Baraza

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 19 2007 | By: admin

I’ve been in South Africa for the past ten days talking to conservation organizations and planning a trip to visit some locations.

It’s nothing like my home, Kenya - for most young people living in Johannesburg, this is about as close to the wilderness as it gets.

On Sunday my son and I visited Soweto and went to two excellent museums, the Museum of Apartheid, Nelson Mandela’s home, and the Hector Peterson Museum. First, its not the adventure one expects, Soweto is not what it used to be, it has been cleaned up to the point that it now looks like a middle-rich suburb. The poor slums are still here, but they are simply not on the tourist route.

It says online that “The Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto commemorates the 566 people who died in the student uprising that followed the events of June 16, 1976. The museum is named for Hector Peterson, a 12-year-old boy who was the first person shot dead by police on that day, and is located near a memorial to his death”.

As I walked around this fantastic museum I was on the verge of tears at every stop. I felt engulfed in emotion, …and I feared that I was the only one experiencing it. The Museum had many visitors but I noticed that my son and I were the only African people of colour in the Museum, in fact, listening to accents, I suspect we may have been the only Africans there. At a certain point my 15 year old son stopped and returned to the car, I asked if he wasn’t interested in history, he said he was but that this history was depressing.

I asked our guide about the past, he just stared at us blankly, his responses without emotion. Robot like.

We went to Nelson Mandelas house. After the tour, I asked the lady guide, where she was when he was released. “I was here” she said and offered no more on how she felt, what she did on hearing he was out, nothing - despite prodding. Total self control, jealously guarded feelings. It was a public holiday on Monday, “Reconciliation day”. For most people it passed without more than a murmur. Studies show that the youth have no idea who Steve Biko was. I think I understand why it’s hard for South Africans to visit their own museums and remember the past, but how can we forget such great heroes?

Expression: Graffiti in Johannesburg illustrates just how talented and creative people here are - it’s one important way of expressing feelings.

South Africa has some of the most spectacular landscapes on the continent -yet not many of us Africans take time to enjoy them.

Every spring thousands of travelers flock to Namaqualand to witness the blooming of millions of flowers in one of the worlds most spectacular displays of diversity. It is ironic that as ecologists we celebrate biological diversity, as humans we have a strange fear of differences amongst ourselves. It makes me even more determined to set up projects in Southern African countries because I believe that wildlife is apolitical and it can lead to the conversations that bring peace.

Another amazing place -Augrabies Falls - it claims several lives each year - a terrifying but spectacular landscape

I’m often quizzed about my interest in wildlife – it’s just not something that my friends think that black Africans should do… well that’s a load of elephant dung. It was explained to me Africans left the bush, why was I returning? I adore the wilderness, as do many Africans. Nobody should be surprised that a black African is offering conservation solutions to other parts of Africa and indeed the world. Africa is a continent full of talent and colour and my thoughts are often interrupted with surprises. Like this below.

I came across this graffiti today - what it means is anyones guess…ideas about this one anyone?

By the end of January I hope to recruit over ten new projects for WildlifeDirect from southern Africa. My focus is a country in deep trouble, Zimbabwe. I can’t go there but I have made many contacts. I’ve looked at a series of amazing South African projects, contacted Namibia and Zambia and I’m also visiting Botswana. I’m looking forward to helping wildlife rescue centers, parks, community projects and conservation heroes in some of the most difficult parts of the continent. We will be helping species like wild dogs, hartebeest, leopards, endangered birds of prey, antelopes …and I’m hoping some marine life too. I’m especially excited about the smaller less known but highly endangered species – rabbits, hedgehogs and small cats. We tend to forget them.

South Africa has a thriving economy and wildlife conservation is fairly well taken care of except outside of parks. During a previous tour of South in August I was stunned by the road network – and the high speeds of vehicles. We did see some small animals – sadly, most were in the form of road kill. This is an issue that I think deserves great attention and I hope we can find an organization that is finding creative solutions for road crossings – like the Colobus Trust has done in Diani with colobus bridges for safe road crossings by these rare monkeys.

Well, I have to go pack my camping gear, for a long tour through Botswana. Look out for news from Okavango and some new human and animal friends.

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