h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been fortunate for all of my life to have lived close to areas of fairly unspoilt nature. When we were living in Pretoria (1972-1980) there were patches of 'veld' and also a river flowing in a deep, reed-lined bed, and I went there from time to time. I can remember finding frogs, chameleons, and porcupine quills. When we moved to Pietersburg in 1980 we were on the outskirts of town, with extensive wild lands to the east of our house. Alone as well as with friends I went on explorations. This time I was starting to read books and thus knew a lot more about *what* I was seeing. But back then I wasn't very interested in logging numbers of species found ... for me it was just *getting outdoors*. And spending long periods out there. It was wonderful back then because I could literally go where I wanted and there were new discoveries everywhere.

I mean, *for me* they were always new and exciting discoveries. It was literally like exploring an unknown world. I would find landscape features I had not known about before, such as a rocky hill with some huge fig trees in the shade of which I can sit and gaze out over the world, or on another occasion, a large marshy region filled with the quacking of frogs. I would see how deep I could get into the marshes and get full of stinky mud and pond scum and inspect myself for leeches or get bit by unidentified aquatic denizens. But it was great fun - it was real adventure!

One of the nicest 'adventures' I had as a child was when I came upon some 'diggings' ... sad to say, those diggings were the precursor of the demise of a large region of savannah that subsequently was turned into the 'Savannah Mall Complex'. But back then it was undisturbed 'veld' with only a few ditches dug here and there, and in one of the ditches I found a small pool filled with *dozens* of little clawed frogs! They're fully aquatic frogs; they only move overland during heavy rain storms to try and find new pools. I went home and came back with a tin; I went into the dich and caught a bunch of those slimy slippery little frogs, took them home and put them into a little pond we had in the garden. They ... or at least, *some* of them ... stayed in that pond for many years. But eventually they all jumped out and probably sought new homes. The pond was perhaps just too small. I *do* hope they found nice new homes. But the point is, those little frogs gave me much joy.

When I was twelve or so I seriously started watching birds, and this time started a list of how many species I saw. But always for me it was not just about seeing this or that, it was about the whole experience, including *where* I saw them and *what they were doing* when I saw them. It was always the biggest thrill to find an unexpected thing in an unexpected place. Also for me the element of *beauty* has always been majorly important. I don't know why, but even from a very young age I was able to be in sheer, utter awe at some of the scenes of beauty to be found in unspoilt nature. The landscape as a whole, and then the various elements from which it was made up. In Nature, everything fits together ... whereas in the Human world there's so much conflict and confusion.

For me this is really therapeutic.

Well ... the older I got, the more opportunities I found, the more places I discovered and explored. I'm now not looking only at some things, I'm trying to look at everything. The general features of the landscape, the geology (though that is still my weak spot), the kind of soils, the climate and its effects, the plants, the animals - and now, insects and spiders and scorpions and millipeded and centipedes and slugs and snails - frogs, lizards, snakes, birds, mammals, *everything* I can manage to notice. And it's just getting better and better, more and more interesting.

But I've not done that much in recent times, with my father and mother's problems. I'll really see if I can't get out again sometime soon ...

But back to the point. I think that many people today ... children *and* adults ... should get out in Nature more. They should also learn about it, and when outside, try to really see what is there to see. I'm convinced that looking for interesting living things, and identifying them, is great exercise for the senses and for the mind. But beyond that, there's the sense of a restored connection with Nature. The world which we came from. I'm really certain that we still have memories somewhere of that world, that it is still a part of our psyches. If we lose the link with 'wild nature' we lose a part of our own souls.

Another thing that I've found is that Nature is generally peaceful. There's very little of that 'red in tooth and claw' stuff. Many wildlife documentaries are utterly sensationalistic. Sure, some things eat other things, but it doesn't happen all the time. Most things I've seen are simply going about their fairly innocuous activities with a relaxed attitude. I've hardly ever felt that I was in any kind of danger ... not in the presence of poisonous snakes, nor in the company of great white rhinos. I would *not* feel very safe around wild lions, though, but I've never come across those on foot, only in a car in the Kruger National Park.

There are still great unexplored worlds out there. There are still places hardly anyone's ever visited. There are new species to be discovered. There are behaviours never seen or noted before. There's an infinitude of things we still don't know about our world and the things that share it with us. And there's limitless beauty to be experienced.

Oh Willem,

What joy this lovely writing of yours gave me Dankie, Willem - baie dankie.

It reminded me so much of the veld, and the happy times when the children were young and we went "exploring" in Mashonaland....!

Keep writing. You have a real gift.

With affection

Christiane
AR80

Tuesday 3/VIII/2010 17.08 BST

This is beautiful.

I am much older than you Willem, but that 'Wonder' never leaves me, and lifts my spirits too. It is very sad that today so many people don't even see what is under their noses, let alone look further afield.

It has saved my sanity more than once.

Websailor

Hello there folks and thanks for the comments! Christiane, it makes me very happy if my musings here remind you of your youth in Mashonaland! For me there's a lot of pleasant nostalgia as well.

Dmitri, thanks for the compliment! Websailor, it's great you can still enjoy so much wonder in Nature.

I think I'll putt some of the nicest 'exploration' photos I've accumulated so far, on Photobucket and link to them from an entry here ...

Another thing I'm wondering. Would you folks like to hear and see a bit more about my home town of Pietersburg/Polokwane, and/or about South Africa in general? I could write potentially many entries with photos linked on Photobucket, if people are interested.

I would be very, very interested Willem, I have often wondered what it is like where you live. It would be nice to see some of it when you have time. Where you live is so different from where I am, and I am sure others would like to see too.

Websailor

I am up for a guided tour. I know nothing about Pietersburg.

Hi Willem,

That would be super.

How is the repair work going.? You sounded much happier. ir was good to hear.

With affection

Christiane
ar80 +2.25

Friday 6/viii/2010 18.41 BST

OK then folks! I'll start taking my camera along on drives in town and take some photos of interesting things. I'm going to try and learn a bit more about the history of Pietersburg as well.

Christiane, the repair work is coming along well. Our gardener has removed the injured plants and I've cleaned them up a bit so that this coming week we can re-plant them. We'll see!

Willem