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Chapter 13 - Life in the Namibian Desert

While in Namibia, Toto visited many very dry places, since that country doesn't get much rain. As a result, there are some beautiful deserts with gigantic sand dunes. These dunes are created when the wind blows in one general direction across the sandy desert. The wind blows up one side of the dune and down the other. Can you see the wind blowing the sand from the right side to the left side of the dune behind me in this photo? (Double click on it to see a larger version of the photo.)

Some of the extreme weather creates some dramatic pictures. Here is an area that used to have enough rain to grow some large trees. Now only the dead trees remain. But because there is so little water, the wood doesn't rot. Some of these  trees died over 1000 years ago!

Despite all this dryness and apparent lack of life, there's actually plenty of life in the desert. The animals have adapted to live in the harsh conditions. For example, although it doesn't rain often, there's a fog almost every morning in these deserts after the cold nights. Fog is water vapor, like clouds, but on the ground instead of in the sky. One small black beetle that I saw many times while hiking actually collects the fog on its back every morning. The beetle then tilts its back up with its hind legs so one drop of water rolls off its back into its mouth. Apparently that one drop is enough to get the beetle through the day. Now that's being resourceful! Similarly, this plant, called the Welwitschia, survives by drinking the fog from fine roots that grow near the surface of the sand. As a result, it grows very, very slowly. In fact, the plant in this picture is over 1500 years old, making it one of the oldest plants in the world! That's why they have fenced it off, to protect its roots from being trampled by visitors like me.

On one hike I saw this bird's nest, which has to be the biggest nests I have ever seen! It's actually more of a bird's apartment complex. The "Social Weaver" birds weave together straw to make lots of interconnected nests in which many bird families live. I think that's why they gave them the name "Social Weavers," since they like to live very close to each other and are master weavers.

Because of the lack of rain, the wild animals depend on waterholes for water to drink during the dry season. At Etosha National Park in the north of Namibia, I saw this giraffe drinking water awkwardly from the waterhole. Can you also see the baby giraffe in the background? Giraffes are very careful when they drink water, as they are vulnerable to attack by predators while in this awkward position. I watched this giraffe walk around the area for ten minutes, making sure it was safe to drink before he bent over like this. Right after I took this photo, however, he jumped up suddenly when a lioness walked up to the watering hole. A lion can kill a large giraffe, so he gave her lots of room at the waterhole by herself!

As you can tell, there's plenty to see in the dry, beautiful country of Namibia. I saw this baby zebra and his mother right from my car. I wasn't about to get out of the car, though, given that there were lions wandering around!

Travel Questions on Namibia:

1. How are sand dunes created?
2. How does the desert beetle Toto saw drink water every morning?
3. If the Welwitschia plant in the photo above is 1500 years old, when did it first sprout as a seed in the desert sand?
4. What are the birds that built the large communal nest in the trees called?
5. Why was the giraffe so cautious before he bent over to drink from the waterhole?

Global Nomad Questions on Namibia:

1. Draw a picture of a zebra herd in Namibia.
2. Find Namibia on a map. List the countries that border it.
3. List three other countries with deserts that you think might have sand dunes.
4. Both of these photos were taken facing south. Knowing what you do about where the sun rises and where it sets, determine which of these photos was taken at sunrise and which was taken at sunset (hint: look at the shadows on the dune).
   A)                        B)
   

Chapter 12 - San People Cliff Paintings

Toto went to a couple of outdoor art museums, one in South Africa and another in Namibia, which is a country just north of South Africa. These museums were actually cliffs where, 400 to 6000 years ago, the San People painted and etched art into the rocks. I had read about cave paintings before, but had never seen them up close. It made me feel like the artist had just been there, even though he or she died many centuries ago.

San People used to be referred to as the "Bushmen," since they lived outside among the bushes. Their descendants still live today in Africa and preferred to be called by the proper name of their tribe, San. Historically, they were nomads, which means they wandered from place to place in search of water, food or shelter, based on the seasons and the natural movements of the animals they hunted. They had incredible knowledge on how to live off the land, which many of their descendants still possess today. It's no surprise that so much of their art contains pictures of animals. This is a painting of a baby zebra.

There are two types of San People rock art that have survived until today. The first are paintings, and the second are etchings into the rocks. However, what we see today is not what the artists painted 400 to 6000 years ago. You can imagine how much the weather might erode these rocks over that time. Eroding happens when rainwater, wind-blown sand, and the sun's heat wears down the rock, sometimes turning it into smaller rocks and sand. As a result, anything on that rock disappears, including paintings. Fortunately, San People painted in is a desert, where there is little rain. Most of the surviving paintings are under the rocks and cliffs that have protected the paintings from the weather, like this one I had to crawl on my back to see.

