The amazing thing as you fly into Hoedspruit from Jo’burg is seeing the walls of the canyon from the air, and how the ‘highveld’ drops horizontally more than 1000 metres into a vast, flat expanse known as the ‘lowveld.’
As we drove from the airport to the Blyde River Canyon Natural Reserve, we saw how the flatness of the ‘bush’ was framed by the huge red cliff walls of the canyon. The Reserve is at the bottom of the canyon, right by its mouth. The house was surrounded by a natural ampitheatre made of the beautiful rock faces of the canyon walls. It really is a majestic and amazing place. Wherever you look, you always have a choice of beautiful mountains to look at. Right in the reserve, stands a conical mountain called Modimule. It is a strangely pointed, stand-alone mountain at the mouth of the canyon, surrounded by all the enormous cliffs. The local people have always believed Modimule is the origin of the world and modern science has proved it has the oldest rocks anywhere in the planet other than Australia.
The Blyde River Canyon is the third biggest canyon in the world and it is truly imposing. The natural reserve has all types of animals and happily for us since we always walked to and from the lodge for lunches and dinners, no predators. So the animals seemed more curious about us and it was possible to have close encounters with them.
My first sight when we arrived was of beautiful zebras standing by the shade of the walls to avoid the hot sun. On the first morning, as we had breakfast outside, looking at the mountains, a plethora of birds came to say hello and entertained us with their melodies.
On the second day, as we had lunch in the lodge, we saw a bunch of baboons moroding and trying to break into a house and steal food. They were so funny, walking one after the other in a straight line - oblivious to us. We also learnt that they can be pretty destructive if they get into a house, as it happened to our neighbours. She described it as being the worse scenario you could ever imagine, as she entered her home and found that the baboons had paid a visit through an opened window and gone around destroying, playing and marking territory all around the house.
By noon they had begun to climb toward the gap in the mountains. Riding up through the lavender or soapweed, under the Animas peaks. The shadow of an eagle that had set forth from the line of riders below and they looked up to mark it where it rode in that brittle blue and faultless void. In the evening they came out to upon a mesa that overlooked all the country to the north... The crumpled butcher paper mountains lay in sharp shadowfold under the long blue dusk and in the middle distance the glazed bed of a dry lake lay shimmering like the mare imbrium. (168)
The geology, its history, and the presence of past civilizations contribute to much of the significance of Mesa Verde National Park. The interconnectedness of these aspects should also be noted. If not for the weathering processes and changes in sea level this formation would not exist. Without it, the ancient people would not have been able to reside within Mesa Verde. This National Park now serves as a tool to help conserve the remains of these past civilizations as well as to help educate today’s society on the significance behind this astonishing geologic
Many will attest to the grandeur of the natural feature that exists in northern Arizona, but the formation of the Grand Canyon has befuddled geomorphologists to this day. This confusion can be attributed to the Kaibab Plateau, an anomaly considering the Colorado River traverses it seamlessly. Four prevalent hypotheses have been proposed since the 19th century, starting with the lake overflow proposition first brought up by John Newbury and then reinforced by Eliot Blackwelder. Newbury argued that a structure must have ponded an ancient lake causing an overspill to cut into the Grand Canyon. This argument holds that the river must have come after the plateau’s existence. Unbeknownst to Newbury, the structure would be the Kaibab Plateau.
A surprising fun fact about the Grand Canyon is that it is one of the few natural la...
The canyon is a part of what is now the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, an area of land first acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. In this painting, the observer may notice many features which stand out. In the background, the image depicts a large, rocky ravine, occupied by a river and rows of trees. The river leads to a large orb of light, presumably stemming from a fire. In the foreground, two men are seen standing on a cliff above the ravine, presumably in awe at the wondrous land they have just discovered in the distance. Behind the men is an untraveled area of
The subjects of Bierstadt’s Sierra Nevada Mountains (1868) are the mountains. The viewer is separated from the mountains by a valley. Positioned high above the valley, the viewer can see all it contains, this
The Grand Canyon has a lot of different features and is an exciting place that holds a lot of secretes and mysteries that scientists have been trying to figure out since the Grand Canyon was formed. It is millions of years old, over 277 miles wide, 18 miles wide, and defies many normal Geography features that are true in every other situation. Many theories have been presented that seek to explain the formation of the Grand Canyon. The first theory is that the Grand Canyon has a lot of Erosional Scarp Face’s, that have come together over the years, which is one theory that has been presented. Scientists have also tried to see if the Colorado River cutting into the canyon caused the Grand Canyon.
