Well, after making a small trek to the interior and driving through one of the many national wildlife reserve parks, I now have a collection of photos of all sorts of African herbivores. And possibly more than one creature that does not reside in the basement of the food pyramid.
Despite the numerous signs, warnings, and pamplets that sternly forbid leaving your vehicle, dangling limbs outside of your vehicle, rolling your window down too far, or evacuating too much flatulence within park limits because of the number of flesh-rending monsters within the park, the most violent thing on evidence was probably a family of warthogs. Lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, panthers, crocodiles, etc. were all probably napping in the unusually warm midday sun in some shadowy glade somewhere, or playing canasta in a cave. In any event, they were nowhere to be seen. We did come within arm's length of an elephant, however.
Terribly nice old fella that was just walking past us to go hang out with his kids at a nearby water hole.
The amazing countryside and vegetation goes a long way toward explaining Tolkien's maps of Middle Earth. As a kid, I always wondered why there were so many bends and twists and turns in Frodo's path toward Mordor. South Africa is a perfect explanation. A straight line in any direction is interrupted by rivers, plunging chasms, sheer rock faces, swampy fens, or ridiculously thick and machete-proof brush-forest. The magnitude of the Great Trek as an accomplishment should not be underestimated in the context of these sorts of geographic features.
In any event, we finished our wanderings in the bush just in time to come running back and watch the Italy v. Slovakia and New Zealand v. Paraguay matches. Still hoping for the Super Kiwis to upset some apple carts.
The amazing countryside and vegetation goes a long way toward explaining Tolkien's maps of Middle Earth. As a kid, I always wondered why there were so many bends and twists and turns in Frodo's path toward Mordor. South Africa is a perfect explanation. A straight line in any direction is interrupted by rivers, plunging chasms, sheer rock faces, swampy fens, or ridiculously thick and machete-proof brush-forest. The magnitude of the Great Trek as an accomplishment should not be underestimated in the context of these sorts of geographic features.
In any event, we finished our wanderings in the bush just in time to come running back and watch the Italy v. Slovakia and New Zealand v. Paraguay matches. Still hoping for the Super Kiwis to upset some apple carts.
Aside from the past that I reckon Mark Paston and Kelly Lipke were twins separated at birth, I have no further comment other than to say that I'll try to post some kind of summary afterwards, and before the Danes and the Dutch try and sort out how Group E moves on to the next round.
Cheers,
—mARKUS
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