Time zones and crime zones

Johannesburg, South Africa

The brave and adventurous Portuguese who first explored this coast over 500 years ago, and claimed Mozambique for their own faced constant danger of hostile tribes, starvation, sickness, unchartered waters, rough seas, and the challenge of the unknown.  However, they had one thing in their favor as travelers.  They didn’t rapidly cross longitudes.  Thus, they didn’t fool their biological clocks by placing their pineal glands in a state of shock, regarding what should be day and what should be night.  The modern travelers of the Life on Earth team were feeling these effects today, and decided to keep activities to a minimum and sleep to a maximum.   There was time to explorer a local craft market and marvel at the diversity of tribal goods being sold.  Beaded goods, ceremonial masks, and carvings spanned from Ghana to Kenya to South Africa.  

A short afternoon walk in the vicinity of the hotel led to an encounter of Grey Heron, Little Egret and Emerald Spotted Wood Dove, which were all pleasant surprises in this concrete jungle.  This is just the smallest of glimpses of the diverse wildlife ahead in Gorongosa.

During the stroll from the hotel it was apparent this was not the slums of Soweto but the surrounding neighborhood was populated with affluent homes and an immaculate school, with tennis court and swimming pool.  All of which were surrounded by walls topped with 4 to 5 strands of electric fence combined with barbed wire. 

In the US the transformation of the schoolyard to a fenced-in compound has been a sad transformation from the open campus of the past.  As educators it was hard to imagine a school lined with electricity and barbed wire.  The front page of the local newspaper also told us of the crime that runs through this city.  Apartheid has fallen, but economic prosperity clearly remains with a few.