The reason you don't see any stripes on the zebra above is that the San People used different types of handmade paint. The red was made from a mineral called "ocher," which they ground up into a powder. It actually stained the rock and has remained, the way fine red dirt can stain your clean t-shirt. The white color was often made from egg whites and other pigments that did not stain the rock. Those other colors have eroded away, leaving only the red stains. Sometimes this meant I saw an antelope without a head. We think that  means the head was painted with a color that did not remain, while the red body did. I also saw some yellow paintings of big elephants, but they were very faint, so the yellow must not have stained the rock as well as the red ocher.

The second type of art, etchings, were made by taking another rock and scratching a picture into a big rock or cliff. Here is an interesting example of an etching. No one knows what the circles represent. They could be waterholes, which were obviously very important to the San People as they wandered the desert. They needed the water to survive, and often they found the animals they hunted at waterholes, too.

That is the interesting thing about art—it often tells us a lot about how the artists lived and what might have been important to them. Certainly from this etching, you know the San People saw giraffes! Occasionally, I saw hand prints on the rocks, including some children's hand prints. So we know that sometimes, at least, the artists' kids helped them paint.

San People Art Travel Questions:

1. When did the San People create this rock art?
2. What were the two types of rock art the San People made?
3. What does it mean that the San People were "nomads"?
4. Define the verb "erode."
5. List two of the things you saw in the photos of the art above.
6. Why did the red ocher paint do to the rock that the white and other colors did not?
7. Often people paint what is important to them. Why does Toto think the circles in the etchings above represented waterholes?

Global Nomad Questions on Rock Art:

1. Draw a painting of some San People Rock art. What is the story you are trying to tell?
2. Research how people made paints in the old days, before they had art stores where they could just buy them. Describe the process.
3. There are also cave paintings in other parts of the world, like France. Do a cyber search about these and write a paragraph explaining about those cave paintings.
4. Double click on this photo to see a larger version of it. Write what you see in this image.

Chapter 11 - Diving with Sharks in South Africa

While driving along the Southern coast of South Africa, Toto decided to do something a bit crazy. I went diving not once, but twice, with sharks! The first time I got up close to the Ragged Tooth sharks, and the second time I was in a cage next to the Great White sharks!

The first dive with the Ragged Tooth sharks left from a town called Umkomaas south of the city of Durban. These sharks look really scary as their teeth jut out of their mouths in all directions. That’s why they are called "Ragged Tooth" sharks.

I put on SCUBA gear so I could swim and breathe underwater to dive to a coral reef called the "Cathedral Reef." This reef had a big open hole in the middle where large fish like to hang out to rest from swimming in the ocean current. When I went down to the bottom of this reef, I counted one very large turtle and nine Ragged Tooth sharks. One of the five-to-six-foot-long (2 meter) sharks swam right in front of me only three feet away while another swam right behind me. I couldn't look at both at the same time, so I watched the one in front of me. It would have been quite scary, except Ragged Tooth sharks are not very aggressive even though their teeth make them look like they are. It was quite an amazing experience to be swimming in the open water next to so many sharks in the wild.

Based on my next experience, I can tell you that I would not, however, choose to swim in the open with Great White Sharks! These are magnificent creatures, as you can see from the photos. They are very curious but also quite cautious. The boat captain had dangled fish heads tied to a rope from the boat into the water to attract the Great White Sharks swimming around the island. The captain bought the leftover heads of some large Patagonian Toothfish from the fish store in the harbor. The shark smells the fish heads and thinks it is one of his favorite meals. However, as we don't want to interfere with natural feeding of the sharks, the crew will try to pull away the fish heads out of the shark's reach just as he tries to attack them. Most often, when the Great Whites came to the surface to investigate the fish heads, they also would check me out. Fortunately, I was in a cage next to the boat with bars spaced too close together for the Great Whites to touch me. As Great Whites are cautious, they did not try to get to me in the cage, but they did swim only a foot away from me. Let me tell you, that is quite a sight to see a Great White Shark in the wild looking at you only one foot away and wondering if you are food!

One time while I was in the cage, a Great White actually grabbed the fish heads before the crew could pull them away. He started thrashing around right in front of me, trying to tear the fish heads off the rope. To protect its eyes from being hurt while attacking, the Great White will always roll its eyes back into its eye sockets. I saw this shark do so right in front of me as he started to go into a feeding frenzy. His twelve-foot-long tail was slapping around right in front of me. I knew his mouth was occupied and thought of reaching through the bars of the cage to touch his tail, but then thought it was better to keep my hands and feet within the cage!