Borglum searched for the “perfect” rock; he seemed to always have a complaint about them (SV; SV) (St. George 14). He would say some mountains have too many cracks, or the grain of the granite is coarse, and some were facing the wrong direction (St. George 14). The bottom half of some of the mountains found were a material called mica Schist; this rock is completely unsuitable for carving, therefore over seventy percent of the mountains found had to be passed by (SV; SV, CA SV) (Levisay). Borglum searched so long for the perfect rock because he believed that this monument he was about to build would be extremely important. He didn’t want just any old rock to be his masterpiece; he had to find the perfect one. The idea for looking in the Black Hills was first introduced by Doane Robinson (Westway). The Black hills was a great place to look because there was so much space, big mountains, and nature undiscovered by people yet. Borglum found a mountain that he loved the size of and even better he states that he loves it because it faces the South East (Jones). The mountain, being facing the South East, means that the sun will shine onto that half of them mountain for most of the day. The rock Borglum ...
The Holocaust, Shoah, it has gone by many names, but it is the same great tragedy. Hitler’s third Reich, his pure utopia was built on the blood and children of innocent Jews and Gypsies. It was time of prejudice, pain, suffering and of anger, but also of heroes and valor of people who stared at Hitler and his mighty armies in the face and laughed. The holocaust started with Germany’s economy and old disputes but closed with concentration camps and Jewish fighters.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. ( This description of the scenery is very happy, usually not how one sees the world after hearing devastating news of her husbands death.)
The Grand Canyon holds many interesting secrets from the past people who have made the canyon their home. The Grand Canyon has kept these secrets for many years through the generations of people who have lived in those areas and the stories that these generations have told younger generations. I find it interesting how people have lived in those areas for so long, they have dealt with the changes of their home. I also find it interesting how the people who lived in these conditions and the items they used to cook and storage items are items that we are finding today. Their items have survived through years of season changes, they may be broken or scattered within an area but they have for the most part stayed intact. The Grand Canyon holds history and stories of the people who lived their lives there, to think that under the sand that has blown and covered these areas was a town or homes to people. The people who lived there had an understanding of the plants and animals of the area they lived; they learned by trial and error that in itself is interesting. They were not afraid of being wrong, they learned from their mistakes. They lived by hunting and living outdoors, as people in our society it seems weird to think of living the way the natives have lived their lives. As stated in the article the natives possessed an understanding of the seasons and the area that they lived in that is beyond our grasp (Coder 2000:6-7). They were interesting people from what they knew to how they lived. I find it interesting how times have dramatically changed, the natives that lived in the Grand Canyon lived with what they could make with their hands, and eat what they could hunt, and they had the necessities whereas we today go to a s...
Germany is a very big and modern country located in the middle of Europe. Germany has factories and is extremely industrialized. On top of that, it has an interesting culture as well as an extremely dedicated work force. Even though it has a rough past, Germany can still be considered a great and successful country.
“… The difference between the present reservoir, with its silent sterile shores and debris-choked side canyons, and the original Glen Canyon, is the difference between death and life. Glen Canyon was alive. Lake Powell is a graveyard.” – Edward Abbey, “The Damnation of a Canyon”, Beyond the Wall
The country that I am doing for my report is New Zealand. New Zealand is made up of two Islands. The north and the south islands. It is located in the south pacific by Australia.
South Africa is a nation with a wonderful and varied culture. This country has been called “The Rainbow Nation”, a name that reflects the diversity of such amazing place. The different ethnic and cultural groups of the South Africa do, however, appreciate their own beliefs and customs. Many of these traditions, besides African culture, are influenced by European and Western heritage. The complex and diverse population of the country has made a strong impact to the various cultures. There are forty-five million people; about thirty million are black, five million white, three million coloured and one million Indians. The black population has a large number of rural people living in poverty. It is among these inhabitants that cultural customs are preserve the most.