecosystem and I hope we find a way out of it. There are so many options we can contribute without lacking any comfort.

To me these lectures were very important, and they changed the way I look on my environment. I look differently on rocks, on soil, on plants, on the insects, and on all other small and big organisms around me. I guess there is a lot to discover now 😊

And it is such fun when I now discover the things that I learnt, like the mutualistic behaviour between oxpeckers and big game like giraffes or rhinos where the oxpecker eats the ticks and the animal gets a free beauty treatment.

Or when I see a dung beetle on its search for a dung pile. It´s no longer just fun to watch building its ball but now I know its doing a good job in nourishing the underground or disperse some seeds 😊

Still, it is not only fun. Becoming familiar with all the definitions and explanations is a stressful task and I can already see a lot of smoking heads. It is only week three, but I am tired and sure that I cannot memorize all the newly gained knowledge. But time will tell.  

Good night,
Sininho