The power of the sun changes the seasons, transforming our planet. Vast areas of ocean and air currents bring dramatic change throughout the year. In a few special places, these seasonal changes create some of the most spectacular events in the world. Every year in Botswana Africa in the desert lands of the Kalahari, a miraculous transformation takes place in the Okavango Delta. During the month of June, when the land is held tightly in the grasp of the dry African winter season, a flood of life-giving water turns an unforgiving desert, into a watery paradise, known as the Okavango. Great herds travel across the land for months, anticipating an event that will ultimately save their lives.
When and where the Okavango will flood affects the lives of millions of animals, creating one of natures most amazing events. When the flood comes, it turns the dry land into a watery paradise teeming with many diverse kinds of wildlife. For some, the flood is utter paradise like crocodiles, hippos, sitatunga and even herds of elephants, while others have to cope with the unusual conditions such as cheetahs, giraffes, lions and others.
In the heart of Southern Africa lies the Kalahari desert. It covers almost 400,000 square miles, stretching across most of Botswana and parts of South Africa and Namibia. Rainfall is scarce, plants are less productive than in other parts of Africa, nutrients are low and the Kalahari desert is one of the driest places on earth. Yet large herds survive in the Okavango. They have a nomadic existence, trekking across great distances in search for food and water. When the dry season begins, it won’t rain for 8 months, so life already hard, is about to become harder.
The secret of the Okavango flood ...
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...he center of a desert, the Okavango flood creates a paradise unequalled in all of Africa.
References
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Wolskia, P., Savenijeb, H.H.G., Murray-Hudsona, M., & Gumbricht, M. (2006). Modelling of the flooding in the OkavangoDelta, Botswana, using a hybrid reservoir-GIS model. Retrieved 4/3/13 from ftp://168.167.30.140/Mosimanyana/Okavango_Research_Papers/My%20Disc/Del ta%20Models/Wolski_Modelling%20of%20the%20flooding%20in%20the%20O kavango%20Delta.pdf
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In his book “Cattle Brings Us to Our Enemies”, McCabe does a 16-year stint in East Africa, specifically in Northern Kenya, doing research on the Turkana. He does this through STEP, the South Turkana Ecosystem Project. In “Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies”, McCabe follows four families through his years in Kenya and notes how they live in a very demanding environment. He uses ecological data to analyze how and why the Turkana people make decisions about their everyday life. McCabe focuses on four main areas of study: how the Turkana survive and adapt to a stressful environment by nomadic pastoralism, how the techniques used to extract resources and manage livestock modify the environment, the effects of the environmental and cultural practices have on
The book “Walking Home”, written by Eric Walters takes place in the African country Kenya. The weather in the book is often described as hot and sunny, with a few days of rainfall. Most of the area is very dry with some trees and hedges but not much else. Locals talked about giraffes, elephants and lions roaming the area but except for one lion encounter, they didn’t see many animals.
References: Mairson, Alan, "The Great Flood of '93," National Geographic, vol. 93, pages 93-93. 185 (January 1994), pp. 187-187. 42-81. The s. National Biological Service, Department of the Interior, "Environmental Management Technical Center," http://www.emtc.nbs.gov (1996).
There is a place where not far from my hometown, which, since my childhood, still holds the secrets to life. It was a place where we were free. Free to do whatever we wanted to do, say whatever we wanted to say, it was our place, our river. It was a simple place, no paved or asphalt roads for the commotion of busy traffic, no tall buildings to block out the sunlight, no sense of time to feel rushed or anxious, no effects from the outside world. It was a beach on the coast of Lake Sakakawea called “Little Egypt.”
Niger is eighty-percent desert which doesn't provide natural resources or availability of water, even though the Niger River is a huge resource for Niger. With its beautiful, sparkling water flowing southwest in a sort of crescent shape it is a place of relief. Along this river, they have wonderful areas for farming and grazing and one can find the most populous city and the capitol Niger called Niamey. This Sub-Saharan country not only has the Sahara desert to deal with, but the Tener...
Africa has a regular coastline characterized by few indentations. Because of the smooth coastline, natural harbors were non-existent. Today, however, there are important coastal cities, such as Lagos and Dakar. With the exception of the Mediterranean coast, most of the coastline is low-lying , generally narrow and rising sharply to high elevations. The African climate and topography varies greatly. Although temperatures are usually high, due to being so close to the equator, rainfall, soil quality and elevations are of various degrees. Because most of the African continent has not been covered by water for millions of years, soils have developed according to their weathering e...