One time a Great White Shark's head actually came out of the water to attack the food as the crew was pulling the fish heads towards the boat. Another passenger actually caught this picture of the shark out of the water. Again, I was glad our hands and feet were in the boat!

We went diving near Dryer Island, a habitat for thousands of Cape Seals. Can you see all of the seals on the rocks in this photo? They were very cute, as they had recently given birth to many cubs. We saw nine different Great White Sharks while anchored off this island. Unfortunately for the seals, they are the favorite food for the Great White Sharks, which is why so many sharks swim around this island. The sharks also eat lots of small sardines when these fish migrate off of the South African coast during the winter.

Dryer Island is very close to the tip of Africa. Here is a picture of me at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa. It is also where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. Sometimes you can see the two oceans colliding, as the waters have different colors. The Indian Ocean is also quite warm while the Atlantic Ocean is very cold down here. So the water was nice when I went swimming with the Ragged Tooth sharks, but quite chilly with the Great Whites. I was so excited, however, that I didn't notice the cold too much when the Great White Sharks were wondering if I was food inside that cage!

Southern Coast of South Africa Travel Questions:

1. Why does the Ragged Tooth shark have that name?
2. What are the two oceans that meet at the southern tip of the African continent?
3. Which shark is more aggressive - the Ragged Tooth or Great White Shark?
4. Why does the Great White shark roll his eyes back when eating or attacking prey?
5. Why were there so many Great White Sharks around the island where the Cape Seals live?
6. What other animal off the coast of South Africa does the Great White Shark eat?

Global Nomad Questions on Southern Coast of Africa:

1. Draw a picture of a Ragged Tooth and a Great White Shark in the ocean.
2. Research and list the names of five other types of sharks.
3. Find the Southern tip of Africa on a globe or world map. Which is further South, the tip of Africa or the tip of South America?
4. Research and explain why the Atlantic Ocean is cold at the tip of Africa while the Indian Ocean is warmer.
5. The Spanish explorer, Magellan, led the first ships to sail all the way around the globe, including past Cape Agulhas. Research his trip and write an essay about this remarkable journey.

Chapter 10 - England: 300-Year-Old Homes & Platform 9-3/4

Toto stopped for a couple days in England, which is one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom. The other three are Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Sometimes people mistake England for all of the United Kingdom, when actually England is only one part of the United Kingdom. Another name for the United Kingdom is Great Britain, and people and things from Great Britain are called “British.”

The British flag (above) is actually a combination of the flags of these countries within the United Kingdom. Here is what the white and red English flag looks like. Can you see the English flag within the red, white and blue flag of the United Kingdom? The British call this flag the "Union Jack." Nobody’s quite sure where the name “jack” comes from, but the most likely explanation is that it comes from the name for a smaller flag, called a “jack,” which is flown from the front of a ship.

I saw two interesting things in England that I thought you might enjoy seeing or learning about. The first was in an English town called Stamford. I went to visit my friend, Paul, his family and his dog. They live in a house that is 300 years old! It is on the road that used to connect London (the capital of England) and important English cities north of London, like York. So before automobiles, the queen and king used to take their horse-drawn carriage on the road right in front of Paul's family's home, which is across the street on the left in this photo.

When I was there, Paul was showing me the attic in the house and I saw this hole in the wall made by his neighbor's cat. (His dog does not like this cat!) What I found interesting about this hole is that you can see how they made houses 300 years ago. The house is obviously very solid, and the outside is made of a pretty beige stone. As you can see from this photo, the way the craftsmen made the inside walls was to lay some straw and then cover it with plaster made of limestone. I found it so interesting that a 300-year-old house is made of straw-covered walls and that 300-year-old straw is not rotten. So long as you keep the cats away, I guess the walls are fine! The other interesting thing was that I could see that the plasterers (as the craftsmen who make plaster walls are called) used horse hair within the plaster as a way to strengthen it.

Speaking of holes in walls, I thought you would enjoy seeing this famous platform I saw in Kings Cross railroad station. I took the train from Stamford to London, and I arrived at platform 4. Being a Harry Potter fan, I had to go see platform 9-3/4. Can you see the luggage cart that is halfway into the wall? I must be a muggle, as I could not get through the wall to platform 9-3/4 to get onto the Hogwarts Express.

England Travel Questions:

1. What are the four countries that make up the United Kingdom?
2. What is the nickname of the British Flag?

Global Citizen Questions on England:

1. Find out what the flags of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland look like. Draw them.
2. What is the capital of Scotland?
3. Who is the current Queen of the United Kingdom? When did she start her reign?
4. The queen in question 3 is also queen of several other countries from the former British Empire. List three other countries for which she is also queen.
5. Can you think of an example of a 300-year-old building in your country? Describe what it was used for and how you think it was built.