In recent decades, the contentious issues surrounding climate change and the corresponding effects it likely exerts upon contemporary civilization has developed to become one of the most pressing areas of concern afflicting humanity (Armstrong, 1). Currently, climate change has started to demonstrate its potentially calamitous consequences upon human subsistence practices, and has even begun to alter the very environments that entire societies reside in, theoretically endangering them in both instances (Armstrong, 1). Though the hindrances inherent in climate change are potentially devastating to the preservation of modern society, the problem of climate change itself is not one that is exclusive to the contemporary era. Rather, the harmful
Antarctic’s ice melt and accelerating sea level rise, the growing number of large wildfires, intense heat wave shocks, severe drought and blizzards, disrupted and decreased food supply, and extreme storm events are increasing to happen in many areas world wide and these are just some of the consequences of global warming. The fossil fuel we burn for energy coal, natural gas, and oil plus the loss of forests due to disforestation, in the southern hemisphere are all contributors for climate change. In the past three decades, every single year was warmer then the previous year and the warmest 12 years were recorded since 1998. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and trapping the heat and recently, the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere reached 400 pmm. Not just environmental issues are rising due to carbon dioxide increase but more and miscellaneous issues are appearing as climate change becomes more severe. For example, regional models and local analyses agree that Mongolia has become noticeably warmer and the climate change effect is damaging their millennial of historic nomadic lifestyle and even came to the peek of extinction. The Mongolian nomadic pastoralists became highly vulnerable to many an unusual climate impacts and extreme temperature fluctuation that have led to inadequate pasture land and loss of enormous number of livestock, often faces hostile environmental conditions that led o entrenched pastoral poverty. This essay focuses on how the climate change impacts the qualitative and quantitative value of indigenous culture and nomadic life style, and how the economy struggles in the magnitudes of massive migration of nomads to urban area while it fails to value t...
Lee, Richard Borshay. “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari.” Natural History. December 1969. pp 11-15. Natural History Magazine, Inc. 1969.
Works Cited Attoh, Samuel Aryeetey, ed. Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa. 3 rd. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. Book.
The Maasai live throughout north central Tanzania and southern Kenya. Kenya Maasailand is presently located near the coast in the Narok and Kajiado districts. The territory in 1981 measured approximately 39,476 square kilometers. Details on the environment in this area are necessary in order to understand the Maasai people who depend upon it for their survival. The region is typical of arid and semi-arid lands. The Maasailand area has an extremely low amount of surface water, and shallow alkaline soils which proves to be a difficult problem for their cattle-raising practices, and the main reason why they have adapted pastoralism rather than agriculture. The amount of rainfall varies greatly (usually less than 500 mm a year) , with occasional violent storms erupting. The location of the rain may be very specific, effecting a very small area without touching a nearby location. The amount of rainfall fluctuates every year and droughts are frequent. The Maasai have adapted to their living co...
1990 Becoming Kenyans: Socio-economic transformation of the pastoral Maasai (Drylands research series), Acts Press, pp. 193-201
The weather in this novel controls their crops and the river flow; which controls their food and water supply. They depend on adequate rainfall to help their crops to grow and for the river to be full. They also depend on the sun to warm things up and make the crops grow. However, if there is too much rain or too much sun it can cause many problems, such as a drought or a flood. These things are significant in this novel, because t...
In the regions of the Kalahari desert, there is a group called the Bushmen; That name came from the European settlers. The original Bushmen inhabited this land almost 6,000 years ago. This was proven by carvings and drawings found on rocks and cave walls. Now to this day there are currently 100,000 Bushmen living in that region, but conditions are terrible. It is ghetto-like conditions; there is a lack of food and water. Most cultural heritage has been lost, they rarely hunt and just live off of small benefits given to them by the government. There is a large amount of alcoholism found among the Bushmen. It is said that they find it as a way to pass the time. Some white men and military person have tried to introduce agricultural and livestock
Namibia's land area totals about 319,000 sq miles, this makes it the thirty-fourth largest county in the world. It borders with Angola, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa; and is between the Namib and the Kalahari deserts. Its unique location makes it the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa. The land area is broken up into five different geographical areas, the Central Plateau, the Namib desert, Great Escarpment, Bushveld, and the Kalahari desert. The Central Plateau runs north to south and consist of the highest point in Namibia, 8550 ft above sea level located in Konigstein. The Namib desert, also known as the world's oldest desert, stretches 1,200 miles down the Namibian coastline. Its sand dunes, created by strong onshore winds, are the highest in the world. Namibia was named after the Namib desert which means "vast place". The Great Escarpment, is a much more cooler part of Namibia, due to its high elevation of 6,562 ft above sea level. In the summer months, cool winds are forced over the Escarpment, and moisture is extracted as precipitation. The Bushveld is located in north eastern Namibia along the Angolan border. that area receives the most amounts of water then any part of the country. unfortunately, most of the land is flat and consist of sandy soil, which affects its ability to retain water. The Kalahari Desert, located on the southern border of Namibia, is the region shared with south Africa and Botswana. This is Namibia's most well known geographical a...